Kevin McCarthy (left), Donald Trump.Photo: Getty Images (2)
Former PresidentDonald Trumpis pressuring Republican lawmakers to launch impeachment proceedings against PresidentJoe Biden, saying they should be “primaried” if they don’t.
Trump, who is currently leading in Republican presidential polls ahead of the 2024 election, said at a campaign rally on Saturday: “Any Republican that doesn’t act on Democratic fraud should be immediately primaried and get out."
“We got a lot of good, tough Republicans around,” Trump, 77, added. “People are going to run against them and people are going to win.”
Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump stand outside of Air Force One.Michael Kovac/WireImage
But House Republicans won’t have much time to launch impeachment proceedings against the current president if they choose to do so. Currently onrecess, Congress resumes in September, when representatives will have a three-week window during which to vote on important pieces of legislation needed to avert a government shutdown.
Trump’s threats come on the heels of reports that he has privately pressured Republican House SpeakerKevin McCarthyto go after Biden, and that McCarthy has privately promised him that the House wouldvote to “expunge” his own two impeachments.
McCarthy has since pushed back on those reports, thoughPoliticoreports that “Trump brings up the matter inevery callhe has with McCarthy, prodding the speaker about when he will bring expungement to the floor.”
President Donald Trump reviews papers during an interview in the Oval Office on Aug. 30, 2018.Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
McCarthy has floated the idea of a Biden impeachment, tellingFox Newsin a recent interview that if Republicans believed they weren’t getting the information they needed from Biden while they investigate the finances of the president and his son, Hunter Biden, they “would have to rise to the level of impeachment inquiry.”
“With all of these horrible revelations and facts, why hasn’t Republican ‘leadership’ in the Senate spoken up and rebuked Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats, Fascists, and Marxists for their criminal acts against our Country, some of them against me,” Trump wrote in a recent post on his social media site Truth Social.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
Meanwhile,Trump faces a number of mounting legal issuesas he continues to campaign for the presidency.
In April, he became the first sitting or former president in U.S. history toanswer to criminal chargesfollowing aninvestigation into an alleged hush money paymenthe made to adult film starStormy Danielswhile he was a presidential candidate in 2016.
Less than two months later, he was charged following afederal investigation into his handling of classified documents(and what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to obstruct justice during the probe).
source: people.com
