White House slams MTG for threatening to halt federal funding over Biden impeachment inquiry

The White House tore into far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) this week after she threatened to vote against keeping the government fully open if the House of Representatives fails to start an impeachment inquiry into President Biden — even as the West Wing reportedly gears up for such a probe.

“The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement Thursday.

“The House Republicans responsible for keeping the government open already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply — like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA,” he added.

Earlier the same night, during a town hall in her Georgia district, Greene told constituents: “I’ve already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden.”

She also conditioned her vote on withdrawing US defense funding for Ukraine, cutting out federal spending for new COVID-19 vaccines and ending “Biden’s weaponization of government.”

That includes moving to “rein in the FBI,” defunding special counsel Jack Smith, who has twice indicted former President Donald Trump, and firing Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, Greene added.

“I will be happy to work with all my colleagues. I will work with the Speaker of the House. I will work with everyone,” Greene said at her town hall event. “But I will not fund those things.”

Congress has until Sept. 30 to avoid a partial shutdown by passing legislation to fully fund the government. The Senate is scheduled to return from its August recess Tuesday, while the House is due back the following week.

Republicans have accused Weiss of orchestrating a “sweetheart deal” for first son Hunter Biden following a five-year probe of alleged financial and gun crimes.

IRS whistleblowers testified early this summer that Biden’s Justice Department had interfered in their investigation, which had initially sought felony charges on $2.2 million in missed tax payments, to discourage inquiries about the president’s role in his son’s overseas business dealings.

The June 20 plea agreement proposed the first son receive two years of probation for failing to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018 and enter a diversion agreement for lying on a federal gun purchase form about his crack cocaine addiction.

It imploded in federal court on July 26 under persistent questioning from a judge, who drew attention to an immunity provision against past crimes despite prosecutors’ claim that the investigation was “ongoing.”

Greene and other House Republicans have intensified calls for a formal impeachment inquiry into the president in recent months, following several committee investigations into the first family’s alleged influence-peddling.

From 2014 to 2019, Hunter Biden served on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, where he earned roughly $1 million per year during a time when his father oversaw US policy on Ukraine.

The second son also flew to more than a dozen countries on Air Force Two, in one case securing an investment fund opportunity with Chinese government-owned entities 12 days after a trip to Beijing, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Another Chinese venture that was part of the Chinese Communist Pary’s “Belt and Road” initiative resulted in a $4.8 million payment to Hunter and first brother James Biden

The House Oversight Committee obtained bank records for several “shell companies” Hunter operated over the same time period that show at least $20 million flowing from foreign nationals to Biden associates.

Earlier records obtained by the committee revealed at least nine Biden family members received funds from the companies.

Hunter also mentioned having to fork over “half” of his income to his dad, text messages found on the first son’s abandoned laptop show. His business associates also discussed a 10% stake in a Chinese deal for the “big guy,” whom former associates James Gilliar and Tony Bobulinski have identified as Joe Biden.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last month requested the president’s bank statements, saying Biden has declined to answer questions about whether he benefited from his son’s overseas business deals.

On Sunday, McCarthy said an impeachment inquiry would be “a natural step forward” as it “provides Congress the apex of legal power to get all the information they need.”

Meanwhile, NBC News reported Friday that the White House is preparing a legal war room for the president’s expected impeachment inquiry, helmed by dozens of lawyers, aides and communications staff

Defense attorney Richard Sauber and former House Oversight Committee majority staff director Russell Anello joined the White House Counsel’s Office last year after Republicans won back the House in the midterm elections.

Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, and former Building Back Together spokeswoman Sharon Yang are also on board. Meanwhile, Biden appointed Ed Siskel, who served as former President Barack Obama’s legal counsel, to replace White House Counsel Stuart Delery last week.

“One of the House’s most powerful members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, just admitted that the House Republican impeachment is only a partisan stunt driven by the most extreme, far-right members,” Sams told The Post in a statement Friday. “If Speaker McCarthy proceeds to an impeachment simply to throw red meat to the right wing, as a condition for or distraction from far-right GOP efforts to shut down the government, it will prove once and for all this is a baseless, politically-motivated exercise not rooted in evidence and not about getting to the truth.

“For going on nine months now, the House Republican majority has wasted time and millions of taxpayer dollars on its wild goose chase against President Biden and his family, and they have continually turned up zero evidence to support their outlandish and false allegations – as even some Hill Republicans are admitting. Instead of doubling down on an even more costly and fruitless political revenge tour, House Republicans should join the President to work on the issues that really matter to Americans’ lives – and stop this threat of a government shutdown that would hurt our economy, cost people their jobs, and endanger FEMA and disaster response, efforts to combat fentanyl, and military pay.”