‘He Doesn’t Have Enough Votes’: CNN’s Manu Raju Explains Why McCarthy Backtracked on Impeachment Vote

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) officially launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Tuesday, a move which appeared to directly contradict his vow to take the issue to the floor of the House for a vote.

“One big thing is that he did not say that there should be a vote to open up an impeachment inquiry. Remember, just about, it’s on September 1st, that’s when Kevin McCarthy told Breitbart News, the conservative news outlet, that there would actually be a vote on the House floor to open up a formal impeachment inquiry. He did not say that just now. In fact, he said that they would, he was directing that key House committee, the House Oversight Committee, to open up an impeachment inquiry,” CNN’s Manu Raju explained after the news broke.

Raju referred to McCarthy telling Breitbart, “To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives. That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.”

Raju explained the likely reason behind McCarthy’s quick flip-flop:

Now, one big reason why perhaps the speaker is not moving in the direction of having a vote. He does not have enough support, a majority of the House to open up an impeachment inquiry at the moment. That’s because there are a number of Republicans, including ones in swing districts and some conservatives like Ken Buck of Colorado, who are skeptical about moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. That means that if there were actually a vote to formally open up this probe going forward at the moment, he would not have 218 votes as Democrats would vote against it, and more than four Republicans that voted against it as well.

Raju noted that many House Republicans remained skeptical of the move because the GOP-led committees have yet to “come up with definitive proof or evidence to suggest that Joe Biden took official action as vice president to aid his son, Hunter Biden, or that Joe Biden profited in any way by Hunter Biden’s business dealings.”

Raju concluded by noting the historic nature of the impeachment inquiry and noted that the full House impeaching Biden remains “a very, very heavy lift for Kevin McCarthy.”

“But this action today in some ways being pushed by the far right of his conference, which has been very vocal at this moment for the speaker to move ahead on this issue with speaker aligning himself with that faction in his conference to move ahead with this impeachment inquiry,” Raju added.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.

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