Republicans Are Resurrecting Trump’s Burisma Lie

When House Republicans return from their recess this fall, they’re likely to have an item on their agenda besides pushing the government toward shutdown: impeaching Joe Biden. “You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth, and the only way Congress can do that is go to impeachment inquiry,” the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, said on Tuesday. Some Republicans are pretending that a mere inquiry doesn’t imply an actual impeachment, but it’s hard to imagine MAGA congressmen being satisfied with an investigation that stops short of bringing charges.

“What I’m hearing from Republicans is that Speaker McCarthy basically has no choice,” Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said when I asked him whether impeachment was likely. “This is what they want.” And with yet another Trump indictment imminent, I suspect impeachment momentum will only accelerate. Amid the drama of a presidential front-runner facing multiple felony charges, Republicans are going to need counterprogramming.