WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s campaign launched a blistering attack against Republicans as they prepare to formalize an impeachment inquiry into the president, accusing GOP members of obliging Donald Trump in an early preview of what awaits the nation if the former president returns to office.
In a new memo shared with NBC News, Biden-Harris 2024 communications director Michael Tyler said that while polls show most voters oppose impeaching Biden, House Republicans are twisting to accommodate Trump on the heels of a controversial promise to rule with an iron fist on “day one” — and long before he is re-elected.
“The only branch of government MAGA Republicans control is following through on Donald Trump’s promise to use the levers of government to enact political retribution on his enemies,” Tyler said. “You know, like the followers of a dictator.”
The memo accuses new House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., of taking his “marching orders” from Trump, who called earlier this year for Republicans to impeach Biden “or fade into oblivion,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who promised to introduce articles of impeachment before the president was sworn into office. Johnson, Tyler said, made an about-face on the proceedings following a private meeting with Trump.
Moreover, allies of the former president have drawn a link between impeachment and a need to “inspire the base” ahead of the presidential election next year, Tyler said in the memo.
“Instead of trying to deliver results for the American people, Trump’s MAGA followers in the House are using their power to pursue an evidence-free impeachment sham all to help Trump’s 2024 campaign,” he continued.
It is the sharpest and most direct hit yet against Republicans’ inquiry by the president’s political operation, going after “MAGA Republicans” in a way the White House cannot.
House Republicans accuse Biden and his family of improperly profiting from the now-president’s decisions while he was vice president under then-President Barack Obama, but they have failed to come up with direct evidence of wrongdoing by him.
The Republican-controlled House is expected to proceed with a vote Wednesday that would grant the party new powers in its investigation of Biden and his family, and a resolution to authorize the inquiry is set to go before the House Rules Committee on Tuesday.
Republicans’ slim margins mean they can only lose three votes if all members are present and Democrats vote against the measure. Biden’s Democratic Party holds a narrow majority in the Senate, making it unlikely that the upper chamber would convict the president if the House does pass the articles of impeachment.
Tyler said the push for impeachment has lost popular support among Republican and independent voters and is opposed by more than half of Americans.
“Instead of focusing on the important issues that really matter to Americans’ everyday lives, like lowering costs, creating new jobs, strengthening health care, or tackling gun violence, extreme MAGA Republicans have turned the House of Representatives into an arm of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign,” he added.
