Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said impeachment articles targeted at President Joe Biden and other administration officials would lead to “dead ends” during a TV appearance Friday.
Ivey, a House Judiciary Committee member, said Republicans’ efforts to impeach Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas “damaging” to their party. During his appearance on "The Hill" on NewsNation, Ivey said he sees “no case” against the current president and that Republicans are unclear in what they think his wrongdoing is.
“I think they’re heading in the wrong direction,” Ivey said.
Ivey, also said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given “way too much ground” to Freedom Caucus members. He said he thinks they “definitely” want "one or maybe all three" administration members impeached.
“I think the Speaker's struggling to give them enough to keep them on board, but without destroying the party as a whole in the upcoming elections,” Ivey said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced a barrage of criticism Wednesday from House Republicans who, in recent months, have floated impeaching him over what they say is his dereliction of duty in securing the southern border.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said an effort to impeach President Biden that lacks due process would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.
Graham said during a Friday appearance on “The Hill” on NewsNation that Republicans argued that Democrats did not give former President Trump the right to due process during the impeachment proceedings against him in 2019 and 2021, and he does not believe anyone should be impeached without a hearing being held.
Graham noted that the impeachment against former President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s went through a process that allowed him to defend himself.
“But what’s being done in the House to go straight to the floor with articles of impeachment — we criticized the Democrats for not giving Trump any due process. I think this is dead on arrival,” he said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) introduced a privileged motion in the House this week to force a vote on impeaching Biden over his handling of federal immigration policy and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. But the motion caught many of her own colleagues by surprise and did not have support from several notable GOP members in the House and Senate, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Senate Republicans raised questions about the effort, and some said they considered it to be frivolous and not meeting the level required for impeachment. The motion was ultimately referred to the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, avoiding the vote for now.
McCarthy said Boebert’s motion is “one of the most serious things you can do as a member of Congress” and an investigative process needs to occur first to move forward.
“Throwing something on the floor actually harms the investigation that we’re doing right now,” he said.
Republicans have been pushing to impeach various members of the Biden administration, including Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has introduced articles against all of them as well as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves.
Some Republicans warned after Boebert's effort failed that the attempt will give Democrats the ability to paint the GOP as extreme, with one Republican strategist calling Boebert’s effort “frankly stupid.”
Graham said impeaching any president without “some process in place” is “irresponsible.”
“It’s important that we follow the process, and if you believe that President Biden has done something this impeachable, take it through the committee, give him a chance to respond, and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
The GOP’s government weaponization subcommittee launched its first hearing Thursday, offering a dizzying flood of claims that highlight the partisan divisions over the role of the federal government and the legitimacy of the newly created panel.
Republicans formed the committee as a way to counter alleged abuse of a government they say is abusing its power to target conservatives. Democrats see the committee as the weapon itself, a vehicle for the GOP to forward conspiracy theories that will mobilize the Republican base ahead of 2024.
Helmed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of both the subcommittee and the overall Judiciary Committee where it is housed, Thursday’s hearing included a quartet of current and former lawmakers, with the GOP inviting former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party, to testify.
“Over the course of our work in this committee, we expect to hear from government officials and experts like we have here today. We expect to hear from Americans who've been targeted by the government. We expect to hear from people in need. And we expect to hear from the FBI agents who have come forward as whistleblowers,” Jordan said Thursday.
“Protecting the Constitution shouldn't be partisan,” he added.
Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.), the top Democrat on the panel, countered that the conception of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government itself was purely partisan.
“I'm deeply concerned about the use of this select subcommittee as a place to settle scores, showcase conspiracy theories and advance an extreme agenda that risks undermining Americans' faith in our democracy,” Plaskett said at the outset of the hearing.
The hearing, convened to broadly explore politicization of the FBI and the Justice Department, went even wider, with a first panel of current and former lawmakers offering a roadmap of the suite of potential topics the panel could cover.
References to the investigation of former President Trump, probes into President Biden's son Hunter Biden, alleged abuse of authority at the IRS, complaints of media coverage and social media company actions were woven together in opening statements from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rob Johnson (R-Wis.).
Grassley complained of a “triad” of influences seeking to limit a number of his own inquiries, stymied by what he said were partisan media, the FBI and Democratic colleagues.
“What I’m about to tell you sounds like it’s out of some fiction spy thriller, but it actually happened,” he said.
Johnson said his 10-minute opening statement “barely scratched the surface in the striking complexity, power and destructive nature of the forces that we face.”
The two, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the oversight committee who served as the party’s witness Tuesday, each took a page out of Jordan’s book, rattling off a list of examples of impropriety, whether by the government or allies of Trump.
“Weaponization is the right name for this federal subcommittee. Not because weaponization of the government is targeted. But because weaponization of government is its purpose,” Raskin said.
“The odd name of the weaponization subcommittee constitutes a case of pure psychological projection.”
A second panel included Jonathan Turley, an attorney and often-used Republican witness, as well as two former FBI agents, including James Baker, who penned the book “The Fall of the FBI: How a Once Great Agency Became a Threat to Democracy.”
In questions with the witnesses, lawmakers' own assessments of the FBI were on display.
“We come not to trash the FBI, but to rescue the FBI from political capture,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment of Trump, asked Jordan to turn over transcripts of its interviews with the FBI whistleblowers they’ve spoken with.
He also said it was the former president who politicized the agency.
“I worked in the Department of Justice for 10 years alongside a lot of FBI special agents, and their biggest concern and the most damage to the morale of the FBI occurred after Donald Trump started attacking the FBI because he was being attacked by the FBI. And that is what this subcommittee is all about,” he said.
During a campaign rally in Gastonia, North Carolina on Wednesday, President Donald Trump called Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff a “watermelon head” for returning to his “Russia, Russia, Russia” talking points to attack him in this election.
Trump mocked the House Intelligence Chairman for believing that Hunter Biden’s recovered “laptop from hell” could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Trump On Alleged Hunter Biden Laptop: ‘This Laptop Is A Disaster’
President Trump said that Schiff probably did not even believe what he was saying, noting that the Democrat was “no dummy.”
On Hunter Biden, Trump alleged, “Explosive emails from Hunter Biden also show that Hunter was negotiating with a Chinese are tied to the Communist China party to receive $10 million a year for introductions well that sounds reasonable I think you do that. I think I’d even do it.”
“This laptop is a disaster,” Trump added.
“How the hell do he ever let go of this sucker. He got to have it fixed I guess he forgot to pick it up. What the hell?”
It’s the LAPTOP FROM HELL
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) October 21, 2020
Adam Schiff Is A Habitual Anti-Trump Conspiracy Theorist
After that, the rally crowd began chanting, “Lock him up, lock him up, lock him up.”
Trump replied, “He should be. Honestly that guy should be locked up.”
Between the Democrats’ impeachment embarrassment and the latest controversy involving Hunter Biden, Rep. Schiff has been an unrelenting foe of this president.
Schiff was a leading proponent of the “Russian collusion” hoax, and so it should be no surprise he continues to do anything he can to undermine the Trump administration.
Schiff has already claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal is a “Russian disinformation” smear – though Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe says that is false.
Ratcliffe has said that not only does the intelligence community not believe that, but they have not shared any intelligence on the matter with Congress.
Trump refers to Rep. Adam Schiff as "the watermelonhead."
President Trump continues to campaign incessantly, per his Wednesday appearance in North Carolina, while his Democratic opponent continues to hide out in his basement.
How much will voters get that Donald Trump is out there working hard to earn their votes?
How much will they understand that Joe Biden is hiding out, because the less seen and heard he is, the better?
Time will tell.
In the meantime, “watermelon head” Adam Schiff will no doubt continue to do his worst and see Russian agents behind every bush and under every bed.
This week, Senator Ted Cruz said Democrats made a “very serious strategic error” in making their case for removing President Donald Trump from office. And, that flub meant that testimony from Hunter Biden, 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, was now necessary.
House Managers Made ‘Strategic Error’
“I think the House managers made a very serious strategic error today,” Cruz said to reporters. “Adam Schiff’s arguments to open the day today directly drew into question Hunter Biden and made not only his testimony relevant, which it already was, but it is now critical because the House Democrats have built their entire case on the proposition that any investigation into Burisma and corruption was a sham, that it was completely debunked.”
This is particularly interesting because Schiff has explicitly said including Hunter Biden in the trial was not only unnecessary, but would be an “abuse” of the impeachment process.
Cruz pressed on regarding the former vice president’s son.
Ted Cruz said this week that Dems have made a “very serious strategic error” while trying to bolster their case for removing Trump from office and that the testimony of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was now needed. https://t.co/5PJSJJrYDv
“The problem is there is very significant prima facie evidence of corruption,” Cruz continued. “Hunter Biden, the son of the then-sitting Vice President Joe Biden, was being paid $83,000 a month, a million dollars a year, this is someone with no background in oil and gas, no experience, and at the same time Joe Biden has publicly admitted that he threatened Ukraine, he withheld, or threatened to withhold a billion dollars of aid unless and until Ukraine fired the prosecutor that was potentially investigating the company on which his son served on the board.”
Hunter Biden’s employment by Burisma is curious to say the least.
Democrats are very curious about President Trump’s every move. Hunter Biden? Not so much.
We need to ‘hear the testimony of Hunter Biden’
Cruz added, “If the House managers case is based on the allegations of corruption concerning Hunter Biden and Joe Biden being a sham than it is directly relevant and I got to say the need for the Senate to hear the testimony of Hunter Biden and the need for the Senate to grant the White House lawyers the ability to take that testimony has become all the more relevant.”
Later, Cruz responded to comments made by House Judiciary Committee Chairman and impeachment manager Jerry Nadler during the Senate trial.
“One last observation: Yesterday, representative Nadler threw up great indignation and he said out of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian companies, how can it be that President Trump was just concerned with this one, this one company Burisma?” Cruz said. “Well, the obvious answer that the House managers ignore is Burisma was the only Ukrainian company that had the son of the vice president that had real prima facie indications of American corruption.”
The Democrats Case For Impeachment Is Getting Weaker By The Day
“We’re not talking about some abstract interest in any sort of corruption that might exist in Ukraine but if you have a sitting vice president making public policy decisions to benefit his family to the tune of a million bucks a year that raises a serious question of corruption and a president not only is justified in asking for that to be investigated, but has a responsibility to see that that’s investigated and that was a question not about Ukrainian corruption, but a question about American corruption and Ukraine being integral in helping investigate whether there was, in fact, American corruption,” Cruz said.
“I think we’re gonna hear another two and a half days of arguments from the House Democrats, but the longer they talk at this point, the weaker the case is getting,” Cruz concluded.
The Democrats case for the impeachment Donald Trump is getting weaker by the day. A Hunter Biden testimony could be its death knell.