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Live coverage: Republican impeachment inquiry (Part 2)

by Mark Sumner for Daily Kos

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday, Sep. 28, 2023 Thursday, Sep. 28, 2023 at 10:59:02am PDT

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: Demonstrators wear shits with the picture of Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) on them during a Committee hearing titled â€œThe Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.â€ on Capitol Hill on September 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing is expected to focus on the constitutional and legal questions House Republicans are raising about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) — Demonstrators wear shits with the picture of Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:20:25 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Comer finishes up by saying Democrats have done it wrong in the past by having evidence upfront before holding an impeachment. Then he goes on to spend the rest of his closing statement just repeating unsupported allegations.

Then Jordan brings it home with the screaming, arm-waving, sweat-stained anger you know he wanted to display all day. All of it, all of it, around the completely debunked Burisma conspiracy.

And that, thank God, is that. Thanks for coming. There are no prizes under your seats.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:16:56 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Raskin takes a much-appreciated time out to talk about Ukraine, and while Republicans are spreading debunked conspiracy theories about Ukraine in the hearing, out on the House floor Republicans are trying to remove $300 million from the continuing resolution that’s intended to help Ukraine in the war against Russia—a war that really does involve mass kidnapping and mass sexual abuse.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:14:00 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Raskin calls it a “Seinfeld impeachment”—an impeachment about nothing. Once again mentions that they’re not calling Giuliani or Parnas, or any other fact witnesses. Also, they might like to have some facts.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:12:49 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Finally, we are now going into closing statements. Raskin up first.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:12:03 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Kelly Armstrong. What do you mean Rep. Armstrong? I was promised this thing was over two reps ago. Arrgh.

Good lord they have so, so little to say, but this one is really amusing. Armstrong says the guy who Hunter Biden threatened in 2017 was killed, and this was connected to a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. And Joe Biden was somehow responsible for Russia selling a portion of its state oil company to China, all while he was not holding any office or running for any office.

This is exciting. Did anyone check to see if Joe Biden brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? Shouldn’t we know?

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:06:16 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Shockingly, Biden signed off on a communications denying a charge made against him about doing something that he didn’t do. And one of his staff people CC’d his son.

Burlinson really has him now. Or, you know, not.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:03:55 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

FRACK. There is another. And it’s not Princess Leia. It’s Rep. Eric Burlinson. And, shockingly, he hits the exact same point as Edwards and Langworthy.

Sigh.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 8:01:22 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Comer gets a last chance to throw to O’Conner using a question that involves “alleged” twice. O’Conner satisfies him by saying that if everyone gets to investigate everything, she’s sure they can find something.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:58:47 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Right to the bitter (oh, so bitter) end, Turley can be counted on to give Republicans some space-filling, vaguely legalesque, agreement.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:56:13 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Folks, I believe Rep. Nick Langworthy is the last, I’m saying the last, representative to speak today.

And what’s really fu-king thrilling is that he is repeating, almost to the word, what Edwards said right in front of him. You know, it’s beginning to seem as if Republicans really don’t have anything at all on Joe Biden. Huh.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:51:38 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Chuck Edwards is unfamiliar with words, and reading, and stuff. I do like “ogglyargarch.” I think this must be someone who does a lot of looking at things.

Holy sh-t, his stumbling through this thing is making Lauren Boebert’s presentation seem like a champion TED Talk.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:49:15 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

If there’s anyone who has gotten plenty of speaking time today it’s Jonathan Turley. Republicans know they can throw anything to him, and he will chew up airtime making vague references to the federalist papers and what Thomas Jefferson kept in his broom closet.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:44:42 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Russell Fry is just disgusted that in spite of “endless” evidence Democrats aren’t on board with impeaching Joe Biden. And now, back to the absolutely debunked 1023 form and the absolutely debunked Shokin investigation into Burisma.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:43:08 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Goldman enters into the record the bipartisan letter showing that Republicans wanted Shokin removed. Jordan just sounds kind of defeated.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:41:42 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Glenn Ivey keeps everything extremely calm and cool while pointing out, again, that dismissing Shokin was something that was wanted by the U.S., the U.K., the IMF, and Republicans in the Senate. There was no Burisma investigation. Shokin was removed because he was corrupt and ineffective.

”There’s really no linkage there between the president and derailing any investigation.”

Ivey also repeats Archer’s definitive statement President Biden had no knowledge or involvement in Hunter Biden’s business.

Finally, Ivey also points out that Weiss was appointed by Trump, and that Weiss was allowed to stay after Biden’s election at the request of Republicans.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:37:38 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Jordan is really irritated that Goldman keep reintroducing the Devon Archer testimony because the actual testimony contradicts Republican claims. This byplay is one of the few fun things in this long day.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:34:21 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Lauren Boebert is up, so what does she do? Show the same section of Devon Archer’s testimony that we’ve already seen, and talk about a dinner we’ve already heard about.

Boebert says all this as if it’s a great revelation, even though we just heard it literally five minutes ago.

Again, every one of these Republicans is doing their questioning as if the only possible concern is how it will look when clipped for Newsmax. If that means just going through exactly the same things, in exactly the same order as a dozen other Republicans, that’s cool. They’re not trying to build a case or make progress. The whole day is just about their five minutes.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:30:33 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib enter documents into the record that refute the last two Republicans to speak.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:29:05 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

It’s Rep. Katie Porter. I forgot she was here. Hi, Rep. Porter.

Porter asks each of the witnesses whether they believe that this inquiry was “legitimate.” The only one who says yes is Turley.

Then she cracks Turley squarely over the head with a previous statement from McCarthy. Hilariously, Turley thought it was taken from his own writings.

If you’re wondering why Democrats keep bringing this up, it’s because if McCarthy did have a vote, it would fail. So this is both a poke at the legitimacy of the hearing, and a vivid demonstration of McCarthy’s weakness.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:24:36 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Tim Burchett starts off by attacking President Biden for sending money to Ukraine. Hardworking Americans and their hardworking dogs are paying their taxes for dadgum Biden who didn’t pay his dadgum taxes on dadgum money from China. Dadgummit.

And yes, he said “dadgum.”

Burchett becomes the latest Republican to attack Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Also, if “Biden Family Crime Spree” was on your card, you can mark that one off now.

Jordan gets more time to repeat claims that Weiss was limited in ways that Weiss denies. You might think we could get Weiss in to testify about that, instead of having Turley talk about “illusions.” But that would mean having a fact witness, and Republicans are allergic to facts.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:19:19 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Rashida Tlaib contrasts the nonsense of this hearing with important hearings she’s been involved with in the past, and the damage done by a shutdown—which Republicans are ignoring.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:16:47 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Democrats enter more documents into the record, and some of it probably addressed what Gosar said. But I really can’t tell you what Gosar said.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:14:22 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Paul Gosar wins the award for being the worst at reading from his own notes. Honestly, Gosar is so monotone and is engaging in such a long string of … whatever, that even the most dedicated Republican Biden hater had to take this five minutes for a bathroom break.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:09:28 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Moskowitz is joining some previous Democrats in showing statements that Republicans have made in the past, but these are not the same statements just being repeated, but new statements from Comer, Grassley, et. al.

It’s a good job of reinforcing and building on the statements previously cited.

“They’re all one-upping one another in the Donald Trump-friend-Olympics, trying to get invited to the sleepover at Mar-a-Lago.” — Rep. Jared Moskowitz

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:04:56 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Jared Moskowitz is thrilled with how this hearing is going. “As a former director of emergency management, I know a disaster when I see one.”

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 7:03:23 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Greene waves around a picture of something. She says it’s a bathing suit. What it proves outside of QAnon circles is unknown.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:59:39 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

And Greene is finally up. She is shocked, shocked, by how the DOJ hasn’t acted on unsupported claims that she sent about human trafficking by Hunter Biden. And because it was done in 2020, by the Trump DOJ, it was election interference. By Trump-appointed officials against Trump.

If you thought Greene was going to say or ask anything reasonable … no, sorry. You never thought that. Apologies.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:54:02 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Quote of the day:

Omg wow this pic.twitter.com/fnYcAXzcNf
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 28, 2023

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:53:06 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Goldman, who has been doing some heavy lifting on documents to this point, finally gets his opportunity to talk. He points out that the first hearing against Donald Trump had a full dozen fact witnesses, as opposed to zero.

And that, in addition to blocking an appearance by Giuliani, Republicans also won’t allow Devon Archer to testify, even though they are cherrypicking his past statements as some of the primary evidence.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:51:15 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Joe Biden is 80. Every tax form he’s written since the Stone Age is public record. All his homes and bank accounts are on record. Do the Republicans think Biden is waiting until he’s 88 to retire and live it up on all the secret money?

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:50:02 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. William Timmons says he’s going to “make it simple” for the American people by bringing it down to “What did Joe Biden know, and when.”

Now we’re down to “a Biden” as well “the Biden family.”

Now we’re in Kazakhstan. And Burisma. And the CCP. Because Hunter Biden is not only the smartest man in business, but able to predict the future actions of world leaders. Honestly, Hunter should be a billionaire if he was capable of half what the Republicans are accusing him of.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:44:45 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Crockett asks to enter into the record a fact sheet from the Congressional Integrity Project, Comer and Jordan object.

Crockett: “Of course y’all gonna object, but we gonna talk about it.” Crockett then proceeds to read a list of Trump activities in China that dwarf anything that Republicans have even tried to throw at Biden.

Crockett then goes to Gerhardt to see how many times Republicans have said “if” in regard to the claims against Biden. Gerhardt “has been keeping a tally.” The number is 35.

Crockett holds up a picture of classified documents being stored in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago and delivers the quote of the day.

“These are our national secrets. Looks like in the shitter to me”

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:37:37 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Jasmine Crockett points out that the form 1023 that Republicans keep citing has been “repeatedly debunked,” including by the person who brought it to the FBI originally. The FBI investigated the claims and closed the investigation.

“Repeating the same lies will not turn them into truth. Kind of like the election that he lost.”

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:35:49 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Raskin says that Perry used an email that was “purportedly obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop,” which hasn’t been verified.

Raskin makes it clear that there is no chain of custody on this information. Jordan seems to think it’s okay because Hunter Biden is suing for breach of privacy. How that makes it okay unverified information, is left to the imagination.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:32:44 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Scott Perry wants to hold Hunter Biden guilty for simply being Joe Biden’s son. Perry once again demonstrates, after some slide fumbling, that Republicans either have so little to go on, or are so uncoordinated, that they keep hitting the same line in the same document.

Perry gets in a claim that Hunter Biden was “frequenting prostitutes.” So if that was on your bingo card, there you go.

Boy, a lot of people seem to send money to “The Biden Family.” Which would be … who? Perry is really big on “the Biden family.”

And now it’s snooze along with Turley time.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:28:23 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Greene shouts out, “What about the Jan. 6 defendants?” Presumably she means it was wrong to prosecute insurgents.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:26:17 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Following Casar’s question, Democrats raise their hands. Republicans do not.

So much for equal justice under the law.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:24:30 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

“I for one am grateful we have an independent judicial system where a president’s son, and a former president, can be investigated and prosecuted if they violate the law. It is my firm belief that Hunter and Trump should both face trial and, if found guilty, face the consequence of the crimes they’ve been accused of. Can everyone on the Oversight Committee say the same thing?” — Rep. Greg Casar

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:21:15 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Casar is doing a good job of explaining how a big factor behind the Republican inquiry is to just make everyone look corrupt. Because if everyone is corrupt, then Trump’s corruption, and theirs, is no big deal.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:19:48 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Rep. Greg Casar pulls up a quote from Jordan calling attempts to impeach Trump “political theater.”

“If you thought impeaching Trump was political theater, what would you call this? This, this is a disgrace.”

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:17:40 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Goldman enters the letter that Fallon was talking about, which actually shows that Shokin was not investigating Burisma. It won’t make a dent in Republicans’ claims.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:16:01 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Fallon hauls out the 1023. The unverified 1023. The widely debunked 1023 that is based on the repeatedly debunked Burisma conspiracy theory.

And now we’re deep into Shokin territory. Really, leaning on this five years later is kind of astounding.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:13:27 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Fallon keeps saying “say it with me,” like he’s leading a chant. No one is saying it with him.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:12:07 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

And we’re back with Comer now sitting in the big chair.

Rep. Pat Fallon is first up with the big news that Hunter Biden spoke with his father. This may actually be shocking to some Republicans.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:09:29 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

In general, Democrats regard these hearings as a team sport. They talk in advance, divide up topics, and use their statements to support each other and leverage a series of themes.

Republicans view them as a chance to promote themselves individually by showing that they are the cleverest, meanest, sneeriest of all. Which is how you get someone shouting about China, and someone else talking about Romania, and a dozen people all using the same line because no one bothered to even notice that their colleagues already covered it.

UPDATE: Thursday, Sep 28, 2023 · 6:02:39 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Finally, Jordan hammers in a 10-minute break. Summing everything up so far.

Another House GOP staffer tells me “Comer and staff botched this bad.”

Tells me the information presented by Republicans has been “confusing” and Democrats are “on message.”

“How can you not be better prepared for this?”
— Stephen Neukam (@stephen_neukam) September 28, 2023

Yes, we are still here. And they are still there. And you are still better off just getting things drip-fed to you at a safe distance.

Think of this as the layer of lead that stands between your brain and the kryptonite-level nonsense spewing from the House chamber. Considering the utterly disconnected from reality FUD that we’ve heard so far, we may have to increase the thickness.

Back to the fray …