The White House has sent a memo to news outlets, urging them to ramp up scrutiny of the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
The memo, titled “It’s Time For The Media To Do More To Scrutinize House Republicans’ Demonstrably False Claims That They’re Basing Impeachment Stunt On,” was sent by Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations.
The attempt to pressure the media comes a day after Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) moved Tuesday to direct House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden, and underscores how the impeachment drive is likely to be a major factor as the White House and GOP leaders gear up for next year’s elections.
The fight could also be an issue as Congress and the White House battle over funding the government. Lawmakers face a Sept. 30 deadline to prevent a shutdown.
The Hill was among the organizations that received the memo, which criticized the press for focusing more on the process of the impeachment drive in the House than on its substance.
The House investigations have centered on President Biden’s son Hunter Biden and his business dealings in Ukraine. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has not found that the president directly financially benefited from his son’s business or proved that he made any policy decisions because of them.
Hunter Biden was expected to formally plead guilty over the summer to two misdemeanor charges related to his failure to pay taxes, but that plea deal fell apart during his initial court appearance on the matter when a judge questioned the parameters of the agreement. A special counsel has since been appointed to look into the case.
“[R]eporting that solely focuses on process rather than substance is woefully inadequate when it comes to something as historically grave as impeachment,” Sams wrote.
“It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies,” the memo continued. “When even House Republican members are admitting that there is simply no evidence that Joe Biden did anything wrong, much less impeachable, that should set off alarm bells for news organizations.”
The impeachment drive by the House GOP has divided the Republican Party, with a number of Senate Republicans making it clear they oppose the effort and think it lacks evidence.
McCarthy decided to go forward with the inquiry without a vote, a reversal from his earlier position.
Sams separately Tuesday shared a letter from McCarthy to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from 2019, during the impeachment proceedings into former President Trump, to highlight that McCarthy pushed back on her moves at the time to open an inquiry without a vote.
The White House memo argues that news organizations are doing a disservice to the American public by covering impeachment just as a “a process story” and “Republicans say X, but the White House says Y.”
“And in the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth,” Sams wrote.
The memo also included a document outlining what the White House said were “false claims” from lawmakers about Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
The White House has long been adamant that the president was not in business with his son, and the president has said himself that he never talked with Hunter Biden about his business dealings.
McCarthy’s formal endorsement of impeachment comes after weeks of him saying that he thought the House probes would eventually develop into an impeachment inquiry.
Updated 11:25 a.m.