PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: November 16, 2022
Washington, D.C. – Today, the Congressional Integrity Project (CIP) announced it will launch a multi-million dollar effort to expose the reality behind the politically motivated oversight and investigations targeting President Biden and his administration already announced by congressional Republicans. CIP will focus on spurious investigations designed to hurt the Biden administration and Democrats and to usher Donald Trump back into power – none of which address the real challenges affecting the daily lives of Americans. The midterm results make it clear that post election investigations, a focal point of the MAGA Republicans’ campaigns, have been repudiated by the American people.
Even without a mandate, MAGA Republicans in Congress have started outlining their priorities for 2023: relentlessly investigating Joe Biden, historic impeachments of Cabinet Secretaries, and likely efforts to impeach Biden himself.
In August, Representative Jim Jordan, set to chair the Judiciary Committee, even admitted Republicans plan to use the investigations to “frame up the 2024 race when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run again. And we need to make sure that he wins.” Jordan and other Republican leaders made investigations a focal point of their closing message to voters, by detailing their plans and even announcing a post-election press conference.
“Now is the time to expose this MAGA Republican party for what it truly is,” said Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project. “Congressional Republicans have telegraphed their plans for two years ever since Donald Trump lost the presidency. The Congressional Integrity Project will investigate the investigators, expose their political motivations and the monied special interests supporting their work, and hold them accountable for ignoring the urgent priorities of all Americans in order to smear Joe Biden and do the political bidding of Trump and MAGA Republicans. We are confident that when Americans see the real motivations and the facts behind these efforts, the hearings will backfire on Congressional Republicans.”
Instead of working with President Biden to curb inflation, lower costs for families, and keep our country strong, Congressional Republicans have already said they plan just to investigate, impeach, and impede progress. As the rest of the country wonders how the newly elected Congress will act to address these issues, MAGA Republicans are plotting their revenge.
CIP will fight back against these politically motivated attacks and stand up a comprehensive war room for rapid response, research, earned and paid media, social media, and coordination with allies.
CIP is being led by top Democratic operatives and progressive strategists. Kyle Herrig will serve as Executive Director and Brad Woodhouse and Leslie Dach will be senior advisers. Jeff Peck, a retired lobbyist, and former Biden Senate aide, is advising the group. Previously, Peck served as Treasurer and Vice Chair of the Biden Foundation and was a senior advisor to the Biden-Harris Transition.
The Congressional Integrity Project was initially launched in 2020 to call out corruption and misconduct in Congress.
Background
Congressional Republicans Are Openly Admitting Their Investigations Are a Sham. Trump and his MAGA allies have made investigations into the Biden Administration, Department of Justice, and so much more their number one priority – and they are already openly admitting these investigations are designed to target political opponents and influence public opinion for the 2024 elections:
- Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4): “so, all these things need to be investigated just so you have the truth, plus that will help frame up the 2024 race, when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run again and we need to make sure that he wins…” [Politico, 8/10/22]
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14): “Any GOP Member growing weak on this will sorely disappoint our country,” freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted earlier this week, linking to a story about the expected GOP push for impeaching Biden. Weeks prior, she told reporters: “There’s going to be a lot of investigations, I’ve talked with a lot of members about this.” [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Twitter, 11/2/22; New York Times Magazine, 10/17/22]
- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) predicted House Republicans would “impeach Biden ‘whether it’s justified or not’ because ‘the Democrats weaponized impeachment’ when they twice formally accused Trump of wrongdoing.” [The Washington Post, 1/12/22]
Bloomberg: GOP Vows Revenge for Trump Probes If They Win Congress. “Republicans vow they will waste no time tearing into the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home and other investigations of the former president if the GOP wins control of Congress in November, signaling a protracted fight with the Biden administration. Party leaders and committee chairmen-in-waiting have already pledged to hold aggressive hearings and issue subpoenas in the wake of Monday’s unprecedented search of the former president’s Florida home.” [Bloomberg, 8/10/22]
House Republicans Plot Investigative Revenge On January 6 Panel As Trump Itches For Payback. “House Republicans are plotting revenge on the select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, as the GOP weighs a broader effort to re-litigate some of Donald Trump’s biggest election grievances if it recaptures the House majority. The former President has been itching for payback and leaning heavily on his Capitol Hill allies to defend him against a recent slew of damaging revelations about his role in the deadly attack on the US Capitol. Now, as Republicans search for ways to undermine those findings, their party has started to lay the groundwork to investigate the select committee itself. Republicans have already asked the January 6 panel to preserve a broad range of documents in its possession – a signal they’re preparing to force those records to be turned over should they wield powerful committee gavels next year.” [CNN, 7/15/22]
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