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 shut down—which Republicans are ignoring.
Democrats enter more documents into the record, some of it probably addressed what Gosar said. But I really can’t tell you what Gosar said.
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.
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
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.”
Greene waves around a picture of something. She says its a bathing suit. What it proves outside of Q-anon circles is unknown.
And Greene is finally up. She is shocked, shocked, by how the DOJ hasn’t acted on claims she sent about 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.
Quote of the day
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 cherry picking his past statements as some of the primary evidence.
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?
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.
Crockett asks to enter into the record a fact sheet from 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”
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 investiation.
“Repeating the same lies will not turn them into truth. Kind of like the election that he lost.”
Raskin says that Perry used an email that was “purportedly obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop” which hasn’t be 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.
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 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.
Greene shouts out “what about the Jan. 6 defendants.” Presumably she means it was wrong to prosecute insurgents.
Following Casar’s question, Democrats raise their hands. Republicans do not.
So much for equal justice under the law.
“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
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.
Rep. Greg Casar pulls up a quote from Jordan calling attempting to impeach Trump “political theater.”
“If you thought impeaching Trump was political theater, what would you call this? This, this is a disgrace.”
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 Republican’s claims.
Fallon halls 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, that leaning on this five years later is kind of astounding.
Fallon keeps saying “say it with me” like he leading a chant. No one is saying it with him.
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.
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, sneariest 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.
Finally, Jordan hammers in a 10 minute break. Summing everything up so far.
Yes, we are still here. And they are still there. And you are still better off just getting thing thing 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 chambers. Considering the utterly disconnected from reality FUD that we’ve heard so far, we may have to increase the thickness.
Back to the fray…
