Fox News host Jessica Tarlov argued Tuesday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) must have “amnesia” when it comes to his previous comments on impeachment.
McCarthy officially called for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden Tuesday morning, which would seemingly conflict with his previous statements on the matter when it was then-President Donald Trump in the hot seat.
“Kevin McCarthy, I guess, has amnesia. He has short term and long term,” Tarlov said on The Five after her conservative colleagues welcomed the move. Tarlov cited the congressman’s Sept. 1 interview with Breitbart News in which he said that if an impeachment inquiry were to happen, “it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.”
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Tarlov also pointed to McCarthy’s stance in September 2019, after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) opened an impeachment inquiry into Trump via the same route he took Tuesday. In a resolution, McCarthy criticized Pelosi for “refus[ing] to seek approval of the whole House in this critical decision.” (On Oct. 31, Pelosi called a full House vote, which set the hearings in motion.)
Tarlov reasoned that McCarthy’s about-face is in part due to the influence of the far-right members of his party, some of whom were instrumental in him finally garnering enough votes to become Speaker after a drawn-out process this past January.
“McCarthy has made too many promises to too many lunatics,” Tarlov explained, offering up Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as one example.
Late last month, Greene told constituents that one of her demands in order to vote to raise the debt ceiling was a vote on an impeachment inquiry.
Trump, Tarlov added, has also reportedly been involved with the potential impeachment inquiry, having had weekly meetings with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and having dined with Greene on Sunday.
“He continues to do Donald Trump’s bidding,” Tarlov said of McCarthy, whom Trump has often called “my Kevin.”
“No one wants an impeachment inquiry. It’s never fun, it’s not going to help anything, but it will show that the GOP is a fiercely unserious party,” Tarlov concluded. “They have to keep the government open. That should be the priority. You should, I don’t know, have some plans to make life better for the American people. But no. You’re going to spend the next several months, by the way, collecting evidence—you’ve been doing that for nine months already and you just haven’t come up with anything.”
