GOP Impeachment Fiasco Continues: They Turn Against Their Own Witness

Representative James Comer on Thursday refused to let Democrats introduce testimony from one of his own star witnesses as evidence in the impeachment inquiry hearing into Joe Biden.

House Republicans held their first hearing on Biden’s alleged corruption. They have for months accused him of wrongdoing via his connection to his son Hunter’s business dealings. But they have yet to provide any actual evidence. The House Oversight Committee, which Comer chairs, had previously interviewed Hunter’s ex-business partner Devon Archer, touting his testimony as the thing that would finally break the dam open.

But when Democratic Representative Daniel Goldman tried to introduce Archer’s testimony as evidence, Comer spoke over him and tried to recognize another Republican to speak instead.

Goldman asked if they weren’t allowed to make points of order, to which Comer replied, “You keep speaking about no evidence. Why don’t you all just listen and learn?”

“I’m trying to introduce evidence!” Goldman snapped.

Republicans released Archer’s testimony in August, and his comments completely debunk everything the GOP has claimed about Biden and his son. Archer repeatedly stated that Biden was never involved in his son’s business and Hunter never asked his father to step in.

Archer said he was “not aware of any” wrongdoing by the president, and said he disagreed with the allegation that Biden accepted a bribe. So it’s really no wonder Comer is desperate to keep that testimony out of public record.

Representative Jason Smith struggled to explain how Republicans’ “evidence” actually shows that Joe Biden is guilty of corruption.

Republicans held their first hearing Thursday for the impeachment inquiry into Biden. They have for months accused him of wrongdoing via his connection to his son Hunter’s business dealings. But they have yet to provide any actual evidence.

Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, sought to connect those dots in a Wednesday press conference. In particular, he cited a WhatsApp message Hunter allegedly sent in June 2017 to a business associate, saying he would not “sign over my family’s brand.” (Which, despite Republicans’ claims, actually appears to imply that Hunter was trying to keep his family and work separate.)

When NBC reporter Ryan Nobles pointed out that 2017 was well after Biden had left the office of vice president, and well before he had declared his presidential campaign, Smith short-circuited.

Smith stumbled over his words, asked Nobles to repeat the question, and finally accused the reporter of being biased.

“Apparently, you’ll never believe us,” Smith said before moving on. He failed to actually answer the question.

Republicans continue to insist that they have proof of Biden’s corruption. But not only do they repeatedly fail to produce it, they sometimes even accidentally admit that they have none. One of their own witnesses in the impeachment inquiry hearing said Thursday that nothing they have “meets the standard” of an actual impeachment.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is hitting back at Ron DeSantis’s exaggerated claims about California crime.

During the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, which was held in Simi Valley, California, DeSantis claimed that he had heard several stories pointing to a crime increase in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“Just being in Southern California over the last couple of days, my wife and I have met three people who have been mugged on the street,” he said. 

After the debate, Newsom quickly fired back and invited DeSantis to be real about “crime rates in his own backyard.”

“This may be an opportunity, I appreciate, to look up ‘Jacksonville, Florida,’ and he may want to familiarize himself with ‘Miami, Florida’ and his homicide rates, which are 100 percent higher than San Francisco,” Newsom said.

DeSantis has been known to exaggerate crime rates in blue states while making factually inaccurate statements about the reality of crime in Florida.

It’s hard to do a proper comparison of crime between California and Florida, in part because of the latter’s flawed reporting methods. But in 2022, San Francisco had 56 homicides, while Jacksonville had 154 and Miami had 132, according to the Major Cities Police Violent Crime Report. And in general, violent crime—including the murder rate—is decreasing nationwide.

Newsom also took a swing at the Republican narrative that crime runs rampant in liberal states.

“I think people are getting a little exhausted by the fact that we’re focusing on New York’s crime rate and not the crime in these other Republican-led cities in Republican states,” Newsom said.

“Crime is a real issue, but I find the hypocrisy, the unwillingness to be honest with the American people, and the unwillingness to take responsibility—Ron DeSantis, take responsibility for his own crime rates in his own major cities. I find that curious, not surprising,” he added, calling out DeSantis directly.

Republicans’ own witness in their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden completely destroyed their claims multiple times on Thursday.

The House GOP held its first hearing on Biden’s alleged corruption. Republicans have insisted for months that the president is guilty of criminal wrongdoing, but they have yet to produce any actual evidence of their claims.

As one of their first witnesses, Republicans called on Jonathan Turley, a conservative legal scholar who previously served as a Justice Department tax attorney. Turley was set to act as a content witness to help analyze the Biden family’s business dealings—but even he admitted there’s not enough evidence.

“In fact, I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of an impeachment,” he told the hearing.

Turley had previously expressed this belief in written testimony submitted ahead of the hearing. “I do not believe that the evidence currently meets the standard of a high crime and misdemeanor needed for an article of impeachment,” he wrote.

Turley also said in his written statement that he did believe it was “warranted” for the House to investigate potential connections between Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings. But Republicans have been doing just that for months, and they still haven’t found proof linking the president to Hunter Biden’s work.

A second Republican witness, forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky, shared a similar conclusion. “I am not here today to even suggest that there was corruption, fraud, or any wrongdoing,” he told Congress.

“In my opinion, more information needs to be gathered and assessed before I would make such an assessment.”

As Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin pointed out, “If the Republicans had a smoking gun, or even a dripping water pistol, they would be presenting it today.”

“But they’ve got nothing on Joe Biden,” he said in opening remarks.

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump made a big show of appealing to union autoworkers at a campaign event in Michigan, but it turns out that none may have even attended.

Trump opted to give a speech Wednesday night at Drake Enterprises, a nonunion factory, instead of participating in the Republican debate. Drake management had invited him to appear, and the United Auto Workers union—which is currently on strike—does not represent the Drake workforce. About 400 to 500 people attended the speech, even though Drake only employs about 150, The Detroit News reported.

It’s unclear how many union workers, or even autoworkers, attended Trump’s speech. One person held a sign that said “union members for Trump” but told reporter Craig Mauger she wasn’t in the union. Another person held a sign that said “auto workers for Trump” but admitted he wasn’t an autoworker.

Undeterred, Trump said he supports the ongoing UAW strike for fair wages but warned that the “current negotiations don’t mean as much as you think.”

The real danger, he insisted, is electric vehicles. He described the transition from gas engines to electric as “a transition to hell” and said the auto industry “is being assassinated.”

His speech stands in stark contrast to the approach of Joe Biden, who on Tuesday became the first sitting U.S. president to ever join a picket line.

Trump is no stranger to filling a room with fake supporters. Former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski admitted in 2021 that they had paid actors to attend Trump’s first campaign launch in 2015.