impeach Biden
12 22
generic for biden admin include mayorkas
MERRI OK
russians: smirnov, luft, boboluski vekselberg
POSO
see hannity INGRAHAM FOX
at 1st just knee jerk mirror BS, embarrassing that trump only one 2x
see maga mike
MTG said early, about what? TBD?!
---
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7 25
Impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden - Wikipedia
on September 12, 2023, Kevin McCarthy, then-speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announced an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The inquiry was conducted by the House's Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, was named to lead the investigation.
Speaker McCarthy had twelve days earlier said an inquiry would require a majority House vote. He initiated the inquiry stating that recent House investigations "paint a picture of corruption" by Biden and his family.[1][2][3][4] No congressional investigations had yet discovered any evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden himself.[a] The inquiry held a public hearing on September 28, 2023.[9]
Despite neither the earlier Comer committee investigation nor the impeachment inquiry finding evidence of wrongdoing by the president, on December 13, 2023, majority House Republicans unanimously approved a resolution to formalize the inquiry. Democrats unanimously voted against the resolution.[10] Lacking evidence and Republican appetite to proceed to impeachment hearings with their thin House majority, by March 2024 the impeachment inquiry was winding down.[11][12] The three investigating committees released a nearly 300-page report on August 19, 2024, alleging "impeachable conduct" but did not recommend specific articles of impeachment, focusing primarily on the activities of the president's son Hunter and his associates, and the president's brother, James Biden.[13]
On February 15, 2024, the FBI arrested and charged Alexander Smirnov, who was the central[14][15] figure in bribery allegations against Biden, for lying to investigators and fabricating an uncorroborated[14] story to damage Biden's reelection campaign, and that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved" in manufacturing the story.[14][16][17][18] In December 2024, Smirnov plead guilty.
Background
Main articles: Efforts to impeach Joe Biden, Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory, and Weiss special counsel investigation
:{:{Since 2020, Republicans have advocated for investigations into the business dealings of Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, who they alleged engaged in corrupt activities including influence-peddling, and shared money with his father.[19][20] They have sought to directly connect Hunter's financial affairs to Joe, and demonstrate that Joe benefited from Hunter's business dealings. A specific allegation that Joe sought to protect Hunter from a corruption investigation by arranging to have the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin fired has been repeatedly shown to be false.[21] }:
They have also accused the Department of Justice of interfering in a federal investigation into Hunter, which has been ongoing since 2018, to give him preferential treatment.[22][23][19] Congressional Republicans have launched multiple committee investigations to look into these allegations, including the House Oversight Committee investigation into the Biden family. By the time of the impeachment inquiry, these investigations had not produced evidence of wrongdoing by the president.[b] Over the course of the committee investigations, McCarthy alleged that the Biden administration engaged in "obstruction", although Oversight Committee chair James Comer said on Fox Business in June 2023, that for every subpoena he had issued during his investigation, "we've gotten 100 percent of what we requested, whether it's with the FBI or with banks or with Treasury."[24]}:
Former president Donald Trump, as well as some Republican members of the House of Representatives and Senate, have expressed a desire to retaliate against the impeachments of Trump by beginning an impeachment inquiry of Biden.[c] Following Joe Biden's inauguration, various Republican members of Congress have engaged in several efforts to impeach him. The first of these efforts occurred when articles of impeachment citing the Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory were filed by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene one day after Biden's inauguration.[29]
In the 118th Congress, Republicans were able to hold a majority in the House of Representatives, comprising several members of the Freedom Caucus. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House after several days and many votes as opposition—primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus—mounted against him; as part of negotiations, McCarthy conceded to his opponents[30] and faced pressure from Republican members to either impeach Biden or launch an impeachment inquiry against him.[2] The Fiscal Responsibility Act, an act drafted to resolve the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis, weakened McCarthy's standing with members of the Freedom Caucus who opposed his negotiations with Biden.[31]
In June 2023, the House of Representatives voted to begin an investigation into Biden's removal and referred two impeachment articles written by Lauren Boebert to committee. McCarthy privately told his members that he would consider impeachment if the Oversight Committee investigation produced sufficient evidence.[31] Trump has privately and publicly encouraged impeaching Biden. On Truth Social, he lambasted Democrats for impeaching him amid the Trump–Ukraine scandal. Leading up to the inquiry, Trump met with House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik and Greene, discussing impeaching Biden both times.[32]
Initiation of the inquiry
Announcement by Kevin McCarthy of formal impeachment inquiry, September 12, 2023
In an early September interview with Breitbart News, Kevin McCarthy promised that he would only open an impeachment inquiry into Biden with a full house vote.[33] On September 12, 2023, McCarthy directed three House committees—the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jim Jordan, the Oversight Committee, chaired by Comer, and the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Jason Smith—to hold a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. McCarthy did not hold a floor vote on the impeachment inquiry and he did not appear to have sufficient Republican support to pass a floor vote.[2][3][4] The chairmen of all three committees had been involved in preceding investigations into the Biden family. McCarthy asked Comer to lead the inquiry.[22] When announcing the inquiry, McCarthy said that earlier findings of House investigations "paint a picture of corruption" involving Biden and his relatives, particularly regarding the business dealings of Hunter.[1]
McCarthy alleged that Joe Biden used his official office as vice president to coordinate with Hunter's business contacts and noted that Joe Biden was aware of Hunter's business dealings. He also brought up allegations that Joe Biden benefitted from Hunter's foreign business dealings.[34][35] McCarthy argued that the Oversight Committee investigation demonstrated and warranted further investigation by the House of Representatives and that an impeachment inquiry would allow for a stronger investigation.[36][22] McCarthy concluded the allegations by saying that Biden's family was given "special treatment" by the Biden administration despite these "serious allegations."[20]
According to McCarthy, the impeachment inquiry would give House Republicans "the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public". Traditionally, congressional committees are given more sweeping authority to issue and enforce subpoenas when done so as part of an impeachment inquiry. McCarthy has drawn parallels between the Biden and Nixon administrations, accusing the Biden administration of using "government much like Richard Nixon by denying us to get the information that we need".[37]
Despite claiming that he would hold a vote, McCarthy opened the inquiry independently. McCarthy has defended this reversal, saying that then-speaker Nancy Pelosi "changed the precedent" in launching an impeachment inquiry into Trump in 2019, when Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry a month before a floor vote was eventually held to approve it.[38] During the 2019 impeachment inquiry against Trump, McCarthy had asserted that he believed that an authorizing vote must be held in order for there to be a legitimate impeachment inquiry.[39]
On December 13, 2023, the House of Representatives voted 221–212 to formalize the inquiry. Lawmakers voted along party lines to back a resolution that Republicans say will give them more power to gather evidence and enforce legal demands.[40] The investigation, which began in January 2023 and was recently formalized, has yet to provide evidence Biden committed any high crimes or misdemeanors.[41][42]
House committee investigations
The House Oversight Committee plans to focus on the Biden family and their finances, the House Judiciary Committee on alleged coverups, and the House Ways and Means Committee on tax sensitive information.[43]
Comer said that House Oversight investigators would seek additional emails dating back to the Obama administration and witness testimony from people alleging misconduct by the Biden family. The Oversight Committee also plans to pursue bank records for Hunter and James Biden, Joe Biden's brother.[43] The Oversight Committee's ranking member, Jamie Raskin, who was lead manager during Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, has referred to the GOP investigation as a "complete and total bust."[44] The House Oversight Committee officially held its first hearing on September 28.[45]
Jordan said that the House Judiciary Committee planned to subpoena lawyers in the Justice Department's tax division who worked on the Weiss special counsel investigation into Hunter, headed by United States Attorney David Weiss. The ranking member, Jerrold Nadler, called the impeachment inquiry "absurd," and said that it was "poisoning our vital oversight work."[46]
The Comer committee issued a subpoena for Hunter's bank records on September 25, finding he received two wire transfers from Chinese nationals in summer 2019 that listed his father's Delaware home as the beneficiary address. Comer said, "Joe Biden's abuse of public office for his family's financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this money from Beijing?" Hunter's attorney Abbe Lowell asserted the wires were loans from a Chinese company in which Biden had invested in 2017, and he used his equity in the investment as security for the loans. Lowell said the money went into "his new bank account which listed the address on his driver's license, his parents' address, because it was his only permanent address at the time."[47]
Smith held a press conference on September 27 to discuss allegations of Biden influence peddling and a two-tiered justice system. Smith alleged that Hunter sent a WhatsApp message in June 2017, telling a business associate that he said he was not willing to "sign over my family's brand." Smith said it was clear that Hunter was referring to "Vice President Joe Biden's political power and influence." Joe's term as vice president had ended months earlier, but Smith said Biden was a presidential candidate at that time; Joe announced his candidacy in April 2019. Smith also discussed an email from a Weiss deputy telling investigators to remove all references to Joe Biden as "political figure one" from a search warrant for Hunter. When a reporter mentioned the email was sent in August 2020, when Trump was president, Smith suggested that was inconsequential to the underlying allegation of a two-tiered justice system. When pressed on the timelines of his comments, Smith said he was "not an expert on the timeline" but would like the Bidens to "tell us about all the timelines."[48][49]
On September 28, the House Oversight Committee held the first hearing of the inquiry. Comer said in his opening statement that investigators had "uncovered a mountain of evidence" and alleged Biden used his official government role for his family's financial gain, but committee members did not present clear evidence to support the allegation. Three expert witnesses called by committee Republicans testified there was not impeachable evidence against Biden at that point. Committee Republicans made several false or misleading statements during the hearing. Nancy Mace falsely stated, "We already know the president took bribes from Burisma." Jim Jordan falsely said Hunter had acknowledged he was unqualified to sit on the Burisma board, though Biden had said "I was completely qualified to be on the board" in a 2019 interview, but added he probably would not have been hired if not for his surname. Jordan also misled by suggesting the Justice Department improperly blocked investigators from examining Joe Biden.
A Trump-era Justice Department prosecutor had directed that references to Joe Biden be removed from a search warrant for Hunter, explaining there was no legal basis to reference Joe Biden in the warrant. Byron Donalds presented a text message from James Biden to suggest that his brother Joe Biden would help in Hunter's business matters, though preceding texts showed the discussion related to the younger Biden's alimony payments and other personal expenses. Pat Fallon asserted "Hunter admitted that he talked to his dad about business, specifically Burisma," referencing a 2019 New Yorker interview. In 2015, an Obama administration special envoy to Ukraine raised the issue of Hunter sitting on the Burisma board with the vice president. Hunter recounted in that 2019 interview that "Dad said, 'I hope you know what you're doing,' and I said, 'I do'".[50][51][52]
While McCarthy was ousted as speaker on October 3,[53] McCarthy's successor Mike Johnson (elected on October 25) confirmed in an October 27 Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that the inquiry will continue.[54][55] The previous month, Johnson had previously expressed support for the impeachment inquiry after it was announced, claiming then that he believed there to already be enough justification to impeach Biden.[56] However, in his October 27 Fox News interview, Johnson took a different tone on his current judgement of guilt, claiming, "we've not predetermined the outcome of this. We've not prejudged it."[54]
Comer discussed the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden in late October 2023, stating that "because we have so many documents, and we can bring these people in for [private] depositions or [public] committee hearings, whichever they choose".[57] After Biden's son Hunter was subpoenaed in November to testify, Hunter preferred to testify publicly instead of privately, to avoid misrepresentations of the proceedings, stated Hunter's lawyer; Comer responded that the subpoenas for a December 2023 private deposition were "not mere suggestions open to [Hunter] Biden's interpretation or preference".[57]
On November 7, 2023, Weiss testified before the House Judiciary Committee, the first time a special counsel had testified before Congress during a probe. Weiss stated that he was the "decision-maker" in his investigation of Hunter, and that "other United States Attorneys, the Tax Division or anyone else at the Department of Justice" had not interfered in the case.[58]
The Washington Post reported that during a November 7 luncheon with the Republican Governance Group, Speaker Johnson indicated there was insufficient evidence to initiate formal impeachment proceedings.[59] Johnson said on December 2 that he believed he had enough House votes to continue to impeachment proceedings, as Republicans said a vote might be held within days, though they acknowledged they had not found evidence of misconduct by the president.[60][61][62]
On January 18, 2024, Hunter Biden agreed to attend a deposition with the House Oversight Committee at the end of February. Hunter and his legal team previously made two separate appearances at the U.S. Capitol since the subpoena was first issued in November 2023, requesting that the deposition take place in a public setting.[63]
By April 24, 2024, Comer admitted to colleagues that the inquiry had run its course. With the narrow majority, looming election, and inconclusive evidence, it was expected bringing an impeachment to a floor vote would not succeed. However a House Oversight Committee spokesperson stated that the impeachment inquiry is ongoing and impeachment is 100% still on the table.[64]
In May 2024, Rep. Cory Mills met with speaker Mike Johnson to discuss an impeachment resolution. This resolution accused Joe Biden of an "abuse of power" by engaging in a quid pro quo when he threatened to withhold weapons shipments to Israel in order to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not launch an attack on the Gaza city of Rafah. Mills compared Biden's action with Trump's when Trump in 2019 unsuccessfully tried to pressure Volodymyr Zelenskyy into investigating Biden and his family[65] and to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine–not Russia–was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election.[66] This resulted in Trump's first impeachment. "Others say there is a distinct difference between Biden's motivation − steering policy − and Trump's, which they say was [for] personal and political gain."[65]
On August 19, 2024, House Republicans released a report which accused "Biden of participating in a conspiracy to help his relatives receive millions of dollars from foreign interests"[67] The release of the report overlapped with the first day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.[68]
Witness credibility
Alexander Smirnov
In October 2022, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley began asking the FBI for information about a source he believed they had interviewed in 2020. Grassley had heard that the source had claimed to have spoken to a Ukrainian oligarch who claimed to have bribed Joe Biden. On May 3, 2023, Republicans subpoenaed the Justice Department for a copy of the form on which the informational tip had been documented.[69] The Justice Department replied that the form "establish[es] little beyond the fact that a confidential human source provided information and the FBI recorded it", warned them that the allegation might not be true and that many interviewees provide unreliable information to the FBI, and reminded them that it is normal "for law enforcement agencies to decline to confirm or deny" potential evidence in ongoing investigations.[70] Grassley obtained the FBI form and posted it to his website, claiming he was pressuring the FBI to further investigate the claim and be transparent with the public.[69]
On February 15, 2024, the DOJ announced that Alexander Smirnov, the informant in question, was being charged with making a false statement and creating a false record.[71] In a February 20 court filing, prosecutors said Smirnov had admitted that Russian intelligence officials had passed a story about Hunter Biden to him.[72] That same day, House Republicans sent two copies of an interview request letter to former State Department official Amos Hochstein, the first with a paragraph citing Smirnov's allegations as the basis for their investigation, followed by a revised version without that paragraph.[73] Though Smirnov had been released on bond, on February 22, he was taken into custody.[74]
Responses
Republican reaction
Comer and Jordan expressed support for the impeachment inquiry's potential to provide them with expanded investigative powers, with Jordan saying that it would ramp up "the pace at which we're going to try to get information from the executive branch", as courts may provide more support for investigators' demands for information. Jordan has also said that a vote on the inquiry would be helpful in giving weight to the significance of the impeachment inquiry.[75][76]
At the time it was announced, there was a divide among Republican congressmen in their attitudes toward the inquiry.[77][78] After the inquiry was announced, multiple Republican members of Congress expressed support for the inquiry, indicating that they believed there to be substantial enough grounds to launch one. This included House members Mike Garcia, Nick LaLota, Tony Gonzales, and Senators John Cornyn and Mike Lee.[d] Some Republican members of Congress who had previously publicly urged against launching an inquiry adopted a pro-inquiry stance following the inquiry's initiation.[79][82] Many Republicans in the more electorally competitive swing districts of the House of Representatives voiced support for the launch of the inquiry.[79][83] Contrarily, multiple Republican members of Congress voiced concerns after the launch of the inquiry.
:{:{A number, including House members Ken Buck, David Joyce, Don Bacon, and Senator Shelley Capito, commented that they had not seen evidence to warrant an impeachment inquiry. In a Washington Post opinion piece, Buck—a member of the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus—wrote that his fellow House Republicans "who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history," specifically refuting their allegations that Biden acted improperly regarding the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin. }:
However, some members who have raised concerns about the lack of available evidence still support holding an impeachment inquiry to allow for a complete evidentiary record, including House members Dusty Johnson and French Hill and Senator Mitt Romney. Other Republican members of Congress, such as House members Brian Fitzpatrick, George Santos, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, and Marco Rubio, have expressed concerns about "cheapening" and lowering the bar for impeachment.[e] Matt Gaetz referred to the impeachment inquiry as "failure theatre".[88]}:
Trump said that the impeachment inquiry was potentially motivated by revenge on his behalf, stating that if he hadn't been impeached, "perhaps you wouldn't have it being done to them".[89]
Freedom Caucus members Matt Gaetz and Matt Rosendale denounced the impeachment effort as a political stunt in September. During an invitation-only video conference, Gaetz said, "I don't believe that we are endeavoring upon a legitimate impeachment of Joe Biden ... I think it's for the sake of having another bad thing to say about Joe Biden."[90]
Democratic reaction
Biden responded to the impeachment inquiry by stating, "Well, I tell you what, I don't know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me. And now, the best I can tell, they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government". He then stated that he was not focused on impeachment and said, "I've got to deal with the issues that affect the American people every single solitary day".[91] The White House also sent a memo to U.S. news organizations, calling on them to "scrutinize House Republicans' demonstrably false claims" and disputing allegations of misconduct.[92]
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed to defend Biden "until the very end" and compared the impeachment inquiry to a kangaroo court.[93]
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized McCarthy for bowing to conservative pressure and labeled the impeachment inquiry as a witch hunt.[34]
Reaction from academics
:{At the launch of the impeachment inquiry, both University of Missouri School of Law professor emeritus Frank Bowman, Columbia Law School professor Philip Bobbitt (both of whom have authored texts on impeachment), as well as University of North Carolina School of Law professor and constitutional law expert Michael Gerhardt, commented that they had not seen anything they would consider to be evidence against Biden. They all consider this inquiry to be a departure from past presidential impeachment inquiries, which they say were preceded by significant evidence of wrongdoing by the president.[94][95]
Both Bowman and Bobbitt expressed concern that the inquiry will cheapen the concept of impeachment, thereby damaging the federal government's checks and balances. Calling the impeachment inquiry "absolutely shocking", Bowman remarked that the Republicans behind the impeachment effort, "have no interest at all in preserving the basic integrity of the process, or indeed their own power as legislators in legitimate opposition and tension with the executive branch."[94] Gerhardt called the launch of an inquiry "an outcome in search of a process."[95] Gerhardt would later be called by Democrats as an expert witness during the opening hearing of the inquiry.[96]}:
Upon the launch of the inquiry, George Washington University Law School professor and constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley said "the suggestion that [existing evidence] does not meet the standard for an inquiry into impeachable offenses is an example of willful blindness".[97] Turley was later called on by Republican members of Congress to testify as a witness during the first impeachment inquiry hearing, where he also stated that Congress had failed to connect Hunter's alleged influence peddling to President Biden. He also stated that some of the details they had gathered "really do gravitate in favor of the president".[98] Turley had previously been a witness during the 2019 impeachment inquiry against Trump, having been called to provide expert testimony on behalf of Trump's defense, as well as a witness in the impeachment of Bill Clinton, testifying in favor of impeaching Clinton.[99]
Analysis
:{:{The initiation of the impeachment inquiry was seen by numerous Republican members of Congress and political analysts as potentially being an effort by McCarthy to satisfy hardline right-wing members of the House's narrow Republican majority and avoid a motion to vacate the speakership. It came amid tenuous negotiations McCarthy was having with his caucus ahead of the fiscal year deadline to pass appropriations bills and avert a government shutdown. }:
Far-right members of Congress openly tied impeachment demands to other legislative priorities or threatening to vacate the speakership. In late August, Greene stated, "I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry." In September, Gaetz said Republicans should be "forcing votes on impeachment. And if Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long".[f] Within a day of the inquiry announcement, several far-right members of the House had declared that McCarthy's launching of an impeachment inquiry had not placated them into dropping their demands related to the budget or affected their attitudes on a motion to vacate.[104][105]}:
During his September 12 announcement of the initiation of the inquiry, McCarthy made several claims to justify initiating the inquiry. He said "a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family," though the informant merely relayed information to the FBI that the CEO of Burisma had alleged, and the informant could not vouch for the veracity of the allegation.[21] McCarthy said that bank records showed that "nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies," and "more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates were flagged as suspicious activity by US banks," though Joe Biden himself was never implicated in the payments and the existence of suspicious activity reports does not alone establish wrongdoing.[21][20] McCarthy also stated that "eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners [that] resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his son's and his son's business partner's" accounts. However, one of Hunter's business associates denied that Joe was engaged in business-related discussions.[20][21]
Legal standing
The House of Representatives is not legally obligated to start an impeachment inquiry with a vote on the House floor, as it is not required under either the Constitution or House rules.[38] However, the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice ruled in January 2020 that impeachment inquiries are valid only if authorized by the full House, following the impromptu impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.[106] The opinion remains binding on the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, as all are part of the executive branch. It also binds future presidential administrations unless revoked or superseded.[39] The opinion finds that without a floor vote, subpoenas issued by House committees would lack the weight normally granted when pertaining to an impeachment inquiry. This was relevant in the initial period of the investigation, before a floor vote was held.[107]
Opinion polling
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10 24 impeach harris?! boebert
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[### Another GOP Biden 'informant.' Another indictment and link ...
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com › Politics › The Fix](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/21/another-gop-biden-informant-another-indictment-link-russia/)
Feb 21, 2024 — It turned out the witness was Gal Luft, who the government said had skipped bail after his indictment for alleged arms trafficking and foreign ...
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GUK
The leader of a US thinktank who was indicted last year on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of China has been arrested and will be extradited in the coming weeks or months, prosecutors said on Monday.
In July 2023, federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Gal Luft of paying a former high-ranking US government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil.
‘Missing witness’ who accuses Biden of China corruption charged with being China agent
Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/11/gal-luft-biden-china-agent-charged)
Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen, was arrested in Cyprus last February but fled while released on bail, prosecutors said in a court filing. He has since been re-arrested, prosecutors said, without specifying when or where.
Luft, the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said in posts on X last year that he had never been an arms dealer and that the charges were “politically motivated”.
The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security describes itself as a thinktank focused on energy, security and economic trends. The group last year said it was convinced of Luft’s innocence.
Neither Luft nor the institute immediately responded to requests for comment on Monday.
The US justice department is cracking down on alleged agents of adversaries like Russia and China. Last week, federal prosecutors charged two employees of Russian state media network RT with scheming to influence the 2024 election.
They also charged a former New York state government employee with promoting China’s interests. Congressional Republicans have touted Luft as a potentially useful source in their investigation into alleged corruption by Joe Biden. The White House has dismissed the Republican inquiry as unsubstantiated.
Once Luft is extradited, he will appear in Manhattan federal court and be asked to enter a plea.
REF GUK
A US thinktank chief who accuses Joe Biden of China-linked corruption involving his son, Hunter Biden, and who has been presented by Republicans as a “missing” witness against the president, was charged with China-linked offenses including failing to register as a foreign agent, arms trafficking and violations of sanctions on Iran.
Gal Luft, 57 and a dual US-Israeli citizen, is co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), based in Maryland, near Washington.
An indictment handed down in November was unsealed on Monday with Luft described as a fugitive, having skipped bail in Cyprus in April while awaiting extradition.
Announcing the charges, Damian Williams, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said Luft “engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes.
“He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking US government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”
News of the charges seemed guaranteed to infuriate Republicans in Congress seeking to use Hunter Biden’s troubled personal life and business dealings in attacks on his father, potentially including attempts to bring about impeachment proceedings.
Last Friday, James Comer of Kentucky, chair of the House oversight committee, told the rightwing network Newsmax Luft was “a credible witness that the FBI flew all the way to Brussels to interview and sent several agents to interview”.
Earlier, in a video published by the New York Post, Luft denied wrongdoing. He was arrested, he claimed, to stop him testifying to Comer’s committee about alleged China-linked corruption involving the Bidens.
“I’m not a Republican,” Luft said. “I’m not a Democrat. I have no political motive or agenda … I did it out of deep concern that if the Bidens were to come to power, the country would be facing the same traumatic Russia collusion scandal [the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Donald Trump and Moscow] only this time with China.”
Saying he “warned the [US] government about potential risk to the integrity of the 2020 elections”, Luft added: “Ask yourself, who is the real criminal in this story?”
He skipped bail, he said, “because I did not believe I will receive a fair trial in a New York court”.
In New York, prosecutors allege Luft “agree[d] to covertly recruit and pay, on behalf of principals based in China, a former high-ranking US government official … including in 2016 while the former official was an adviser to the then-president-elect [Trump], to publicly support certain policies with respect to China”.
The former official and an alleged Chinese co-conspirator were not named.
---
[### Gal Luft
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Gal_Luft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal_Luft)
Gal Luft is an Israeli-American think-tank director, author and alleged foreign agent. Luft was a lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces and is the ...
[### Gal Luft
Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
http://www.iags.org › galluft](http://www.iags.org/galluft.htm)
Dr. Gal Luft is co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) a Washington based think tank focused on energy, security, and economic ...
[### U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Co-Director ...
Department of Justice (.gov)
https://www.justice.gov › usao-sdny › us-attorney-anno...](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-co-director-think-tank-acting-unregistered)
Jul 11, 2023 — Gal Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes.
[### US thinktank leader arrested on charges of acting as ...
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › us-news › article › sep](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/09/gal-luft-arrested-china-agent)
Sep 9, 2024 — Gal Luft, a US-Israeli citizen, was previously arrested last February in Cyprus but fled while released on bail.
[### Gal Luft - Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
LinkedIn · Gal Luft
2K+ followers](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gal-luft-ba410710)
Potomac, Maryland, United States · Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
Experience: Institute for the Analysis of Global Security · Education: Johns Hopkins SAIS · Location: Potomac · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Gal ...
Missing: think tank
[### Co-Director of Think Tank Indicted for Acting as ...
Department of Justice (.gov)
https://www.justice.gov › archives › opa › co-director-t...](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/co-director-think-tank-indicted-acting-unregistered-foreign-agent-trafficking-arms-violating)
Jul 10, 2023 — Gal Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen, allegedly evaded FARA registration while working to advance the interests of China in the United States.
[### Gal Luft
Climate One
https://www.climateone.org › people › gal-luft](https://www.climateone.org/people/gal-luft)
As the Executive Director of the Institute for Analysis of Global Security, Luft specializes in geopolitics, energy security, and economic warfare.
[### Gal Luft Middle East Forum
https://www.meforum.org › gal-luft](https://www.meforum.org/gal-luft)
Dr. Gal Luft is co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a Washington-based think tank focused on energy security.
[### Who Is Gal Luft? Hunter Biden Informant Charged With ...
Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com › who-gal-luft-hunter-bide...](https://www.newsweek.com/who-gal-luft-hunter-biden-informant-charged-acting-china-agent-1812131)
Jul 11, 2023 — Gal Luft, a 57-year-old Israeli-American think tank chief who claimed to have evidence tying Hunter Biden to corrupt business practices in China, has been ...
[### T18-Exhibit-400-HWM-Gal-Luft-Interview- ...
House Ways and Means (.gov)
https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov › 2023/09](https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/T18-Exhibit-400-HWM-Gal-Luft-Interview-Requested-Redactions_Redacted.pdf)
LUFT has lived in Israel for the last 11 years, and is a citizen of both the United States and Israel. LUFT's primary work is in China. LUFT is aware of the ...
7 pages
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8 24 jdv remorse, kh surge dnc hit so desperate to ctr pgm
fox moves on to Comer’s Walz-China smears as his Biden impeachment inquiry collapses
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 08/20/24
Fox News hasn’t learned any lessons from the collapse of its long-sought impeachment probe of President Joe Biden. The network’s biggest stars remain eager to peddle the GOP’s politically motivated investigations of Democrats in hopes of returning Donald Trump to the White House.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) announced on Friday that his committee had opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “longstanding connections to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and officials” and was seeking information from the FBI about the governor’s “problematic engagement” with China. While the connections are purportedly “longstanding,” Comer’s interest in them manifested just days after Vice President Kamala Harris named Walz as her running mate.
Comer pitched his new probe on Monday night to Fox’s Jesse Watters, who nodded along as the chairman claimed Walz “really has embraced China's view of the world, the Chinese ideology, which is communism.” Comer also cited Walz’s trips to China as an educator to claim that “it’s very possible” China had been “grooming” the Minnesota governor “to try to have a foothold in our government.”
“It says a lot about Kamala Harris that she picked this guy to be her No. 2,” concluded Watters, who is apparently incapable of subtext.
“Yes,” replied Comer, not pretending that his work is nonpartisan.
Video
CitationFrom the August 19, 2024, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime.
This is absurd. Walz is obviously not a communist; he’s a mainstream Democrat who regularly touts his work helping small business owners.
Nor is Walz some sort of Manchurian candidate. Beginning in 1989, he frequently visited China as an educator in the 1990s and 2000s — first teaching in the country and later shepherding American students for visits — and has expressed admiration for its people. But as a member of Congress, Walz proved an “outspoken critic of the Chinese government,” The New York Times reported, noting his “sharp critiques of China’s human rights record” and meetings with dissidents from Tibet and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Trump’s companies received millions of dollars from Chinese government entities while he was in the White House, and the former president regularly praises Chinese president Xi Jinping and vouched for his efforts to contain COVID-19 as the virus spread worldwide — all without triggering concern from Comer or Fox’s hosts.
:{:{Comer’s McCarthyian turn on Fox came just hours after the chairman concluded his Biden impeachment inquiry with a whimper. House Republicans launched that investigation in response to pressure from Fox, which showered Comer with attention over his hapless probes into the business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter.}:
But the impeachment inquiry all but collapsed after the Justice Department indicted a key “informant” who had claimed the president had taken a hefty bribe for allegedly making up the story. The probe’s final report, released Monday morning, reveals “almost nothing … that wasn’t known or understood before the formal investigation began,” The Washington Post’s Philip Bump reported.}:
But Fox stars like Watters are happy to be used as a propaganda tool by the GOP, and so he’s seamlessly moved on to Comer’s next bit of nonsense.
“Please keep us posted on these developments, this is an important investigation,” Watters told Comer at the end of their interview. The House Republican will surely oblige him.
related
:{:{01/05/24}:
- ### Fox News' failed attempt to use Hunter Biden to gin up an impeachment of his father, by the numbers
:{:{04/25/24}:
12/05/23
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an 4 24
house Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) recently told a GOP colleague, according to CNN, that he just wanted to be ‘done with' his 15-month-long impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
CNN reported last week that the Kentucky lawmaker has already begun to set his eyes on other goals — "ambitions to run for higher office one day, including potentially running for governor, according to lawmakers who have spoken to him."
In a Sunday, April 28 op-ed published by MSNBC, author and journalist Paul Weldman suggests Comer, his GOP colleagues, and Fox News media allies want the public to somehow forget about the probe, and just how unsuccessful it was — despite the fact their nominee for president is swimming in pools of the "corruption" they've been looking for.
READ MORE:'Used by the Russians': Moskowitz mocks Comer’s Biden impeachment failure
"You might recall that [former President Donald] Trump was first impeached for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open a sham investigation of Biden in order to discredit him ahead of the 2020 election," Weldman writes."Comer and House Republicans delivered what Zelenskyy refused to."
The "White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy" author emphasizes, "Again and again, they’d find some new piece of information, rush to the cameras to proclaim that they had located the smoking gun, then watch as their claims collapsed when the mundane truth came out."
Weldman writes:
*And yet, despite the best efforts of the House GOP’s worst people, the investigation did not find any corruption. That’s not to say Biden is a paragon of ethical purity; he’s done a few questionable things, like taking a position at the University of Pennsylvania after his vice presidency that involved a healthy salary and few responsibilities. That kind of sweetheart deal may be a little unseemly, but it’s neither illegal nor particularly uncommon for someone in his position.
Corruption, however, is something very different — and there’s never been any credible evidence that Biden is corrupt at all. The fruitless quest to find something criminal Biden did is particularly ironic given that Republicans are working so hard to return possibly the most corrupt president in history to the White House. Even now, they support him as he argues to the Supreme Court that presidents must be immune from prosecution for any crimes they might commit while in office. So if they want to find corruption, they know where they can look.*
"Things have not worked out the way Comer and his colleagues wished," the Boundary Issues podcast host adds. "The only ones humiliated were the bush-league Javerts of the GOP."
READ MORE:White House ends GOP’s unsuccessful impeachment saga: report
Weldman emphasizes, "And Republicans — and their media allies — are hoping you forget all about it."
*Welman's full op-ed is availablehere.
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chris hayes says they cannot let it die becuase they have nothing else, no legis agenda
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mma 3 24
Fox News wants its viewers to think that one of yesterday’s witnesses at the House GOP’s impeachment hearing is untrustworthy.
But the network isn’t concerned about the one who testified from federal prison after a fraud conviction, or the one who admits to having a grievance with Hunter Biden.
No, the guy Fox wants viewers to disbelieve is the witness who told the committee that he played a key role in concocting the anti-Biden Ukrainian disinformation campaign that played out on Fox’s airwaves.
Fox has long known Lev Parnas lacked credibility, thanks to research by its own staff. But now it’s finally useful to the network’s narratives to say so.
Back in 2019, Parnas was part of a Rudy Giuliani-driven campaign to smear Joe Biden and his son Hunter as corrupt because of actions and positions the senior Biden took regarding Ukraine when he was vice president. Giuliani worked with a motley crew of Fox News staples such as conservative writer John Solomon and Republican attorneys Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing to launder Russian-linked disinformation into the right-wing media ecosystem. The goal was to lay the groundwork for attacking then-President Donald Trump’s most likely opponent in the 2020 presidential election.
Parnas, along with fellow Soviet-born con man Igor Fruman, worked closely with Giuliani to feed him an endless supply of lies about Joe Biden and his supposed corruption. This effort ultimately got Trump impeached for attempting to blackmail Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into Biden, but it’s nonetheless most familiar now for serving as the incredibly shaky foundation of the right’s current efforts to impeach Biden.
Media Matters extensively documented the key role Fox News played in laundering this smear campaign into the media.
Giuliani’s strategy hinged on the network’s active participation. Working with con men like Parnas and other Trump cronies, he pursued an “investigation” into Ukraine that he claimed showed both Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in 2016 and evidence that Biden acted corruptly in Ukraine to benefit his son. He provided his “report” to allies in Congress to exploit while also feeding the story to conservative columnist John Solomon, who at the time worked at The Hill and dutifully reported out Giuliani’s claims in dozens of columns. During that same time period, Solomon appeared on Fox News or Fox Business at least 72 times. Fifty-one of those appearances were on Hannity alone, with host Sean Hannity weaving Solomon’s reporting into his ever-evolving conspiracy theories that “deep state” elements were out to get Trump.
Despite what played on the network’s airwaves, behind the scenes Fox News' researchers warned that Parnas and his allies’ information was not reliable. As The Daily Beast reported, “Fox News’ own research team has warned colleagues not to trust some of the network’s top commentators’ claims about Ukraine.”
According to The Daily Beast, the 162-page brief compiled by researchers for what was then known as Fox’s Brain Room “openly” questioned “Fox News contributor John Solomon’s credibility, accusing him of playing an ‘indispensable role’ in a Ukrainian ‘disinformation campaign.’”
The document also specifically called into question Parnas’ credibility, noting: “Reading the timeline in its entirety—not a small task—makes clear the extensive role played by Rudy Giuliani and his associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, in spreading disinformation.”
Indeed, when Parnas was arrested for allegedly making illegal campaign donations to Republican candidates and committees, he was at the airport, preparing to leave the country in order to facilitate an interview with disgraced Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin for none other than Sean Hannity.
Shortly after his arrest, Parnas flipped, and he has since repeatedly sought to expose the misinformation campaign he facilitated and the key players behind it. During Trump’s 2019 impeachment trial, Parnasprovided evidence about the pressure Trump allies were placing on Ukrainian officials to provide information about Biden.
With Parnas’ change in position, Fox suddenly became much more publicly skeptical of the claims he was making. And yesterday, when he testified in the latest of the House Republicans’ doomed efforts to invent a reason to impeach Joe Biden, he specifically called out Fox’s tendency to run with the dubious, unverifiable claims he had given to John Solomon:
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): At what point did the campaign to dig up dirt on Biden become a campaign to spread disinformation and lies about Biden?
LEV PARNAS: At some point when we hit a few brick walls, all of a sudden, then I saw the shift between the BLT group, which included John Solomon, the media personality, and Rudy Giuliani and other Trump lawyers, to start trying to push narratives that were — we had no, they were not validated. We had no way to validate them. Basically, a letter would come over from somebody in Ukraine, I'd hand it over to John Solomon. Next thing you knew he was on Fox TV two hours later with Sean Hannity.
Predictably, Fox has sought to discredit Parnas’ testimony by attacking his credibility.
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade complained that Parnas “went to jail for lying and is talking about Ukraine” (Parnas was convicted of wire fraud and campaign finance violations, not anything related to his work with Giuliani) and said his testimony was nothing but a “head fake” on the part of the Democrats who invited him to testify.
So-called “straight news” anchor John Roberts said of Parnas: “The credibility of a witness clearly depends on which side of the political aisle you sit, because the Democrats were happy to have Lev Parnas testify there in person. He’s been in jail for wire fraud, among other things, but Jason Galanis, who’s currently in jail, oh, he had no credibility. So, I mean, pick and choose your villains here, right?”
It's convenient how Fox suddenly develops journalistic standards when the claims Parnas is making no longer fit the network’s anti-Biden narratives.
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an 3 24
right-wing Fox News host Dana Perrino recently expressed her frustration with House Republicans' dysfunctional campaign to impeach President Joe Biden.
Perrino, who served as White House press secretary in the George W. Bush Administration, told her colleague Bill Hemmer that "it just feels like" House Republicans "keep doing the same hearing over and over again" — adding, "And people are starting to wonder: At some point, do you fish or cut bait and do something about a vote or not, and move on to the general election?"
But Perrino's comments are a major departure from all the Fox News segments that have been hyping a possible Biden impeachment and promoting the investigations of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
READ MORE:Fox News host rips House Republicans for holding same impeachment hearing 'over and over again'
In a biting op-ed published by MSNBC on March 22, Media Matters' Matt Gertz calls out the Fox News hosts who have encouraged an impeachment campaign that went nowhere — especially Sean Hannity.
"It’s time to call it: The House GOP's shambolic inquiry into the impeachment of President Joe Biden expired on Wednesday night at 9:01 p.m.," Gertz argues. "That’s when Sean Hannity opened his Fox News show by promising 'highlights' from the day's 'explosive' hearing with Hunter Biden's former business partners — and then immediately pivoted to a monologue not about its revelations, but about the president's poll numbers."
Gertz adds, "Hannity did more than perhaps any other single figure to will the impeachment probe into existence. Since 2018, he has led a Fox propaganda campaign aimed at using lies about the younger Biden's foreign business interests to damage his father's political standing."
For months, Comer and Jordan — with Fox News' blessing — hyped former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov as the impeachment star witness who would bring down Biden's presidency. But their impeachment campaign suffered a major blow when Smirnov was arrested for allegedly lying to the FBI — and yet another blow over reporting that Smirnov was getting bogus "information" from Russian government intelligence.
READ MORE:Why was GOP’s star witness re-arrested? He may have been trying to flee the country: report
Gertz notes that House Republicans' baseless impeachment probe "has utterly failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing by the president that would convince anyone other than the network's most fervent fans."
"If even Hannity can no longer feign enthusiasm about the impeachment effort," the Media Matters senior fellow writes, "it is truly toast — and Fox itself deserves a big share of the blame for leading Republicans into this debacle."
READ MORE:'Maybe the guy did lie': Jordan admits indicted FBI informant’s Biden claims not credible
*Matt Gertz's full MSNBC op-ed is available at this link.
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an 3 24
The credibility of House Republicans' "star witness" against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, suffered a major blow when he was arrested for allegedly lying to the FBI and reports showed that he was getting information from Russian intelligence.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and countless right-wing media pundits touted Smirnov as the person who could prove that President Biden was involved in a bribery scheme involving the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. But Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland — the Oversight Committee's leading Democrat — told ABC News, "I think the Smirnov revelations destroy the entire case. Smirnov was the foundation of the whole thing. He was the one who came forward to say that Burisma had given Joe Biden $5 million, and that was just concocted in thin air."
Smirnov's history continues to draw scrutiny.
READ MORE:House Republicans explore 'backup options' as Biden impeachment goes nowhere
According to a report published by The Guardian on March 14, business filings and court documents show that Smirnov is "connected to a UK company owned by (Donald) Trump business associates in Dubai."
The Guardian's Jacqueline Sweet explains, "Smirnov's accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that federal prosecutors now say are impossible fabrications, served as a major justification of the House impeachment investigation into the Bidens….. Back in 2020, Smirnov was paid $600,000 by a company called Educational Transformation Technologies (ETT), prosecutors said. That same year, Smirnov began lying to the FBI about the Bidens, according to his indictment."
According to Sweet, ETT's shareholders include CEO Christopher Condon, an American, as well as "Pakistani-American investor Shah Khan and Farooq Arjomand, a former chairman and current board member of Damac Properties in Dubai."
"Condon, Arjomand and Khan registered ETT Investment Holding Limited in the UK on 6 March 2020," Sweet reports. "Khan, an investor who purchased the Plaza Hotel in 2018, and Arjomand have ties to Donald Trump through Trump associates and Damac, a major Middle East developer that has partnered with Trump for a decade."
READ MORE:Why was GOP’s star witness re-arrested? He may have been trying to flee the country: report
Sweet continues, "Arjomand, Khan and Condon owned 34, 33 and 33 percent of ETT Investment Holding Limited respectively, according to UK business filings…. Former Damac Chairman Hussain Sajwani is also close to Trump and has been described as his friend in multiple news reports. Trump has called the billionaire a 'friend' and a 'great man,' and his family 'the most beautiful people.' Sajwani attended Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump attended the 2017 ribbon-cutting of Trump International golf club in Dubai, licensed by Damac in 2014."
READ MORE:'We were warned': GOP rep says Smirnov indictment 'really undercuts' impeachment efforts
*Read The Guardian's full report at this link.
==
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an 2 24
when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's (R-KY) star witness, ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, was arrested last week for allegedly lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, the party's impeachment inquiry began to fall apart. Then when reports came earlier this week that Smirnov had connections to Russian intelligence agencies — the party's efforts to oust the president went from bad to worse.
Several lawmakers are declaring the effort — which GOP House members have made their number one priority — officially "dead," according to TIME Magazine.
READ MORE:'We were warned': GOP rep says Smirnov indictment 'really undercuts' impeachment efforts
TIME's Eric Cortellessa reports, still, "Republican leaders insist the Biden inquiry is still very much alive, even with potential evidence that the Kremlin is advancing the effort to influence the 2024 election." He notes, "That’s come with other implications for the federal government. Next week, Congress will return from a two-week recess and have only three working days to pass a budget and avert a partial government shutdown. But House members will still be preoccupied with the Biden probe."
"Honestly, I’m surprised that they have this high a threshold for humiliation," Fox News' Jessica Tarlov said during a Wednesday segment.
"My sense is it’s not going to happen," Cortellessa reports US Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said. "We should determine the next president through the election."
On the other hand, US Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is positive this latest development has officially killed the GOP's effort. "There's no question this is dead," he said. "To the extent that they continue to push forward with it, they are now doing it with a knowing asset of Russian intelligence. It is one thing to lead an investigation where you fail to find evidence to support unfounded conclusions. It is altogether something else when you are acting as an agent of Vladimir Putin."
READ MORE:Top GOP senator admits 'no evidence' on House Biden impeachment inquiry
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MASSIVE FAIL
224 fbi indict star witness impeach smirnoff, gop no back off russia disinfo
Informant’s arrest for allegedly lying to FBI could be bad news for Jim Jordan - Alternet.org
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mjr cheerleader on biden impeach
Sean Hannity is the GOP’s impeachment hype man, Tony Bobulinski edition | Media Matters for America
===
gop and dems call for invest of comer?!
don jr says it’s deep state
mma 2 24
CHRIS HAYES (HOST): In his show, Fox host Sean Hannity alone promoted the claim of the single FBI informant no less than 85 times last year, 28 of those segments were monologues, very long monologues, in addition to all the breathless so-called reporting. And this was across all the right-wing media. Hannity had House Oversight Committee Chairman and chief Biden crime family investigator James Comer on as a guest 43 times in 2023. Today, James Comer and Sean Hannity's favorite informant, the smoking gun for their investigation, was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. He was indicted on two counts of feeding the FBI false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
...
The New York Post, also owned by Rupert Murdoch, like Fox, "Biden: $10 million bribe file, Burisma chief said he was coerced to pay Joe, 'stupid' Hunter in bombshell allegations. Joe Biden allegedly paid $5 million by Burisma executive as part of a bribery scheme, according to FBI document." Now, here's where it gets interesting. That FBI document was that this confidential informant wrote a form, making his bribery allegation, in fact, it's part of what he's being indicted for, since it was a fabrication.
But then, in this kind of alleyoop play, right? The Republicans on the Hill know this document exists and they shake it loose to the public. This is Chuck Grassley in July of 2023, "For the better part of a year I've been pushing the Justice Department, FBI, to provide details on its handling very significant allegations from a trusted FBI informant, implicating then Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme." So they know about it, they brow beat the DOJ to shake it loose, as if they're covering up, and now it turns out the man's being indicted for fabricating it.
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an 2 24
one name that has been heard a lot in right-wing media outlets is Tony Bobulinski, an investor who House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and other Republicans have been touting as their greatest weapon against Hunter Biden.
Bobulinski, according to many MAGA Republicans, will be the downfall of Hunter Biden and, by extension, his father, President Joe Biden.
But in an article published on February 13, Daily Beast reporters William Bredderman and Roger Sollenberger lay out some reasons why Bobulinski's "ties" make him a problematic witness.
READ MORE:'You have no balls': Nancy Mace launches explosive in-person attack against Hunter Biden
:{":{As Republicans examine Hunter Biden's questionable business ties," the journalists explain, "it turns out Bobulinski is connected to one particular character perhaps more unsavory than any other figure in the inquiry's constellation: Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg…. a Ukrainian-born energy magnate who's been a close ally of Vladimir Putin for decades.}:"
Bredderman and Sollenberger note that in 2017, Vekselberg "reportedly funneled $500,000 to an LLC run by Donald Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, supposedly with the intention of influencing the new administration to let Russia illegally occupy parts of Eastern Ukraine."
"U.S. law enforcement has placed sanctions on Vekselberg multiple times, citing Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, and the oligarch's ties to Putin," the Daily Beast journalists explain. "Vekselberg tried to evade those sanctions with the help of an American attorney. But Republicans are trying to look past Bobulinski's ties to Vekselberg, as they paint Hunter Biden — dishonestly and without actual evidence — as a corrupt figure facilitating payments to his father."
READ MORE:'Excuse me!' Marjorie Taylor Greene fumes as Hunter Biden walks out on her speech
Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).}}:
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an 2 24
an argument that has been showing up in right-wing media outlets is that if the courts keep ruling against former President Donald Trump, it will set off a "cycle of retribution" in which Republicans pursue frivolous legal attacks on Democrats.
University of Texas legal scholars Steve Vladeck and Lee Kovarsky examine this claim in an op-ed published by MSNBC's website on February 7, slamming it as "flawed" and disingenuous.
"The upshot of this argument is that, if he's not immunized from criminal prosecution in Washington for his role in the January 6 insurrection and Georgia for his attempt to interfere in the state's election results, then sham prosecutions await every president," Vladeck and Kovarsky note. "And if courts allow Colorado to disqualify Trump from the presidential ballot, then disqualification will become the norm even for candidates whose behavior comes nowhere close to having participated in an insurrection or a rebellion covered by the 14th Amendment's text."
READ MORE:George Conway shreds 'fallacious reasoning' of Trump’s 'immunity' claims
The legal scholars continue, "'If it can happen to Trump,' the argument goes, 'it can happen to anyone.'"
But Vladeck and Kovarsky lay out some reasons why these "cycle-of-retribution" arguments are "asking the courts to bury their heads in the sand."
"Slippery-slope arguments of the type that the D.C. Circuit rejected have three major problems," the University of Texas scholars explain. "First, they necessarily conflate the legal response to Trump's unique malfeasance with more conventional partisan disputes over, for instance, immigration or national security policy…. Second, the Trump-aligned argument ignores many mechanisms that constrain bad-faith prosecution and disqualification."
Vladeck and Kovarsky add that "the third, most important point" is that "if prosecutors and state election officials are inclined to indict or disqualify in bad faith, then courts having pumped the brakes on the Trump cases won't stop them."
READ MORE:Donald Trump loses appeal of his 'presidential immunity' from criminal prosecution for J6
"The reason is simple enough: Immunizing Trump from criminal prosecution and preventing his ballot disqualification would hardly arrest our political polarization," according to the University of Texas law professors. "And so long as demagogic political leaders describe opponents as 'enemies' and demand extravagant legal responses to vague, unspecified charges of wrongdoing, it won't matter how courts approach the Trump cases. There's little room for nuance when the watchword is grievance."
READ MORE:'Lied under oath in my courtroom': Judge Engoron email suggests massive penalty for Trump
*Read the full MSNBC op-ed at this link.
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an 2 24
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) blasted his GOP colleagues for their unwavering devotion to Donald Trump while ignoring their critical national security oversight responsibilities, during the House Republicans’ Homeland Security Committee’s hearing on impeaching DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday.
“We have held zero – I repeat – zero full committee hearings dedicated to emergency preparedness, cyber threat, infrastructure protection, transportation security, Department of Homeland Security management or information sharing and intelligence efforts,” Congressman Menendez declared. “With the global dynamic that we have, we have not lived up to our oversight obligation here on this committee because you all are obsessed with the border, because you bend the knee to the ‘Orange Jesus,’ as you refer to him across the aisle.”
“That’s what this is about,” the freshman congressman shouted angrily. “And we have failed, failed, our jurisdiction on this committee, so I’m tired of being lectured. You know, I try to listen here. I try to be a team player. I really do. I try not to engage in the partisanship, but I’ve had it. I’ve listened to a lot of accusations here today. We are here on a sham impeachment hearing, because the partnership of this committee, and enough is enough. Ms. Green asked the American people, the American people are listening. They are and they’re tired of the partisanship of this Republican majority that has failed to get things done.”
The GOP-led hearing lasted past midnight, and resulted in an 18-15 party line vote to advance the highly-controversial articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. A full House vote is expected next week. If successful, Mayorkas would be the first presidential cabinet member to be impeached in nearly 140 years.
Watch below or at this link.
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last cab imp 150 yrs ago
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rww --> Tori Otten @ The New Republic: New Transcript Blows Up James Comer’s Entire Hunter Biden Argument.
A new transcript from a key Hunter Biden witness undercuts many of the claims Republicans are making about “Biden corruption.”
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no lnx
Republican alleges 'shadow government' as House GOP threatens to impeach 7 Biden officials
David Badash
andThe New Civil Rights Movement
January 10, 2024
House Republicans this week have threatened two additional members of the Biden administration with impeachment, bringing the total so far during this Congress to seven elected and appointed federal government officials: President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves.
In addition to House Republicans’ official impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, on Wednesday House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green gaveled in the first of his committee’s impeachment hearings on DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: “Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas’ Failed Leadership Has Impacted the States.”AT SAME TIME LEAD NEGOTIATOR WITH SENATE LAnkford
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) announced he will seek to impeach Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the same day the Pentagon revealed Defense chief was hospitalized and had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Wednesday morning, defending his impeachment announcement, Rosendale claimed there is a “shadow government” running President Biden’s administration and suggesting former President Barack Obama is actually in charge of the White House.
“On Thursday, there was a drone strike. Two people were killed in Baghdad. Who gave the order?” Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty asked Congressman Rosendale. “We know it wasn’t the Deputy Defense Secretary because as you said, she was sunning herself in Puerto Rico just a few days after Joe Biden was sunning himself down in St. Croix. So this is a massive problem for the White House that nobody is, nobody can give us a good answer.”
READ MORE: ‘The World Is Literally at War’: McConnell Sends Strong Warning to House Republicans
“And see,” Congressman Rosendale replied, “this is the question: Who is running, what shadow government do we have behind the Biden administration that’s actually making the decisions about what is going to happen? How our affairs are going to be conducted, both domestically and in foreign affairs?”
“This should be very concerning to everyone across the nation,” Rosendale alleged. “I mean, we’ve heard for quite some time now that Barack Obama is actually running things and when I watched Joe Biden try to deliver a speech and then fumble his way off of the stage, it scares me to think that this is what is leading our nation. And when I see that the foreign leaders are watching this exact same interaction, do you think it does not embolden tyrants around the world, our adversaries around the world when they see that this is how our affairs are being conducted?”
In addition to targeting President Biden, DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and Defense Secretary Austin, House Republicans are also threatening to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland.
READ MORE: ‘Failure Theater’: Speaker Johnson in ‘Way Over His Head’ Cry House Republicans
On Monday, House Oversight Committee Chair Jim Comer suggested A.G. Garland could be impeached if he does not arrest and bring criminal charges against Hunter Biden for contempt of Congress.
Chairman Comer had subpoenaed the President’s son, but when Hunter Biden agreed to testify but only in public and not behind closed doors, Comer rejected the offer. Hunter Biden showed up on the date scheduled, but Comer would not agree.
House Republicans on Comer’s Oversight Committee and on Chairman Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday are holding a vote to determine if they want Hunter Biden held in contempt of Congress. Chairman Jordan last year refused to testify before the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, ignoring the legal subpoena issued by that committee.
Last year U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) filed a resolution to impeach Vice President Kamala Harris, “for high crimes and misdemeanors.”
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last year filed a resolution to impeach the Attorney General, “for facilitating the weaponization and politicization of the United States justice system against the American people.” She also filed a resolution to impeach “Christopher Asher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for facilitating the development of a Federal police force to intimidate, harass, and entrap American citizens that are deemed enemies of the Biden regime.”
READ MORE: ‘Big Deal’: Trump Jr. Ignores Dad Is Accused of Sex With ‘Many Girls’ in New Epstein Doc Dump
Also last year, Greene filed a resolution to impeach “Matthew M. Graves, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, for endangering, compromising, and undermining the justice system of the United States by facilitating the explosion of violent crime in the Nation’s capital.”
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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accusations are confession/ projection:
an 1 24
badash
while serving as President of the United States, Donald Trump’s businesses accepted millions of dollars from numerous foreign governments, including China and Saudi Arabia – the very acts House Republicans have baselessly alleged Joe Biden performed as Vice President and as a private citizen before being elected President, despite having provided no actual proof.
“Donald J. Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released by House Democrats on Thursday that show how much he received from overseas transactions while he was in the White House, most of it from China,” The New York Times reported Thursday. The paper calls it “concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.”
The Wall Street Journal adds that the “report, underpinned by documents provided to House investigators by the accounting firm Mazars USA, offers a fuller picture of how Trump’s businesses benefited during his presidency as foreign officials may have tried to curry favor with Trump.”
In a break with tradition, as President, Donald Trump’s first foreign trip was to Saudi Arabia (video below), in May of 2017. One month earlier, Trump met with China’s President Xi at Mar-a-Lago. Ivanka Trump received patents from China that same day.
READ MORE: CNN Host Debunks Mike Johnson’s False Hundreds of ‘Known Terrorists’ Claim in Real Time
The 156-page report, “White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump,” was produced by the House Democrats on the Oversight Committee under Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a former constitutional law professor. He calls the findings and conclusions in the report “astounding,” and says “they demand urgent action by the Congress and by the American people.”
The Journal offers staggering details from the report.
“Hundreds of pages of expenses seen by the Journal include at least $210,000 in real estate and lodging fees by Saudi Arabia in 2018, the same year Trump publicly doubted U.S. intelligence assessments that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi,” the WSJ writes. “And a few months earlier, a Saudi delegation paid $2,000 for coffee table flowers and towers of cookies at the same hotel.”
“Newly disclosed receipts also show that Hainan Airlines Holding, which then had connections to China’s leadership, incurred $195,662 in charges at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas during a 14-month period beginning days before Trump was elected in 2016,” the Journal adds. “Malaysia paid for a $10,000-per-night suite in Trump’s Washington hotel in September 2017 for then-Prime Minister Najib Razak while he was under a U.S. investigation for his role in a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that ultimately helped topple his government. Malaysia’s spending caused a 70% jump in average nightly room revenue at Trump’s Washington hotel compared with other nights that month, the report said.”
READ MORE: ‘Outlandish and Feral’: Trump Plans to Turn DC Trial Into Conspiracy-Fueled Reality TV Show
Ranking Member Raskin writes in the report: “By elevating his personal financial interests and the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear commands of the Constitution and the careful precedent set and observed by every previous Commander-in-Chief.”
“Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution forbids the President to accept money payments or gifts ‘of any kind whatever’ from foreign governments and monarchs unless he obtains ‘the Consent of the Congress’ to do so,” he observes. “Yet Donald Trump, while holding the office of president, used his business entities to pocket millions of dollars from foreign states and royalty and never once went to Congress to seek its consent. This report sets forth the records showing foreign government money—and all the spoils from royals we can find—pouring into hotels and buildings that the President continued to own during his presidency, all in direct violation of the Constitutional prohibition.”
Watch video of Trump being honored by Saudi Arabia during his first foreign trip below or at this link.
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house Republicans, who will have a tiny two-vote margin in less than three weeks, are still on their winter break despite two impending budget crises that could lead to government shutdowns as soon as January 19. Speaker Mike Johnson allowed the House to go into recess on December 14, ignoring urging from the White House and the Senate for aid packages for Ukraine and Israel. Members are not expected to return until next week.
But dozens of House Republicans, including Speaker Johnson, are headed to Texas Wednesday, betting their focus on the southern border will help them win the November elections. They’re kicking off the year by trying to do something Congress hasn’t done in almost 150 years: impeach a presidential cabinet secretary.
Republicans have been gunning for the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, since President Joe Biden nominated him three years ago. Born in Havana to Cuban Jewish parents, including a mother whose family fled the Holocaust, Mayorkas is the first Latino, the first immigrant, and the first Cuban American to lead DHS. He was confirmed despite tremendous pushback by Senate Republicans in a 56-43 vote on February 2, 2021, after U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) took the rare step of putting a hold on his nomination.
RELATED: ‘Despicable’: Mayorkas Decimates Hawley
Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) announced Tuesday the House will begin impeachment proceedings against Secretary Mayorkas next week, Punchbowl News was first to report, calling it “a major escalation in Green’s nearly year-long probe into Mayorkas.”
The last time Congress impeached a cabinet secretary was in 1876, when they impeached President Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William Worth Belknap. He was not convicted by the Senate.
“Our investigation made clear that this crisis finds its foundation in Secretary Mayorkas’ decision-making and refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress, and that his failure to fulfill his oath of office demands accountability,” Green told Punchbowl News in a statement. “The bipartisan House vote in November to refer articles of impeachment to my Committee only served to highlight the importance of our taking up the impeachment process – which is what we will begin doing next Wednesday.”
Punchbowl News reports “the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border has arguably been House Republicans’ biggest rallying cry heading into a critical election year. The issue is widely seen as a huge political problem for Democrats and Biden. The president’s poll numbers on this issue are terrible.”
READ MORE: ‘Have to Assume’: GOP Senator Again Claims Without Proof Iranian ‘Sleeper Cells’ May Be in US
The White House is pushing back against Republicans’ framing of the issue at the southern border.
“Actions speak louder than words,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement, Politico reports. “House Republicans’ anti-border security record is defined by attempting to cut Customs and Border Protection personnel, opposing President Biden’s record-breaking border security funding, and refusing to take up the President’s supplemental funding request.”
“After voting in 2023 to eliminate over 2,000 Border Patrol agents and erode our capacity to seize fentanyl earlier in 2023, House Republicans left Washington in mid-December even as President Biden and Republicans and Democrats in the Senate remained to forge ahead on a bipartisan agreement,” Bates added.
White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt on social media added, “President Biden has requested $13.6 billion for border enforcement & migration management, increasing the Border Patrol by 1,300, judge teams by 375 and asylum officers by 1600 to expedite the screening process, and critical drug detection technology.”
House Republicans will be at the border Wednesday, “calling for solutions” to the “border crisis,” as Texas CBS affiliate KENS5 reports.
They’re also pushing for the Senate to pass HR2, legislation American Immigration Council policy director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick calls “hardline.”
“Mandates the indefinite detention of toddlers,” “Makes it a federal crime to violate a visa, even unknowingly,” “Empowers DHS to waive every single other law on the books to build, maintain, and operate border infrastructure,” and “Ends 99.9% of asylum,” he says.
READ MORE: ‘Outlandish and Feral’: Trump Plans to Turn DC Trial Into Conspiracy-Fueled Reality TV Show
Meanwhile, several far-right Republicans got an early start in Texas, meeting up with a Fox News reporter, telling him, “shut the border down, or we’ll shut the government down. We control the money.”
Wednesday morning Secretary Mayorkas responded to news the House is moving to impeach him.
Watch his remarks below or at this link.
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norman 180? an 12 23
on Wednesday, December 13, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted to move forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. House Democrats, meanwhile, voted unanimously against an inquiry, many of them slamming it as devoid of merit and emphasizing that Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and his colleagues haven't offered any proof that Biden did anything wrong.
One of the Republicans who argued in favor of the inquiry was Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina. In an opinion column published on December 14, MSNBC's Steve Benen stresses that Norman's comments were quite revealing about House Republicans — and not in a good way.
Norman, on the House floor, said of Biden, "You cannot just…. say you are innocent and not have to prove it" — a comment that, Benen laments, shows a failure to understand "how the presumption of innocence works in the United States."
"As the video clip of the GOP congressman's comments showed," Benen writes, "Norman was looking across the aisle, as if he were trying to convince Democratic members of how right he was. The trouble, of course, is that the South Carolinian flubbed the basics on burdens of proof. To hear Norman tell it, Biden says he's innocent, but that's not good enough — because, according to the far-right congressman, the Democrat has to 'prove' he's innocent."
In the U.S., Benen reminds Norman, the burden of proof is on the "accuser" — which is a "bedrock principle of our entire system."
"That said," Benen argues, "the fact that Norman got this wrong helps shed some light on his party's evidence-free impeachment crusade: It appears some Republicans expect Biden to somehow come up with even more evidence of his innocence, rather than expecting the GOP to produce evidence of wrongdoing."
READ MORE:Maria Bartiromo ripped for pushing 'conspiracy' that Hunter Biden charges are part of a 'cover up'
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the day after the House GOP voted unanimously to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with some congressional Republicans admitting there is no evidence of impeachable offenses, the lead investigator declared their most damning evidence is a long-ago widely-debunked conspiracy theory.
Republican Oversight Chairman Jim Comer, head of one of the three most-powerful House committees and the top promoter of the push to impeach President Biden, Thursday morning was asked by Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo to name his “most damning” evidence.
“We’ve talked about the potential of money laundering and bribery,” said Bartiromo, who has been called an “election fraud promoter,” and a “once-respected journalist” who became a “full-blown Donald Trump sympathizer.”
“What can you tell us about the evidence?” she asked.
Comer claimed “over $24 million” has been run through a “series” of shell companies. “And then they laundered the money down to the Biden family members, 10 Biden family members.”
READ MORE: Clarence Thomas vehemently objects to LGBTQ conversion therapy case denial by SCOTUS
He defends his money-laundering claim because banks, he says, filed suspicious activity reports (SARs). According to the Thomson Reuters Institute, in 2022 alone there were 3.6 million SARs filed, and that number “this year is likely to set additional records.”
He adds, “six different banks accused the Bidens of money laundering – that’s a serious crime.” Money laundering is a serious crime but filing an SAR does not mean a bank is accusing someone of money laundering, nor does it mean money laundering is taking place.
The Chairman claims “we know they got tens of billions of dollars from bad people in bad countries. He admits, “We don’t know what exactly they did, but alleges, “We fear Joe Biden’s compromised.”
Comer then continues to make broad, unspecific allegations, using non-definitive words and terms, like, “we fear,” and, “we figure.”
“We figure this is one reason that he’s soft on China,” a claim he’s made before, in part based on the President removing Trump’s ban on TikTok, a ban that has been challenged in court.
He also claims, “we have specific policy decisions that Joe Biden made while he was vice president and president that we fear were made because he was compromised,” without providing any evidence to support the claim.
READ MORE: White supremacist who dined with Trump calls for 'death penalty' for non-Christians: report
Comer again defaults to the long-debunked Burisma conspiracy theory.
“We fear this is one reason that he obviously fired the prosecutor who was investigating Hunter’s corrupt energy company in Ukraine when he was vice president.”
Not one word of that is true, although the owner of Burisma, the energy company, was under investigation and is reportedly now wanted by Ukrainian authorities.
Then-Vice President Biden did not nor could he “fire” Viktor Shokin, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General, who was removed from his post for not investigating corruption, by the Ukrainian Parliament, after both domestic and international calls for him to be replaced for not doing his job. Those calls came from the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United States, where it was Obama administration policy that Shokin had to go.
Comer’s claim is further debunked by numerous reports going back to 2019.
“Burisma Holdings was not under scrutiny at the time Joe Biden called for Shokin’s ouster, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, an independent agency set up in 2014 that has worked closely with the FBI,” USA Today reported that year. “Shokin’s office had investigated Burisma, but the probe focused on a period before Hunter Biden joined the company, according to the anti-corruption bureau.”
Also in 2019, Bloomberg published a report with this headline: “Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens.”
“I do not want Ukraine to again be the subject of U.S. presidential elections,” Shokin’s successor Yuriy Lutsenko, told Bloomberg. “Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws — at least as of now, we do not see any wrongdoing. A company can pay however much it wants to its board.”
Watch Comer’s remarks below or at this link. aaron r twt]
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house Republicans appear poised to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who called an impeachment inquiry a “natural step forward” during a Fox News appearance late last month, is reportedly strategizing with other top Republicans about how to open one by the end of September, which would likely focus on the business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter during the Obama administration.
House congressional probes of the subject have generated plenty of content for right-wing outlets. But even members of the GOP caucus acknowledge it has uncovered little to no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. As one House Republican (anonymously) put it: “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or that Joe Biden, you know, agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money. There’s just no evidence of that. And they can’t impeach without that evidence. And I don’t I don’t think the evidence exists.” Absent that proof, political commentators rightfully warn, moving forward with impeachment “would carry considerable risk for the Republican Party.”
McCarthy’s folly is a sign of the hammerlock Fox News has on the Republican Party. The right-wing propaganda network’s stars have long demanded a Biden impeachment as both retaliation and political cover for Donald Trump’s various impeachments and criminal indictments. Since those Fox commentators wield more power within the GOP than most of its putative leaders do, a Biden impeachment inquiry has seemed inevitable, with the only question being what they’d end up backfilling as its rationale. And somehow, they’ve settled on taking a shot with the Hunter Biden minutiae they’ve all spent years feverishly rehashing (but that no one can parse without a PhD in Sean Hannity Studies).
Fox’s stars began calling for Biden’s impeachment before he was elected — or even nominated. Nearly four years ago, as House Judiciary Committee Democrats prepared to approve articles of impeachment against then-President Donald Trump over his corrupt abuse of power in attempting to coerce the Ukrainian government into opening a criminal investigation into Joe Biden, Fox host Mark Levin demanded that the GOP prepare to retaliate in kind.
“The next Democrat president of the United States must be impeached!” Levin bellowed during a heated December 12, 2019, appearance. “Not to get even, not because we are at their low level, because the Republicans can't live under one Constitution when the Democrats live under another Constitution and it's the only way we're going to stop them!”
Impeachment talk returned to the network’s airwaves in the waning days of the 2020 presidential election, as Fox and other outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch tried to help Trump to victory by calling attention to Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Their allegations were factually dubious, Trump and his family members had far worse conflicts of interest through their own businesses, and the effort ultimately failed to gain traction. But even then, Fox hosts were setting a predicate to impeach Joe Biden if he were elected.
Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery claimed during a late October segment on The Five that because Democrats had supposedly “lower[ed] the bar” by impeaching Trump, a Joe Biden impeachment over Hunter Biden’s business dealings would be fair game. “Why wouldn’t you, if you are using the same threshold and the same standard, why would you not impeach Joe Biden?” she asked.
Fellow co-host Greg Gutfeld likewise suggested that Republicans could “start preemptive impeachment on Joe Biden, in case he wins.”
And Fox host Jeanine Pirro similarly called for Biden’s impeachment based on the bogus conspiracy theory that he had pushed out a Ukrainian prosecutor to benefit his son’s business while serving as vice president, saying, “They can impeach him for what he did in the Ukraine.”
Fox’s Sean Hannity offered the same analysis as Kennedy had, arguing to his radio audience in December 2020, at a time when Trump was seeking to subvert the election he had lost to Biden: “What are you going to do if -- you know, all these people that impeached Trump, how do you not impeach if it's Joe Biden one day? How do you not do it? It's a foreign -- it's a family foreign crime syndicate.”
Republicans were unable to carry out Hannity’s impeachment dream for the next two years, with Democrats in control of both houses of Congress. But just weeks after Republicans won a slim House majority in the 2022 midterm elections, he predicted that an impeachment over Hunter Biden’s business dealings was inevitable.
Sean Hannity predicts Republicans will impeach Joe Biden next year
NOVEMBER 30, 2022
:{:{Audio}:
CitationFrom the November 30, 2022, edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show
“When you look at this evidence, it seems overwhelming where this is going,” Hannity told his radio audience on November 30, 2022. “I don't have the answer whether or not the money has influenced political decisions of Joe Biden, but we do know for sure that Joe Biden lied about talking with his son about these business dealings, and that he was up to his eyeballs in it, way more than he ever indicated, and that's gonna be very problematic for him.”
He concluded: “And where it goes, it could be -- it could be down the road of impeachment. That's my prediction for the year.”
The year that followed has been marked by three overlapping trends: repeated indictments of Trump on state and federal charges, fruitless congressional efforts to uncover damning evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s businesses, and demands from Fox for Republicans to retaliate against Democrats for the former, including by turning the latter into fodder for impeachment.
On June 9, the day after a federal grand jury indicted Trump on 37 counts over his withholding of highly classified government documents, Fox host Jesse Watters said he wanted Biden impeached as a “distraction” from Trump’s legal troubles.
Fox hosts issued a new wave of calls for Biden’s impeachment in late July and early August, as the nation awaited and reacted to Trump’s federal indictment over his election subversion.
“I say: Impeach away. They wasted our time. Let's waste theirs. And it's deserved,” said Gutfeld.
“The issue is whether or not impeachment is appropriate,” said Pirro. “I think it is. I think it's long past time.”
Watters explicitly said that Republicans needed to move fast on impeachment so it could garner media attention and hurt Biden’s reelection campaign as a “counter” to Trump’s trials.
“Without the impeachment, you have back-to-back-to-back-to-back Trump trials,” he explained. “The media’s not going to cover anything else. Biden’s going to hide and Trump is going to be criminalized on TV. But if Republicans time this right and follow the evidence where it leads, impeachment is going to run counter to the Trump trials next year.”
Watters was saying out loud what has been clear all along. The GOP and its Fox propagandists have settled on renominating a flagrantly corrupt former president who could be convicted on an array of charges, some linked to his attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 elections. Rather than picking someone who isn’t looking at four state and federal trials on scores of charges, they want to tear down his opponent by ginning up a scandal and hoping that the mainstream press fails to make clear what they’re doing.
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Fox News' Greg Gutfeld calls for "impeachment-palooza" of Joe Biden | Media Matters for America
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The Fox News diaspora is threatening the network’s business model | Media Matters for America
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paste from ymail has tables
The Biden impeachment story is a Trump revenge story
It’s getting clearer and clearer.
Last week, I said that the insurgent Republicans in the US House of Representatives are probably going to impeach the president, not because Joe Biden has done anything wrong, but because Donald Trump wants them to.
The impeachment story is a revenge story.
John Bennett’s analysis is helpful in seeing this. The Roll Call columnist noted today that while the current House speaker, Mike Johnson, is about to set up a formal vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry, his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, didn’t. What changed? Bennett asked.
The “evidence” hasn’t changed. Republican investigators have been searching for a criminal link between Joe Biden to his profligate son without success. The best they have come up with is three payments Hunter Biden made to his dad to pay him back for cosigning on a truck loan. Other than that, they have innuendo and conspiracy theory.
I think the last step for members of the Washington press corps is spelling things out in plain English – that these insurgent Republicans are probably going to impeach the president because Donald Trump wants them to.
So what changed?
They have the votes!
Bennett: “Johnson has signaled through words and actions that he and other House GOP leaders were confident they would have ample Republican votes on the floor to formally authorize the inquiry.”
Or do they?
Bennett reported that Johnson isn’t the best vote-counter. Though he’s publicly “suggested he has enough moderates on board,” Bennett wrote, “his vote-counting operation has been lacking before."
“For instance," Bennett said, "he has had to pull spending bills from the floor multiple times; and he could not even push through the rules for some of those. He backed saving Santos just hours before 105 of the 217 Republicans voting joined all but two Democrats in voting to expel him.”
So you could say the vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry is a test of the new speaker’s credibility. GOP “moderates” in districts won by Joe Biden have avoided the entire subject of impeachment. If they vote against formalizing the inquiry, will that hurt Johnson’s standing?
I doubt it. Credibility has nothing to do with it. Johnson said as much, though you have to read between the lines. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing on Biden’s part. His son, maybe. (Indeed, he was indicted again last week on tax charges.) But nothing on Dad. Even so, Johnson said that the impeachment of the president is a foregone conclusion.
“The House has no choice,” Johnson said, because “this is not a political decision. This is a legal decision.” But if that were the case, there’d be something to base that legal decision on. There isn’t. It took a Republican strategist to spell out the truth in plain English.
Donald Trump's "poll numbers show he’s stronger in the [2024 GOP] primary than he was nine months or six months — or even three months — ago,” the strategist told Bennett. “Trump wants, going into 2024, Joe Biden to be tarred by impeachment like he was twice.”
The impeachment story is a revenge story.
The strategist said Hunter Biden’s legal problems, which are many, are another reason for Johnson’s move to formalize the inquiry. But that’s not a reason to vote for it. As I said, there’s no Dad-related evidence of anything. His son's legal problems do provide political cover, though.
That’s what this is. There’s no there there. It’s all makebelieve. There’s enough makebelieve, and there’s enough people who believe the makebelieve, that the insurgent Republicans are going to vote for an impeachment inquiry and, in time, the impeachment of the president.
As an astute Twitter follower told me: “There's a very real possibility that Republicans will hold a show trial for Biden in September and October while Trump manages to delay trials for 91 felony charges. It will be an extreme perversion of justice should this farce occur.”
That’s correct.
Like I said, it’s fate.
Trump isn’t campaigning for president so much as leading a movement of vengeance against his and his followers' enemies. That includes Biden and everyone in his party. The day the House Democrats impeached Trump for the first time – for extorting the leader of a foreign ally in a criminal conspiracy to smear then-candidate Joe Biden – was the day President Biden’s impeachment was set in motion.
This is why “the House has no choice.”
Insurgent Republicans have to finish what Trump started.
That’s not to say it will work. So far, the Washington press corps has done a pretty good job of saying that there’s no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden and that impeachment activities are rooted in his son’s alleged crimes, for which he’s being held accountable. (The people indicting him on federal changes work for the Biden administration!)
I think the last step for members of the Washington press corps is spelling out the truth in plain English – that these insurgent Republicans are probably going to impeach the president because Trump wants them to. The impeachment story is a revenge story.
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as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and his GOP colleagues' efforts to impeach President Joe Biden potentially move forward this week, the Louisiana lawmaker insists the party will prevail in its plans.
However, during a Sunday morning conversation with CNN's Victor Blackwell, Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer insisted House Republicans are "moving forward fast without" any real accusations, evidence, or substance.
Blackwell played a clip of Johnson recently explaining to a Fox News host what could happen in the coming days regarding House Republicans' opening a formal impeachment inquiry against Biden.
The speaker said, "So a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step. I think it's something we have to do at this juncture."
Johnson continued, "I suspect no Democrats will assist in this effort, but they should. The facts are so clear for everyone to see. Just the constitution requires the house to follow the truth where it leads. We have a duty to do this. We can't stop the process."
Referring to Johnson, Blackwell said, "He says he thinks they have the votes for this. Just a couple of days ago he was against the expulsion of [ex-US Rep.] George Santos (R-NY), and 105 members of his conference voted for it. Before we get to the actual content of the impeachment inquiry, what's on the line for him if they do not get to that point of opening it?"
Zelizer replied, "Well, I think many Republicans want this to happen...the former president depends on congressional Republicans. He always has, and I think this impeachment inquiry is being demanded, being sought, in part to muddy the waters, to make the accusations through Congress, through impeachment about President Biden. And so I think there is a lot of pressure on Speaker Johnson. But frankly, I think Speaker Johnson is happy to go along. He is part of the cohort that has been very eager to get this going."
:{:{READ MORE:'Call Comer’s bluff': Why House GOP’s Hunter Biden 'fishing expedition' could backfire completely}:
The CNN host commented, "Yeah, there still is not the evidence. There are plenty of questions that Republicans have put forward, but no evidence, and really not even clarity on what the charge they would be focused on here. We have some experience recently, obviously, with three impeachment inquiries in the last 30 years or so. Is there a neat, clean narrative of what this means for the party that pursues the impeachment in the subsequent election?"
Zelizer said, "There is not. But, look, this still is very much more like the 1990s, right, than the last impeachment we went through. That was when Republicans went to impeach a former President Clinton, in the Monica Lewinsky story. Here, though, we don't even know what the accusations are. There's no evidence of anything at this point. And this is quite a contrast with Speaker Pelosi, in 2019, really didn't want to move forward with impeachment. Here they are moving forward fast without anything there. So that tells you the politics of the impeachment is much more important now than the actual substance behind what they are pursuing."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is having difficulty focusing its efforts on who to impeach first — President Joe Biden or Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Punchbowl News reported that the House Republican Conference's divisions have come to the surface, as members have accepted that they lack the political capital to conduct two high-profile impeachment hearings in the 118th Congress. While some members want to concentrate on impeaching Biden in relation to his son Hunter's foreign business dealings, other Republicans say targeting Mayorkas over border security is an easier target.
"[Republicans] need to focus on what they can get,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) told Punchbowl. "Mayorkas is easier than impeaching the president of the United States."
While the House Homeland Security Committee has accused Mayorkas of "dereliction of duty" in securing the Southern border, chairman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) didn't confirm whether his committee would ultimately recommend impeachment at the conclusion of its investigation.
"When my committee makes a recommendation, it’ll be substantiated by the evidence," Green said. "That’s the best I can say. I don’t want to create false hope or anything."
Meanwhile, the White House said House Republicans were "wasting time" on the impeachment resolutions and accused the majority of failing to responsibly govern.
"Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said. "This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities."
READ MORE:'Abuse of power': Republicans admit Biden impeachment effort based more on politics than substance
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) recently stated during a press conference that the Biden impeachment effort is a major point of focus for his caucus, and said House Republicans would continue their work gathering evidence to impeach the 46th president of the United States. However, during a November meeting among the House GOP, members confided to Speaker Johnson that there might not be the political will to impeach Biden given his poll numbers. This prompted MSNBC columnist Ruth Ben-Ghiat to accuse Republicans of "abuse of power."
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Marjorie Taylor Greene declares war — on Republicans
Marjorie Taylor Greene 'demanding answers' from Biden administration about leaked Pentagon documents
:{:{}:
Matt Laslo
andRaw Story
November 19, 2023
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WASHINGTON — There may be a new speaker in the House of Representatives, but he, too, must answer to the same old boss: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
While there’s growing frustration in some corners of the GOP over some of Greene’s head-turning antics — like when she declared an “Impeachment Week” over the summer where she dropped new articles of impeachment daily against cabinet secretaries and President Joe Biden — Greene told Raw Story in an exclusive interview that her Republican colleagues haven’t seen anything yet.
“Our party is basically ripping apart at the seams. We have an identity crisis, and so I'm going to work as hard as possible to shove these people to realize: either work for the American people with an America First policy agenda or get out and go home and retire,” Greene told Raw Story.
Greene’s presence on Capitol Hill remains considerable despite liberals dismissively mocking her and fellow Republicans on the House Freedom Caucus booting her after she called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) "a little b----."
She vows to continue using her profile and digital bully pulpit to pull her Republican Party further to the extreme-right. That includes Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how — and why — to get inside your political enemies’ minds
“The whole reason I ran for Congress was because I was mad at Republicans,” Greene said. “The first two years under President Trump, Republicans failed us. They didn't repeal Obamacare. They did not fund the border wall that we all wanted. They didn't do anything about abortion. As a matter of fact, they funded Planned Parenthood. Republicans did that. Not Democrats.”
Besides having the ear and affection of former President Donald Trump, she also leads an online army with her 2.8 million X (formerly Twitter) followers.
Her campaign raked in $12.55 million in the 2022 midterms — more than two-thirds of which came from donations under $200, according to OpenSecrets, indicating incredibly strong grassroots support. Although Democrats dumped $16.63 million into her opponent’s coffers last year, Greene sailed to reelection, netting 66 percent of votes cast.
Even if she’s a headache to party leaders, she’s also become a brand within the GOP, and leaders know — and fear — it. Greene had Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s rapt attention, and now she’s flexing early in Johnson’s tenure.
“I ran for Congress to change the Republican Party, and that has been my goal the entire time — to change our party to reflect our voters,” Greene said. “Because Republicans run for Congress, they campaign, making all these promises, saying all these strong America First campaign slogans and ideas and policies, and then they get here and forget the very people that elected them.”
This week, Greene has been on a rampage against eight of her fellow Republicans who sided with Democrats in opposing her latest effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We exposed four Judiciary members, four of them that voted with the Democrats to kill the Articles of Impeachment for Mayorkas,” Greene fumed. “Why? So they can shelf it back in their committee, where my articles of impeachment were already collecting dust.”
When asked if she hopes to move the members or to move their voters — Washington-speak for “do you support a primary?” — Greene said, “Yes, move their voters, so I certainly hope it does.”
“We're at a point in America where we're sick and tired and we're done, so if you want to work in Washington, you're going to be held accountable and that is what I intend to do,” Greene said. “I'm putting them to the test, publicly on record with their votes. Their voters get to decide if they want to send them back.”
‘Getting over her skis’
Greene may be a force, but she’s also causing unforced errors that are frustrating her war-weary GOP colleagues.
Before Congress left town until after Thanksgiving, Raw Story caught up with two of the eight Republicans who crossed Greene this week on her impeachment effort.
Requests for comments from the other six were not returned, but, even with all the threats flying, freshman Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) — one of the eight — says he’s not worried.
“I’m in a moderate district,” Duarte told Raw Story. “The only choice I get to make is who’s mad at me.”
Greene’s actions may rev up the base, but Duarte says it’s bad for the rest of the beleaguered party when she goes it alone.
“Yeah. The base doesn't hear these things in detail. They just know that eight members voted not to impeach Mayorkas, and they don't realize that it was one individual who thought it might be a good idea,” Duarte said.
Duarte accuses Greene of “getting over her skis.”
ALSO READ: How Sen. Bob Menendez can keep his pension even if he becomes a convicted felon
“The privileged individual motion to impeach Mayorkas, which the base would love to hear — and I'm not against an impeachment — but it's got to go through the committee. It's got to go through regular order,” Duarte said. “We really want leadership to look at it and say, ‘this is a good idea’ and to make sure the impeachment articles are very carefully written.”
A couple weeks back, on Nov. 1, Greene offered a privileged censure resolution against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), which 23 Republicans helped defeat because it accused the Palestinian-American of taking part in an “insurrection” after she joined a pro-Palestine protest on the Capitol grounds.
Duarte says that measure failed to pass a simple common sense test.
“Calling it an insurrection, because they went through the security guards in Cannon [House Office Building]. I mean, come on,” Duarte said. “If you really want to work on something like that, work on it. Don't just draft up your own version of events and put it out there.”
Veteran Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) knows congressional antics. The 11-term congressman chaired the House Oversight Committee when Barack Obama was president — “this is not somebody who is serious about working on problems,” Obama said in 2016 — which garnered him and the GOP many sensational headlines.
But it didn’t get the party any legislative wins to hang their hats on.
Issa says, even though Republicans just recaptured the majority, it doesn’t seem like Greene wants to influence policy, even as she’s redefining politics as usual in Washington.
“Angry people come and go, but virtually everything that becomes law — particularly in a divided government — everything that becomes law ultimately has to have support on the other side. If we're going to impeach and remove anyone, we need at least 17 Democrats to vote for it,” Issa told Raw Story. “Isn't that the goal? To write something that clarifies when something's been done wrong?”
Issa and the other seven are outliers in today’s GOP though. Most Republicans — 209, to be exact — didn’t get the procedural protest against rushing a Mayorkas impeachment.
“What is the frustration? I don’t understand,” embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) told Raw Story. “I don't think it was a distraction. I think it was, you know, a sentiment of a lot of people in our country, and she put it forward. I voted for it.”
This is the reality TV era of the Republican Party, after all. One she’s helped define, and one she's set on redefining, if in her and Donald Trump’s images.
A lawmaker, but little law-making
Greene is the original sponsor of 18 pieces of legislation in the 118th Congress. Eight deal with impeachment. Seven are to impeach Biden and an array of members of his cabinet — from the F.B.I. director to the attorney general. The other is to expunge the first impeachment of former President Trump (even though legal experts say you can’t expunge an impeachment). None of the impeachment measures have been successful — unless success is measured in donations — and most of her legislative efforts have gone nowhere.
In the 117th Congress, Greene sponsored six impeachment measures. Besides one aimed at Attorney General Merrick Garland, the other five are all aimed at impeaching President Biden. One for his COVID-19 response. Another for tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. One for (unproven) bribery. Another over Afghanistan. And one for “for endangering the security of the United States.”
If anything, it seems to Issa that Greene is using protest tactics usually deployed by the minority party.
“I must be honest, if I were in the minority and I wanted to bring an impeachment and get a vote on it, I wouldn't want it sent to committee. I would want to deal with it immediately,” Issa said. “I trust these chairman to do the right thing and do it thoughtfully. She serves on the very committee we referred it to. She has an opportunity to go over there and make a point of their due diligence if they're not doing enough.”
ALSO READ: Republican congressman gets jacked by thief
As for Greene’s accusation that Issa and the others fail to meet her America First litmus test?
“I’m not a purist. I'm a pragmatic conservative,” Issa said. “I believe in an impeachment process that is considered by a whole committee and the committee staff, that's done thoughtfully.”
Greene’s also a pragmatist, of sorts. While she was treated as an apostate in some far-right circles for counting McCarthy as an ally during his 269-day speakership — the third shortest in history — Greene says she secured a seat at the head table where she transformed formerly fringe views into GOP orthodoxy.
“If you pay attention closely, when Kevin McCarthy was speaker, he was changing the way he was doing things, too, and I'll take some credit for that,” Greene said. “Actually, I'll take a lot of credit for that.”
After Democrats — along with 11 of her fellow Republicans — stripped Greene of committee assignments for allegedly encouraging the assassination of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on social media prior to her election and other inflammatory posts that her colleagues deemed dangerous, McCarthy reinstated her.
The National Republican Campaign Committee (or NRCC) has also leaned on Greene’s popularity with the far-right for fundraising.
Even though Greene took flak for sidling up to him, she’s proud she had McCarthy’s ear — and then some.
“I got the money for Ukraine taken out of the defense bill. I did that. With a Speaker McCarthy, I got an impeachment inquiry launched without a vote, and I'll take strong credit for that but I give him credit for that, too. He did it,” Greene continued. “And in the past few weeks, the base has been extremely disappointed to hear our new speaker back away from impeachment as if he doesn't support it or go back and forth on the issue. That's a failure. We can't have that.”
Greene’s allies aren’t just nameless masses of digital followers. Freshman Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) met Greene in his successful outsider Senate campaign — through Tucker Carlson, no less — and now he counts her a “friend.”
ALSO READ: Accused felon Rudy Giuliani praises The Citadel for letting him keep honorary doctorate
“She's much smarter than people give her credit for, and I think she's quite an effective operator,” Vance told Raw Story. “She’s gonna be an important voice in the party for a long time.”
Greene’s often called the right’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — MTG and AOC — but there’s a key difference between the far-right bomb thrower and the progressive thorn in Democratic leader’s sides: Greene is “much closer to [former President Donald Trump] than AOC is to Biden.”
“I think she's much different in that, her ears are much closer to the Republican grassroots than AOC’s are to — obviously it's not my party — but my sense is AOC represents a very narrow slice of the Democratic Party,” Vance said. “I think MTG actually has a much broader base.”
Broader, maybe, but Greene’s a small tent Republican, unlike the party’s former standard bearer, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT).
Romney tried to broaden the tent and make conservatism attractive to independents, (binders full of) women and minorities. It seems Greene and Co. are doing all they can to cram more people into their increasingly smaller tent.
“I'm in a different branch of the party than she is. I wish her branch would get smaller and mine would get larger, but it's been going in the opposite direction,” Romney told Raw Story.
Whether AOC or MTG, Romney bemoans the loss of a bygone era where sound policy and party unity mattered more than antics — and the millions in small dollar donations they attract.
“What happens is that the most extreme person who lights their hair on fire is the one that gets the headlines and characterizes one's party,” Romney told Raw Story. “That's a problem.”
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:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{'We’re coming for you': Lindsey Graham warns Iran not to 'escalate this war' ›:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):
:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{MTG rants against fellow Republicans for rejecting Tlaib censure resolution: 'Vaping groping Boebert' ›:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):
:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{'Signs of a coming conflict are everywhere': Why a 2nd Civil War would be quite different from the 1st ›:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):
:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{MTG-McCarthy alliance weakens as congresswoman fights to 'win back hard-right credibility' ›:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}:}:}:}:}:}:}:}::(style="font-family:Merriweather"):---
https://www.mediamatters.org/mark-levin/attacking-bidens-efforts-negotiate-lower-drug-prices-mark-levin-claims-patients-can-get
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Thursday morning, September 28, House Republicans held their first hearingin an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
It remains to be seen, however, whether or not the inquiry will eventually lead to a full House vote on any articles of impeachment.
Right-wing media pundits were happy to see George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turleybeing featured as a witness, but the Daily Beast's Josh Fiallonotes that House Republicans' "longshot attempt to impeach" Biden "got off to a rocky start" with Turley's testimony.
Turley testified, "I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment. That is something that an inquiry has to establish."
The law professor added, however, "But I also do believe that the House has passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Biden."
READ MORE:'It's a joke': These Republicans fear Biden impeachment will be GOP’s downfall
*Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link(subscription required).
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rww 823
far-right activist and legal gadfly Larry Klayman announced this month that a “citizen grand jury” had indicted President Joe Biden and members of his family, and that a “citizens’ judge” has handed down felony convictions after a “trial” in Boise, Idaho.
“BREAKING: The Bidens Convicted!” was the subject line of an August 24 email sent by Klayman’s group Freedom Watch to readers of the right-wing publication Human Events. Klayman has also talked about the Biden “conviction” in online videos, where he has also posted clips of “evidence” being presented to the fake judge in the fake trial.
Klayman said that “sentencing of the corrupt Biden plan” will be held August 29:{. “We will then commission established law enforcement and the military to take Biden and his son and his brother into custody if they don’t turn themselves in, and frankly, put them in the slammer,” he said in a }
:{ posted on YouTube. He has promised future trials of public health official Anthony Fauci and other perceived enemies of the MAGA movement.}:
Klayman’s cosplay has no legal standing, but could inspire violent behavior from one of former President Donald Trump’s passionate supporters. Klayman denounced the “Marxian Jewish left”he said was persecuting Trump, calling for a “counterrevolution.” He called the judge in the Georgia indictment an “anti-white racist.”He said he believes that someone in Trump’s orbit will be harmed, which would set off Trump’s supporters.
Klayman’s escapades in the past have included a citizen grand jury that “convicted” then-President Barack Obama of fraud, and a failed rally at the White House that was meant to force Obama out of the White House.
Klayman is using his new version to raise money forFreedom Watch, a group he founded after falling out with the leaders of Judicial Watch, which he also founded.
Tags: Larry Klayman Civil War MAGA Freedom Watch
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https://boingboing.net/2023/08/22/lauren-boebert-demands-biden-be-impeached-with-up-and-down-vote-after-her-poll-numbers-slip-video.html
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https://www.alternet.org/biden-impeachment-2664005762/
no lnx
Matt Gaetz says 'the quiet part out loud' about true 'purpose' of Biden impeachment
Alex HendersonAugust 17, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has said that the House Oversight Committee's Hunter Biden probe may lead to an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), during a late July appearance on MSNBC, accused McCarthy of pandering to the "craziest" members of his caucus.
Schiff views talk of impeaching President Biden as motivated by partisan politics, not concern for the rule of law. And far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) admitted that a Biden impeachment would be political during a Monday, Aug. 14 Twitter Space event.
If President Biden were impeached, a conviction during a trial in the U.S. Senate would be most unlikely — as Democrats have a small effective Senate majority. Four U.S. presidents have faced articles of impeachment (Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump), and not one of them was removed from office by the Senate. Johnson, Clinton and Trump were found "not guilty," and Nixon avoided a Senate trial by resigning in August 1974.
On Twitter Space, Gaetz argued that although Biden wouldn't be found guilty in an impeachment trial, the event could hurt his chances of reelection in 2024.
Gaetz said, "The purpose of that impeachment, from my standpoint, is not to force a vote that loses. It's to put on a trial in the Senate — and by the way, not for the sake of conviction…. There's no conviction and removal of Joe Biden coming on impeachment. I know that, you know that."
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The MAGA congressman went on to say, "If we had the Senate as the stage and the platform for (Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman) James Comer to put on his evidence and advance this impeachment, it will not result in a conviction. But the true verdict can still be rendered by the American people."
The New Republic's Tori Otten, in an article published on August 16, stresses that Gaetz said "the quiet part out loud" when he admitted that the purpose of a Biden impeachment would be to "make him look bad enough that he loses the 2024 election."
READ MORE: Kevin McCarthy tells Hannity Biden family’s business is 'rising to the level of impeachment inquiry'
Otten warns, "All of the investigations into Biden are absolutely for political purposes. House Republicans have mobilized multiple committees to go after the Biden family. There has yet to be any proof of wrongdoing, but Republicans have used the investigations as excuses to trash Biden, attack policies they don't like such as immigration, and share his son's nude photos. An impeachment inquiry, and certainly a full-on impeachment, would take that governmental weaponization to the next level."
READ MORE: 'It's like a soap opera': These Republicans are weary of their colleagues’ Hunter Biden obsession
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an 8 23 no lnx
GOPer accusing Biden of 'treason' say he’ll file impeachment resolution related to 'drugs an prostitution'
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09: U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) speaks during testimony by Democratic and Republican counsels before the House Judiciary Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. The hearing is being held for the Judiciary Committee to formally receive evidence in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, whom Democrats say held back military aid for Ukraine while demanding they investigate his political rivals. The White House declared it would not participate in the hearing. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement August 11, 2023
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, Republican of Florida, says he will file an impeachment resolution Friday against President Joe Biden on numerous alleged charges, including “financial involvement in drugs and prostitution.”
Steube, first elected to Congress in 2018 after his Democratic opponent died of a heart attack just weeks before the election, has been targeting President Biden for years. The Florida Republican sits on Chairman Jim Jordan’s House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.He was endorsed by Donald Trump in 2022, and has endorsed the ex-president, who is currently under three criminal indictments, for re-election.
In early July, Rep. Steube accused President Biden of “ treason,” and said he hopes the next Republican President will ensure Biden stands trial for the capital offense. The Washington Post says about 30 people in the entire history of the U.S. have ever been charged with treason.
READ MORE: Ex-federal prosecutor blasts Trump lawyers’ 'willingness to turn a blind eye to their ethical obligation'
Thursday night, talking with the far-right wing channelNewsmax, Rep. Steube announced his intent to begin the process of impeaching President Biden.
“And tomorrow, I intend on filing impeachment resolution on Joe Biden for bribery, for extortion, obstruction of justice, fraud, financial involvement in drugs and prostitution, all of these things,” Steube said.
Republicans have not presented the American people with any veritable proofthat President Biden has engaged in any of those alleged offenses.
READ MORE: Dem strategist: 'The level of talent in the party is as high as any party has ever had in my lifetime'
He went on to claim, “we have all the facts and evidence now and in the beginning of this Congress, Republicans wanted to make sure that we did the investigations, that we got the information before the American people, you have witness testimony, you have financial records, you have the laptop, you have text messages, you have phone conversations, you have all of this evidence now to corroborate and support impeachment articles against the President, and I intend on filing those tomorrow on all of these corruption and bribery charges.”
In 2021 Steube was one of just 12 House Republicans voting against awarding congressional gold medals to the U.S. Capitol Police officers and others who helped protect the Capitol after the January 6 insurrection.
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Last year he was one of just 33 House Republicans who co-sponsored anti-LGBTQ “vigilante” legislation called a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
READ MORE: 'Gonna end this family grift': Christie hits Trump over Kushner-Saudi relationship
Earlier this year Steube sponsored legislation that would ban all transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports in public schools across the country.
Watch below or at this link.
The deadly intersection of labor exploitation and climate change
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an 8 23
no lnx
'Rumor and innuendo': Vulnerable House Republicans threaten McCarthy’s path to Biden impeachment
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 23: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) listens as Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) speak during a press conference on immigration outside the U.S. Capitol Building on May 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. During the bipartisan news conference lawmakers introduced the “Dignity Act,” which lawmakers expect will improve the application process for U.S. citizenship as well as increase security on both the northern and southern borders. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Elizabeth PrezaAugust 09, 2023
Several vulnerable House Republicans are expressing doubt about a possible impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last month floated the possibility in an interview with Fox News.
On July 24, McCarthy told host Sean Hannity that investigations into the Biden family by the House Oversight Committee “are rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed.”
But, as NBC News reports, “ McCarthy can lose no more than four GOP votes” if he pursues an impeachment inquiry — and “the make-or-break votes will come from 18 politically vulnerable Republicans who represent districts Biden won in 2020 and other self-styled GOP pragmatists.”
READ MORE: Kevin McCarthy tells Hannity Biden family’s business is 'rising to the level of impeachment inquiry'
“Impeachment should not be political by any stretch,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said. “We’ve seen what happens when Congress acts in a political matter — it does not serve the interests of the American people in any way.”
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) echoed a similar sentiment.
“We’ve got to get back to a point where impeachment is what it was intended to be,” Fitzpatrick told NBC News. “I feel like, you know, both in the last cycle and in this cycle, we’re converting into essentially a vote of no confidence in the British Parliament. And I don’t want to see our country go down that path.”
READ MORE: 'Unbelievably irresponsible': CNN slammed over 'bizarre' and 'reckless' report on GOP impeachment plans
While he concedes “it’s too early for a formal impeachment inquiry,” Rep. Don Bacon, (R-NE) is keeping the door open.
NBC reports the freshman representative “said he believes the president was ‘more involved’ with his son's business dealings than he admitted and that the GOP investigations should continue.”
But, Bacon warned, “We should have more confidence that actual high crimes and misdemeanors occurred before starting a formal impeachment inquiry.”
READ MORE: House Republicans’ Biden 'bombshell' keeps failing to materialize: analysis
To that effect, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), a former county prosecutor, noted he’s heard “a lot of rumor and innuendo” about the Biden family, “but that’s not fact to me.”
“I think there has to be due process that we follow, and I’ve not seen any of that today,” Joyce said.
For Lawler, the representative from New York, “the question to me right now is do the investigations — are they producing enough facts and evidence that warrant taking it to the next step?”
“I don’t think it’s there at the moment,” Lawler said. “But these committees are doing their job.”
“Some of the stuff obviously deserves further review,” Joyce, the former prosecutor, noted. “but there is nothing hard in front of us at this moment to say that any of that is true.”
READ MORE: Fox News host: President Biden’s move to protect Grand Canyon land a ploy to fund Russian government
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https://www.alternet.org/commentary/biden-impeachment/
no lnx badash an 8 23 no twt
cNN and one of its top reporters are facing criticism from journalists, attorneys, and other critics after publishing an article some say does little to shine truth on Republicans’ false claims, along with what some are calling a “bizarre” post on social media, both highlighting House Republicans’ plans to impeach President Joe Biden despite not having released any factual evidence that would support such an effort.
The post, on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, appears to imply House Republicans actually have grounds to impeach the President for what would have to be “high crimes and misdemeanors,” despite them having presented no such cause.
“A reason why many in House GOP believe Biden will face an impeachment inquiry in fall: Not moving forward now will create impression that House Rs have essentially cleared Biden of any wrongdoing over his ties to Hunter’s business entanglements,”CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju tweeted atop a post promoting his co-reported story.
The response to the social media post and CNN article Tuesday morning was swift.
“This is unbelievably irresponsible reporting. You could not be more complicit in a fascist project than this story,” charged national security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler in her analysis posted to social media.
READ MORE: DeSantis Boots Campaign Manager, Replaces With Conservative Aide Behind Governor’s Top Far-Right Policies
Wheeler continued, adding a screenshot from the CNN article.
She writes: “It is **25** paragraphs until CNN tells the targets of their propaganda that the GOP has no evidence AT ALL of wrongdoing.”
Wheeler also accuses CNN of publishing GOP talking points without stating they are false.
“I’m not sure why CNN thinks a GOP false claim that Biden lied is newsworthy, but all of James Comer’s demonstrable lies are not,” she adds, referring to the Oversight Committee Chairman who has spent a good part of the year making unsubstantiated claims against President Biden.
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“There will be an impeachment even though there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE of wrongdoing, bc Hill reporters are really fucking easy to dupe with process stories based on totally made up propaganda,” Wheeler concludes.
Others also weighed in.
“Despite Manu’s bizarre tone, it’s important for readers to know Republicans actually haven’t identified any evidence of wrongdoing. Their bombshell document is a cordial note from Biden to a family friend regretting they didn’t get a chance to chat at a luncheon,” wrote attorney and author Luppe B. Luppen.
READ MORE: ‘May Tee Up the Issue of Her Fitness’: Experts Blast Judge Cannon for ‘Swinging at’ Special Counsel Jack Smith
“Reckless,” journalist and Sirius XM host Michelangelo Signorile charged. “Impeach for what? Media is so wrapped up in horse race and politics they don’t look at evidence or extremism of the GOP in even moving forward with this.”
Communications consultant Susan Bordson, a former TV news producer, wrote: “This @CNNPolitics congressional veteran reporter used his account to FEATURE the House GOP’s preferred copy vs the option to include the RELEVANT contextual point that no verifiable evidence of wrongdoing has yet been presented. But ‘impeachment’ scored a big mention win!”
“Seriously?” responded Daily Kos managing editor Barbara Morrill to Raju’s post. “No thoughts on the fact that there was no wrongdoing by Biden?”
Other social media users were also angered.
“Do you maybe want to add any context for your readers about there being zero basis for any sort of impeachment hearings and that no one on the right has articulated what they’re planning on impeaching him for or are you just a stenographer?” asked one.
“You had space in this tweet to say that it’s baseless and unwarranted. Please try to do better going forward. It’s ridiculous if the press just keeps saying “impeachment” over and over without giving any context,” observed another.
Still others focused on the House Republicans.
Award-winning Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall called it a “remarkable admission or reporting this as non-ridiculous. They have to impeach Biden or else people will realize they didn’t find anything in their investigations.”
Sirius XM host Joe Sudbay wrote: “epitomizes how deranged House GOP is AND how complicit so many in DC media are.” He added, “alleged GOP moderates will whine to complicit media about this, then vote with their fellow GOP extremists.”
Assistant professor of journalism and managing editor Josh Kranzberg: “Every time I’ve read a story about their investigations into Biden, I can only think of one line…You are not serious people. This story confirms it. They are not serious people.”
Attorney Ben Friedman: “So the GOP position is essentially ‘If we don’t keep up the charade, voters might figure out that our outrage was always fake.'”
Read the social media posts above or at this link.
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McCarthy tells Hannity Biden family’s business is 'rising to the level of impeachment inquiry'
https://www.alternet.org/Bank/hunter-biden-2662361445/
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boebert mtg lil bitch
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an 6 23
house Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested on Monday that the House of Representatives might consider impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Merrick Garland over unsubstantiated allegations from a whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service regarding Hunter Biden.
“If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the Attorney General," McCarthy told the hosts of "Fox & Friends."
This comes after McCarthy made a similar impeachment threat on Sunday ifDavid Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who brokered a plea agreement with Hunter Biden over late taxes and improperly obtaining a firearm, is not allowed to testify to Congress.
The agreement, which could subject the president's son to probation, was the culmination of years of investigation, and is unusual in that most people accused of similar offenses are rarely prosecuted as standalone crimes; tax charges in particular are highly unusual if the unpaid taxes were already paid back.
FROM EARLIER:'You throw crap against the wall': Former RNC head slaps down Kevin McCarthy for trying to rewrite history
However, Republicans have complained the charges don't go far enough. House investigators have for years pushed an unfounded claim that Hunter Biden accepted bribes from foreign governments, and that President Joe Biden, then the vice president, was in on the scheme.
The House Ways and Means Committee further alleged last week that a whistleblower at the IRS has alleged the Justice Department under Garland interfered with Weiss' investigation; however, House investigators havenot put forward any evidence supporting this claim, and Weiss himself has not made any such allegation against Garland.
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see cynic they all do it
aha/hmmn normalizing of corruption plays into gop libtard govt is inept/corrupt
mebbe // bannon's flood the zone w/ BS ploy?
hunter biden laptop BS deflects from trump crime family emolument, secret docs, 2b$ saudi etc etc
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mtg calls boebert a little bitch on the floor for horning in?!
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In May 2023, Luna co-sponsored resolutions by Marjorie Taylor Greene to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland,[29] FBI Director Christopher Wray,[30] Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas,[31] and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew M. Graves.[32]
H.Res.405 - Impeaching Matthew M. Graves, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, for endangering, compromising, and undermining the justice system of the United States by:{facilitating the explosion of violent crime in the Nation's capital". Congress.gov. United States Congress.}:
In May 2023, Luna sponsored a resolution to have Adam Schiff removed from Congress and fined $16 million.[33]
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abc local oddly no AN?
WASHINGTON (TND) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has announced she intends to introduce articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.
Greene said during her press conference on the matter on Thursday that Biden should be removed from his office due to his failure to secure the southern border and because he has "deliberately compromised our national security by refusing to enforce immigration laws and secure our border."
It is with the highest amount of solemnity that I announce my intention to introduce articles of impeachment today on the head of this America-at-last Executive Branch that has been working since January 20th, 2021, to systematically destroy this country: the President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden," Greene announced Thursday.
Greene added that Biden has allowed "approximately six million illegals from over 170 countries to invade our country," and that "his administration has willfully refused to maintain operational control as is required by law."
The impeachment articles against President Biden cap off what Greene calls "impeachment week," during which the congresswoman has also made moves to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,
FBI Director Christopher Wray
and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Greene has yet to release the text of her proposed impeachment articles against Biden, but did share on social media a photo of a piece of paper that reads "NEXT NO. H. RES. 420" in bold printed text with the number being handwritten. The words "Impeaching Joseph R. Biden" are scribbled in handwriting at the bottom of the paper.
The impeachment articles against President Biden come as his administration faces what The Washington Post called "one of his thorniest policy challenges yet" as Title 42, a pandemic-era immigration policy that restricted incoming migrants coming from countries where communicable diseases were present, came to an end on May 11.
Over 10,000 migrants were encountered along the southern border on May 9 alone, according to Homeland Security officials. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told The National Desk that community leaders have been told there will be "just too many people to even process."
President Biden has already said that "we’re doing all we can" in regard to the U.S. southern border, but added that "it’s going to be chaotic for a while."
More than 2.6 million people have been reportedly expelled from the U.S. under Title 42. Since Title 42 has ended, the impending migrant crisis that so many have warned of seemingly has yet to occur.
The National Desk reports that while the border is still backed up and the reported number of crossings remains high, other than a last-minute surge experienced near the end of Title 42, the situation has been "on par" with the numbers experienced over the last several months.
However, events at the border continue to make headlines and draw criticism. Less than 24 hours before Title 42 was set to end, an Afghan national who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) terror watchlist was arrested at the U.S. southern border. On Wednesday, an 8-year-old child reportedly died while in Border Patrol custody.
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https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/right-wing-media-use-musk-and-taibbis-twitter-files-baselessly-allege-election-interference
many lnx twt
Right-wing media use Musk and Taibbi’s “Twitter Files” to baselessly allege election interference and call for Twitter employees to be jailed
Even conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka was “underwhelmed,” saying that there “wasn’t government suppression”
WRITTEN BY NATALIE MATHES, RUBY SEAVEY & JACK WINSTANLEY
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PAYTON ARMSTRONG & ZACHARY PLEAT
PUBLISHED 12/06/22
right-wing media are using Twitter CEO Elon Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi’s release of “The Twitter Files” to baselessly portray the company’s decision to suppress a story about Hunter Biden as having influenced the results of the 2020 presidential election. Going further, some right-wing pundits have even called for those Twitter employees responsible for the decision to be prosecuted and imprisoned.
On December 2, Taibbi posted a supposed first installment of “The Twitter Files” in a lengthy tweet thread. Musk claimed that the report would document “free speech suppression” regarding Twitter’s decision to block links to an October 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. However, the files revealed very little information that was not already public and largely showed what many analysts noted as healthy internal debate rather than sinister collusion to suppress free speech.
Taibbi pointed to several discussions within the files as evidence of collusion between Democrat officials and Twitter employees to suppress potentially damaging information about the Biden family in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election. One of these exchanges included an email from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questioning the logic behind Twitter's actions. Another thread showed that Twitter executives, at the supposed request of a Democratic official, “handled” a number of tweets containing stolen pictures of Hunter Biden’s genitals. (Twitter removed those tweets under its non-consensual nudity policy.)
“The Twitter Files” failed to reveal meaningful evidence of collusion and represent another stumble in Musk's Twitter takeover
Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey had previously acknowledged that Twitter made mistakes in its decision to suppress the story, a sentiment which other now-former executives have echoed. Dorsey had even testified before Congress to explain the same claims that Musk, Taibbi, and right-wing media have incorrectly framed as being hidden from the public,” and an analysis by Washington Post columnist Philip Bump determined that Twitter’s actions around the Hunter Biden story did not cost Donald Trump the 2020 election. As Bump explained, “there’s no evidence that the restriction imposed by Twitter (or Facebook) actually kept interested people from learning about the story.”
Continuing their insatiable appetite for the Hunter Biden laptop story, however, right-wing media figures cited Taibbi’s reporting as clear evidence that Big Tech meddled in the 2020 election, while others claimed Joe Biden was involved in blocking the unconfirmed New York Post story, baselessly asserting that the White House colluded with Twitter on this decision. (Biden had yet to be elected in October 2020 and was still on the campaign trail when Twitter decided to suppress the story.) Additionally, some right-wing media figures conceded that the Twitter Files were “not the smoking gun we’d hoped for,” yet still insisted that Taibbi’s report showed a clear “violation of the First Amendment.”
Right-wing figures used Taibbi’s report to baselessly claim that Twitter “colluded” in the 2020 election by suppressing the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop
- On Twitter, Fox host Laura Ingraham called for Big Tech to be reined in, comparing Twitter blocking the unconfirmed story about Hunter Biden to Russian interference in U.S. elections. In a December 2 tweet, Ingraham said, “Russian interference & meddling? Tonight we expose Twitter interference & meddling in the 2020 campaign. Sleazier than we thought—it’s time to rein in Big Tech. GOP better do it.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier claimed that Joe Biden won the 2020 election because Twitter helped him, calling the report “damning.”Fournier tweeted on December 2, “The Twitter Files release is damning. Everything we believed is being confirmed true. Twitter colluded in the 2020 election and helped Biden win.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec asserted that Twitter’s decision to suppress the New York Post story amounted to a “digital insurrection.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
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- judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, who helped Trump devise a strategy to claim that the 2020 election was stolen, claimed the Twitter Files proved that Democrats and Big Tech worked together to get Biden elected. In a series of tweets, Fitton said that the “Democratic Party (DNC) colluded with @Twitter to censor opponents just before 2020 election. #ElectionInterference,” and claimed, “Assault on democratic gov't and more election interference CONFIRMED in @ElonMusk's @Twitter files.” Twitter, [12/2/22; 12/2/22]
- Conservative comedian Terrence K. Williams insinuated that the suppression of the Hunter Biden story was the reason Trump lost the 2020 election. On December 2, Williams tweeted, “Twitter interfered with the 2020 Election and those involved should be held accountable. President Trump should be in the White House right now.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- On Fox & Friends, co-host Pete Hegseth chalked up Twitter’s actions to election interference while acting as “an arm of the Democratic National Committee.” Co-host Steve Doocy admitted that “there is no smoking gun per se,” but Hegseth erroneously claimed that voters didn’t “get to read about” the heavily covered Hunter Biden story, “which means they're not factored in when they vote, which is the definition of election interference.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [12/5/22]
Right-wing figures attacked Biden for Twitter’s actions, with some alleging collusion between the White House and Twitter even though Biden wasn’t president yet
- Jack Posobiec attempted to paint Taibbi’s report as evidence to impeach Biden. On Twitter, Posobiec called for an impeachment inquiry into Biden because “the Twitter Files show Twitter was Censoring [users based] on Direct Requests from the Biden Team in October 2020.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Conservative commentator Buck Sexton claimed that the story constituted a “massive scandal, and Biden should rightly be IMPEACHED for it.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
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- fox News host Jesse Watters wrongly characterized Biden as the sitting president in 2020 to assert collusion between Twitter and the White House. He incorrectly asserted, “The Biden White House had a direct line to challenge and take down content they didn't like.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [12/2/22]
- On Fox’s Hannity, guest Tammy Bruce claimed that Twitter and Facebook were acting as “agents of the state” in suppressing the story.Bruce ended her appearance by bizarrely asserting that Twitter had single handedly “abolished” the First Amendment. Fox News,*Hannity*, [12/2/22]
Right-wing figures demanded that Twitter employees involved in blocking the New York Post story face prosecution or jail time
- Terrence K. Williams called for “every Twitter employee who interfered in the 2020 Election” to be arrested. Twitter, [12/2/22]
[twt]
- Fox host Jeanine Pirro said on Fox & Friends Weekend that the Twitter Files story “amounts to election interference, and when have you the suppression of the First Amendment – free speech – that results in election interference [but not hush money to hookers], there’s got to be a prosecution.”She also insisted that “we already know” Trump would have won the election if Twitter did not suppress the Hunter Biden story. Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [12/4/22]
Right-wing pundits expressed disappointment that Musk and Taibbi didn’t reveal a “smoking gun” but insisted that Twitter violated the First Amendment
- Conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka admitted to being “deeply underwhelmed” by Taibbi’s thread, saying: “We know the Dems in DC collude with the Dems in Palo Alto. Big Whop. Need a paper trail of felonies. Elon better have that.”Gorka went on to explain during a Twitter Spaces Q&A with Musk on December 3 that what Taibbi cites in his thread doesn’t show government suppression, isn’t a First Amendment violation, and therefore isn’t “a smoking gun.” Twitter, [12/2/22; 12/5/22]
- Washington Free Beacon reporter Andrew Kerr tweeted that none of the photos referenced by Taibbi “appear to show Hunter engaged in illegal activities.” He went on to call it “newsworthy that team Biden was asking Twitter to remove any tweets period.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross tweeted that “there has to be an interesting story on how Twitter decided to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, but we didn’t see it tonight.” He added, “FBI was meeting with Twitter on a weekly basis in 2020. Let’s see the docs about that.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Right-wing personalities the Hodgetwins tweeted, “It % is, collusion between govt. and big tech to violate the First Amendment.” The tweet was in reply to one from Musk saying, “If this isn’t a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, what is?” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- Tom Fitton said that the Twitter files “further confirm” the Democratic Party’s “opposition to the First Amendment.” Twitter, [12/2/22]
- [twt]
- miranda Devine, a New York Post columnist who writes frequently about Hunter Biden and Big Tech, confessed on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight that the Twitter Files were “not really the smoking gun we'd hoped for.” She went on to accuse Musk of withholding documents that “law enforcement specifically warned off Twitter from our story.” Fox News, *Tucker Carlson Tonight*, [12/2/22]
- Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett claimed that “Musk deserves a medal for revealing how the Biden campaign, FBI and media censored the Hunter Biden scandal.” In an opinion piece published at FoxNews.com, Jarrett alleged that “the Biden campaign team and Democratic operatives —with a key assist from partisans at the FBI— applied pressure on the social media giant Twitter to block the story.” He later wrote that “it is a violation of the First Amendment for the government to engage in censorship either overtly or covertly,” which “includes the FBI manipulating or coercing companies to behave as proxies to accomplish otherwise prohibited censorship.” Fox News, [12/6/22]
The hollow revelations of the Twitter Files come amid Musk’s supposed free speech crusade since taking control of the social media platform, marked by the CEO giving special attention to extremists, conspiracy theories, and misinformation. Twitter’s internal algorithms have already demonstrated a bias in favor of right-leaning accounts, and Musk’s high-profile actions have only further mainstreamed fringe narratives on the platform.