House Republicans on Thursday began the process of appeasing their putative leader by pretending that impeachment is in order for allegations they cannot support with evidence.
As Donald Trump faces criminal indictment on 91 felony charges backed up with copious evidence, House Republicans strive to convince the public that President Joe Biden is really the “crooked” one.
They want to convince Trump they’re fighting for him and shouldn’t be hit with primary challenges and to convince Trump’s most ardent fans not to target them for the Trumpian brand of “removal” attempted on January 6th.
To meet those ends, they opened an impeachment inquiry rather than address the looming prospect of a government shutdown (which they know, thanks to his public statements saying so, that Trump is in favor of).
The hearing featured three witnesses brought by Republicans — and one from Democrats — all four of whom admitted that they did not bring any actual evidence of wrongdoing on Biden’s part.
Democrats met the challenge, calling out the hypocrisy and projection of their GOP colleagues.
Republicans, for their part, handled it by trying to block and cover their points, including calling for a recess rather than addressing the question of whether Rudy Giuliani should be called as a fact witness, and talking over a Congressman who tried to introduce the testimony of one of the star witnesses.
Jonathan Turley, a Fox News analyst and Republican witness, opened up his testimony by admitting that there is not sufficient evidence for articles of impeachment, undermining the entire proceedings.
In fact, Representative Summer Lee (D-PA), given her turn to speak, re-emphasized this and noted that hours into the inquiry, Republicans had failed to present an iota of evidence. Republicans responded by trying to interrupt and shout over her!
At another point in the hearing, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) entered into evidence a press release about the arrest of Lev Parnas for campaign finance violations.
Though he was trying to somehow make Parnas’ behavior a black mark on Biden, Parnas was — as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) pointed out — an associate of Rudy Giuliani, who was actually involved in helping try to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine.
Speaking of Giuliani, when a Democratic Representative tried to call for a vote on making him appear before the committee, Republicans suddenly deflected by voting for a recess, instead.
That’s not all they tried to block.
In previous hearings, they’ve heard testimony from Devon Archer — supposedly their star witness against the Bidens.
Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) tried to ensure that his testimony was entered into evidence — specifically, the portion where he admitted that there was no actual access to Joe Biden for his son’s business colleagues.
Republicans spoke over him multiple times before finally admitting the material into evidence.
Representative Gerry Connoly (D-VA) did an excellent job of highlighting hypocrisy by asking the witnesses about buildings in foreign countries with Biden’s name on them, Biden’s business dealings around the world, and a hefty multi-billion-dollar deal Biden’s son entered into — before correcting himself and saying actually, those things were Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In fact, Republicans didn’t just project but outright lied.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) caught them using manipulated images and presented the evidence that a text message presented by Republicans was a fake.
Still, perhaps the most important testimony of the day was by Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), who demonstrated that the entire hearing is being done at the behest of the former president, not for the American people.
She shared social media posts and history showing that the hearing has been orchestrated by Trump, that House Republicans are keeping him in the loop, and that the impending shutdown is also at his behest.
Watch the clips below.
First, Turley admits that there is no evidence for impeachment — though he does believe an inquiry is justified.
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley, one of the GOP’s impeachment witnesses, says: “I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment… But I also do believe that the House has passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry.” pic.twitter.com/x3cfYKwr5o
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 28, 2023
Here’s James Comer interrupting Representative Lee as she points out his lack of evidence.
The heat appears to be getting to James Comer, as he interrupts Dem Rep. Summer Lee when she says the GOP doesn’t have a “smoking gun” or even the “evidence of evidence.”
“Can you read a bank statement?!” Comer shouts. pic.twitter.com/lLYQmcbDJL
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 28, 2023
Comer’s projection of Parnas’ crimes onto the Bidens.
COMER: I’d like to enter a press release about Lev Parnas being sentenced to 20 months in prison for campaign finance, wire fraud, and false statement offenses
RASKIN: Yeah, he worked with Rudy Giuliani pic.twitter.com/AupgK6t3DK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 28, 2023
Watch Comer refuse to acknowledge a point of order from Goldman.
Comer really doesn’t want Archer’s testimony introduced.
Comer: You keep speaking about no evidence
Goldman: I’m trying to introduce evidence pic.twitter.com/0IWdx7vrfw
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 28, 2023
Connoly presents evidence that Republicans are projecting, as usual.
Brilliant stuff here from Connolly pic.twitter.com/F3rZlBmUe8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 28, 2023
Ocasio-Cortez brings the evidence that the whole event is a sham.
AOC: “We are wasting our time … this is an embarrassment” pic.twitter.com/XXaEtPXPDj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 28, 2023
Stansbury presents the evidence that the entire matter is being carried out for the benefit of Donald Trump.
Stansbury uses her questioning time to highlight how Trump is directing House Republican through his social media posts and also behind the scenes pic.twitter.com/BnfNYQsLTt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 28, 2023
Meanwhile, as Republicans waste their time and energy on a bogus impeachment inquiry, the nation is barreling toward a harmful government shutdown due to the GOP mismanagement of the legislative process.
Fun times!
The post PUBLIC DISTRUST: GOP impeachment inquiry falls flat with hilarious Dem trolling appeared first on Washington Press.
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