House Republicans will vote Wednesday on whether to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden .The party has struggled to gin up a legitimate rationale for moving forward with the inquiry, which has yet to produce any credible evidence of wrongdoing, but one Republican is saying the quiet part out loud.
When Rep.Troy Nehls (R-Texas) was asked Tuesday on Capitol Hill what he’s hoping to gain from an impeachment inquiry , Nehls responded: “All I can say is: Donald J.Trump 2024, baby!”
Republican Rep.Troy Nehls on what he’s hoping to gain from an impeachment inquiry:
“All I can say is Donald J.Trump 2024 baby.”
Story: https://t.co/B9ND5WYCyt pic.twitter.com/vGWCrPayN6
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) December 13, 2023 Video of the encounter was obtained exclusively by Rolling Stone .When reached for additional comment on Wednesday, Nehls said in a statement to Rolling Stone that Republicans “will follow the rule of law and go where the facts lead us.”
Nehls is one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress, and even floated the former president as a potential House Speaker after Republicans booted Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the role in October.
His comments are essentially an admission of what has long been obvious to many, which is that the GOP’s fraught effort to dig up dirt on President Biden and his family is nothing more than a ham-fisted political stunt meant to hurt the president’s reelection chances and place Trump back in the White House.
Republicans for months have been trotting out flimsy bits of evidence they say point to Biden’s corruption.They’ve produced nothing substantial, however, nor have they been able to articulate exactly which high crimes and misdemeanors the president may have committed.Hunter Biden, the president’s son whom Republicans believe worked with his father on illegal financial dealings, bashed the investigations while defying a GOP subpoena for closed-door testimony on Wednesday.
“I’m here today to make sure the House committee’s illegitimate investigations of my family do not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence, and lies,” he told reporters outside the Capitol.
“For six years MAGA Republicans including members of the House committees who are in a closed-door session right now, have imputed my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family, and my friends.They’ve ridiculed my struggle with addiction, they’ve belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass and damage my father.” Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The 100 Best Albums of 2023 The 50 Worst Decisions in Movie History All 243 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked
Meanwhile, Trump is embroiled in a sea of criminal and civil legal trouble .Cases in Washington, D.C., and Georgia relate directly to his effort to undermine the results of the 2020 election and his role in the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol.He’s also been indicted in New York over a hush-money scandal ahead of the 2016 election, and by the Justice Department in Florida over his handling of classified material after leaving the White House.
A civil trial in New York , where Trump has already been found liable for using fraudulent financial statements for his business, is expected to wrap up this week.
Trump is also the clear frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination, and a showdown with Biden in the general election now seems inevitable.Republicans have tied themselves to Trump’s erratic trajectory, and an impeachment inquiry in an election year is just the kind of circus they need to compete with the vortex of trials, depositions, and court appearances swirling around their all-but-official nominee.
The circus will continue with the vote on Wednesday to formalize their impeachment inquiry, the push to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress over his defiance of their subpoena, and a new round of Fox News appearances to try to legitimize the party’s never-ending fishing expedition.Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-La.) won’t be going on one of the network’s most popular anytime soon.
He said on Tuesday that he’s boycotting Fox & Friends because one of its hosts keeps asking him questions he can’t answer about what actual evidence the GOP has on Biden.Trending Andre Braugher Andre
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also avoided giving specifics in an op-ed announcing the vote to formalize the inquiry on Tuesday, writing — sincerely, absurdly — that “impeachment is among the most solemn constitutional authorities the U.S.
Congress holds, particularly when it comes to a president.”
If that’s the public line Johnson wants House Republicans to use, he’d better get them some additional media training.At the very least, he should make sure they don’t offer up the real reason for the inquiry as easily as Nehls did on Tuesday..
