McCarthy floats congressional inquiry of Biden’s response to Maui fires

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hinted Wednesday that his chamber may look into the federal response to deadly wildfires that ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui earlier this month.

“I’m very concerned about the response,” McCarthy told reporters at a 5G manufacturing facility in Syracuse. “How could you lose that many Americans in today’s age? I’m going to be working with committees to investigate what went on so this never happens again.”  

“The president’s response — ‘no comment’ — that’s unacceptable,” the speaker added.

On Aug. 13, President Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Del. “no comment” when asked about the rising death toll in Maui, triggering a wave of outrage.

At least 115 people have died as a result of the Aug. 8 blaze, with another 850 individuals missing, according to local authorities.

The wildfires were fueled by the winds of Hurricane Dora and are still not fully contained two weeks later.

Local officials on Maui have come under fire for failing to sound emergency alarms or approve the release of water in time to battle the flames.

Biden touched down in Maui Monday for a gaffe-plagued visit with first lady Jill Biden.

At one point, the president drew parallels between the wildfires in Maui and a small house fire he endured in the early 2000s.

“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, of what it was like to lose a home,” Biden said during his visit.

“Years ago now, 15 years … lightning struck at home on a little lake outside the home, not a lake, a big pond. It hit the wire and came up underneath our home,” he continued. “To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette and my cat.”

Biden traveled to Hawaii from Nevada, where he has been vacationing at a Democratic billionaire’s Lake Tahoe mansion.

The president has greenlit a federal disaster declaration for the beleaguered island and dispatched hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel there as well.

He has vowed that the federal government “will be there in Maui as long as it takes.” Relief authorized by the White House includes roughly $700 worth of aid per household afflicted by the infernos.

Biden was back in Lake Tahoe Wednesday, where he took a Pilates class and dished on whether he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated the downing of a private jet believed to be carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a revolt against the Kremlin two months ago.

“I don’t know for a fact what happened. But I’m not surprised,” Biden told reporters Wednesday. “There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don’t know enough to know the answer.” 

McCarthy has talked up the prospect of an impeachment inquiry against Biden when the House reconvenes next month over the first family’s overseas business activities.

“The thing that holds up whether we’ll do an impeachment inquiry: Provide us the documents we’re asking,” McCarthy told Fox Business Network Tuesday. “The whole determination here is how the Bidens handle this.”