Insiders Reveal 2 Behind-The-Scene Factors Behind McCarthy’s Ouster
WASHINGTON—Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) overly cautious approach to investigating allegations involving the Biden family and mismanaging the Republican congressional campaign in 2022 contributed to his historic ouster in October.
His fall was precipitated by eight disaffected Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), acting in concert with the House minority of 212 Democrats. Mr. McCarthy has argued that he would still be speaker but for the intense personal animosity of Mr. Gaetz.
“Mr. Speaker, you boasted in January that we would use the power of the subpoena and the power of the purse,” Mr. Gaetz said in a Sept. 12 floor speech, noting the excessive caution in the Biden probe. “But here we are eight months later and we haven’t even sent the first subpoena to Hunter Biden.”
A series of maneuvering in June with FBI Director Christopher Wray illustrated Mr. McCarthy’s caution. After months of FBI obfuscation and delay, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced on June 7 that his panel would take up the following day a resolution to hold Mr. Wray in contempt of Congress.
The resolution was prompted by the FBI’s refusal to provide the committee with subpoenaed copies of an FBI form that documented allegations by a trusted bureau informant that President Joe Biden was involved with a foreign bribery scheme while serving as the vice president of the United States.
Besides Mr. Comer and the oversight panel, the Biden investigation has included extensive parallel work by the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
However, the next day, instead of the contempt resolution going forward from his committee to the House floor, Mr. Comer accepted a compromise with Mr. Wray that allowed only selected members of the congressional panel to review highly redacted versions of the record, contained in an internal FBI Form FD-1023.
The review was conducted “in camera,” meaning the redacted form could only be viewed, without copies being made.
By Mark Tapscot
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