US energy exports on agenda for G-7 meeting, McCarthy says

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he plans to promote US natural gas exports at a meeting with his Group of Seven counterparts in Japan.

McCarthy said the G-7 meeting of parliamentary speakers would discuss energy policy. He framed his agenda in the context of Europe’s efforts to wean itself off Russian gas in response to President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

“If we just replace Russian natural gas with American in Europe alone for one year, we would lower 218 billion tons of CO2 emissions because our natural gas is cleaner,” McCarthy said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “America would be economically stronger, our prices would be lower and the world would be safer.”

McCarthy faulted President Joe Biden’s response to the deadly fire in Hawaii, citing Biden’s “no comment” to reporters when asked about the deaths during a vacation in Delaware — a comment also criticized by Republican nomination front-runner Donald Trump.

“There are so many mistakes that have happened,” McCarthy said. He said he plans to travel to Maui to get a first-hand look after the fire that killed more than 100 people.

As the 2024 election campaign kicks into a higher gear after last week’s first Republican debate, McCarthy renewed his signals that the GOP could launch an impeachment inquiry into Biden focused on his family’s finances.

“If you look at all the information we’ve been able to gather so far it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said. 

He cited evidence gathered by House investigators, including testimony by an Internal Revenue Service official who has alleged that the federal government slow-walked an inquiry into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. 

While McCarthy has faced pressure from his right flank to step up the pressure on Biden, he sidestepped a question on whether he has the votes for an impeachment inquiry. He said there will be discussions when his members return from the congressional summer break.

“There’s a lot of questions still, and to be able to get the answers to these questions, you would need impeachment inquiry to empower Congress” to get answers, McCarthy said.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland made the prosecutor investigating the younger Biden a special counsel on Aug. 11. The White House has repeatedly said that the president wasn’t involved in his son’s business dealings. Asked about the special counsel’s probe, Biden said on Aug. 18 he wouldn’t comment on a pending investigation.