MAGA House Republicans on the Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, are holding another hearing in their baseless impeachment stunt – even though they haven’t been able to find a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing or call a single witness who can back up their claims. At today’s hearing, we are hearing from compromised witnesses from whom we’ve already heard Russian disinformation. This hearing was an embarrassment to Comer and his MAGA friends before it had even started. The MAGA impeachment investigation is dead. It’s time for Comer to move on.
Punchbowl News: Attendance issues at influence peddling hearing:
- That leaves Tony Bobulinski — who clashed heavily with Democratic investigators — and Jason Galanis — who’s appearing virtually from federal prison — as the GOP witnesses. Obviously, this isn’t ideal for Comer, who has faced growing questions from Republican colleagues over where the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden is heading.
- A new memo from Oversight Democrats takes aim at Bobulinski and Galanis, arguing their testimony lacks any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Joe Biden. “Republicans are attempting to erase exculpatory testimony from nearly 20 witnesses, instead depending on two discredited witnesses with significant ties to Donald Trump and his allies — and even they cannot provide evidence of wrongdoing,” the memo states.
- Asked about the fact that two of his witnesses aren’t coming, Comer told us to worry about “the timeline” — a reference to our item last week about House Republicans flailing on impeachment. “I’m taking a break from Punchbowl,” Comer said. “I’m looking at you like the comics section in the paper.” [Punchbowl News, 3/20/24]
Politico Playbook: Impeachment’s last hurrah?:
- House Republicans are outwardly gung-ho about their push to impeach Biden: “FULL STEAM AHEAD,” the Judiciary Committee GOP declared yesterday on X. But it’s hard to escape the feeling that the push is petering out, and Democrats are primed to use today’s House Oversight hearing on Biden’s “Abuse of Public Office” to sink a final dagger in the effort.
- “With any luck, this is the end of the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations,” Raskin said. “The whole thing is just an embarrassment and a disgrace, and it has a very strong whiff of Russian propaganda now.” [Politico Playbook, 3/20/24]