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When it comes to the Republicans’ new impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden, there are basically three categories of GOP members. One contingent, made up of many senators and House members such as Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, concedes that the party doesn’t have any incriminating evidence against the incumbent Democrat.
A second faction, which includes members such as Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, acknowledges the absence of evidence, but argues that an impeachment inquiry might somehow uncover relevant information.
But perhaps most interesting is the third group: Republicans who pretend that they really have uncovered incriminating evidence, despite what the other two GOP contingents say, and despite reality.
When announcing the new impeachment inquiry yesterday, for example, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pointed to a series of details, presented as if there’s a legitimate underlying controversy. A Washington Post analysis took a closer look at each of the California Republican’s claims and found that McCarthy’s case amounted to little more than “exaggerations, irrelevancies, and dishonesty.”
Soon after, a group of far-right Republicans held a press conference of their own, and a reporter asked Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, what “actual evidence” GOP members have that would “merit an actual impeachment inquiry.” He didn’t seem to appreciate the question, responding:
“You can see that the homes that the Bidens own can’t be afforded on a congressional or Senate salary. You also understand that it’s not normal for family members to receive millions of dollars from overseas interests. Those things aren’t normal.”
Growing visibly agitated, the right-wing congressman continued to reference a series of related claims, including a renewed focus on the Viktor Shokin firing in Ukraine, before telling the reporter, “If you can’t see that, if you are that blind...” at which point he turned the microphone over to someone else.
The problem, whether Perry appreciates this or not, is that he was speaking in such a way as to suggest Republicans have uncovered meaningful evidence of wrongdoing. That has not happened.
The president’s homes are entirely affordable given his personal finances. It may not be “normal” for a politician’s relatives to get money from overseas interests, but (a) none of this money appears to have ended up in the president’s pocket, making his relatives’ incomes irrelevant; and (b) if Republicans were serious about this point, they’d probably take a greater interest in the billions Jared Kushner got from Saudi Arabia following his White House tenure.
As for the Shokin matter, we’ve known for years that in 2015, the Obama administration, European diplomats, the International Monetary Fund, and other international organizations leaned on Ukraine to fire the prosecutor because he refused to investigate corruption. Biden has bragged about this because he successfully implemented U.S. policy, which enjoyed bipartisan backing at the time. This isn’t scandalous in the slightest.
As part of his tirade, Perry declared yesterday, “That’s what we have.” Right. Exactly. The Republican congressman put his cards on the table for everyone to see, and it became immediately obvious that what he perceived as face cards were actually jokers.