evidence: Speaker Kevin McCarthy is for the first time publicly warming to the possibility of an impeachment probe against the president – at a moment when Washington is bracing for a potential third criminal indictment of his predecessor. He first floated the idea on Fox News Monday, then doubled down on Capitol Hill a day later. [...] McCarthy’s comments on impeachment mark the latest occasion when the speaker appeased the most right-wing, pro-Trump sectors of his conference on whom his narrow grip on the gavel depends. But ironically, his responsiveness to his right flank also risks alienating the very voters who backed Biden in 2020 but then helped hand control of the chamber to the GOP in last year’s midterms – albeit with a tiny majority. [...] McCarthy insisted on Tuesday that he was only contemplating an impeachment inquiry – rather than a full-scale drive to an impeachment vote – in the House. This approach could be a way to convince more moderate Republicans that he is merely seeking to access the broader powers needed to get information from the White House and elsewhere that the impeachment inquiries unlock.