House GOP swat aside Democratic attempts to derail first impeachment inquiry

House Republicans accused President Biden and his son Hunter of corruption in a manner “as old as time” while swatting aside Democratic attempts to derail the first impeachment inquiry hearing, even as witnesses told the GOP they don’t have the goods to bring a case against the chief executive — yet.

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) in his opening remarks told panel members that their inquiry into the president was premised on a “mountain of evidence” Republicans had obtained about the Biden family’s “culture of corruption.”

That evidence has been obtained through subpoenas for bank records, witness testimony and portions of records from a five-year criminal probe into Hunter Biden’s finances released by IRS whistleblowers.

The House panel uncovered more than $24 million taken in by Biden family members through more than 20 shell companies, much of it coming from foreign nationals and foreign entities in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania and China.

“What were the Bidens selling to make all this money? Joe Biden himself,” Comer said, arguing that the then-vice president “spoke, dined and developed relationships” with associates of Hunter and James Biden.

Biden, 80, had since made false statements about his involvement with his family member’s business “at least 10 times,” according to Comer.

House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) highlighted how his committee worked with two IRS tax investigators, Gary Shapley and Jason Ziegler, to release hundreds of documents detailing a sprawling investigation into the first son’s alleged financial crimes, including potential money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying.

“In a newly released message to a Chinese business executive, Hunter Biden mentioned preserving the ‘keys to my family’s only asset’ — that asset: Joe Biden,” Smith said.

Smith went on to share that Ways and Means had obtained emails, text messages and worksheets produced by Shapley and Ziegler as part of an investigation into the first son that they said was derailed earlier this year.

“This is a tale as old as time. Politician takes action that makes money for his family, and then he tries to conceal it,” Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) explained in his opening statement, which focused on Hunter Biden’s board position at the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings.

“[T]he executives at Burisma asked Hunter Biden to weigh in and help them with the pressure they are under from the prosecutor in Ukraine,” he said. “Joe Biden goes to Ukraine on December 9, 2015, gives this speech attacking the prosecutor that starts the process of getting that guy fired.”

Following the opening statements, attention turned to the four witnesses — three of whom had been invited by Republicans.

But while witnesses expressed concern at the treatment of the IRS whistleblowers and alarm at the flagrant “influence-peddling” of the first son abroad and the dishonesty of the president, none were yet willing to state that the threshold for impeachment had been reached.

Democrats seized on those remarks, with Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) riffing in his closing statement that “I’m afraid the majority forgot to bring the evidence with them today” while commending the “honesty and surprising consensus on the questions.”

Raskin further likened the ordeal to a “Seinfeld impeachment,” contending it was much ado “about nothing, apparently.”

Progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) managed to get the three Republican-selected witnesses on record to affirm that they weren’t “presenting any firsthand witness accounts of crimes committed by the president.”

“These are the Republicans’ own witnesses! Admitting there is not evidence to warrant this impeachment stunt [.] Proving this is nothing more than a baseless wild goose chase,” White House spokesman Ian Sams posted on social media.

Comer dismissed the Democrats’ criticism after the hearing, insisting that his colleagues were nowhere close to drafting impeachment articles against the president.

“My mission is to follow the money … and that’s what we’re doing,” he told reporters. “Now, we’ve gotten to the point, because of obstruction, we’re having to go to impeachment inquiry. And obviously, our witnesses all testified, yes, you have the basis for an impeachment inquiry. So this was not about impeachment, or it’d have been in the next committee room down. It would have been in [the] Judiciary [Committee].”

Indeed the Republican witnesses agreed there was enough smoke around the Bidens for a formal probe.

“The key here that the committee has to drill down on is whether they can establish a linkage with the influence-peddling, which is a form of corruption,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said.

“This is how an investigation is supposed to work,” Comer argued in his closing statement. “I know that some are confused about congressional investigations because Democrat investigations in the past have been about seeing a conclusion first, and cherry-picking evidence to fit that narrative.”

Comer then chastised Democrats for failing to rebut some of the underlying facts about the case, namely the millions of dollars the Biden family pocketed from overseas.

As with most Capitol Hill hearings on contentious matters, much of the six-hour proceeding was devoted to political sniping, blame-trading and political zingers. Often, the witnesses went several minutes at a time without speaking.

Democrats frequently invoked former President Donald Trump as the “puppet master” behind Thursday’s hearing, along with former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Twice, motions were introduced to subpoena the former Trump lawyer and twice they were voted down along party lines.

Liberal lawmakers also pounced on nearly every opportunity to kick up procedural hurdles against the GOP, crying foul about politically charged comments from the other side of the aisle, which they argued flouted the rules.

“Mr. Chairman, our colleague from Georgia has introduced before pornographic exhibits and displayed things that are really not suitable for children who might be watching,” Raskin bemoaned at one point.

“A bathing suit’s not suitable, Mr. Raskin?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fired back while attempting to ask whether the first son’s alleged escapades with escorts violated the law.

Republicans fired back at the Democrats’ dismissive attitude about the investigation, with Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) asking Turley: “Have you ever answered a call from a parent or put them on speaker and then proceeded to discuss the weather?”

“No,” Turley replied as laughter echoed in the hearing room.

Toward the end of the hearing, Jordan highlighted an email from the Obama administration in which an official wrote to former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, saying they were impressed with the government’s anti-corruption agenda.

Joe Biden later pushed for Shokin’s ouster several months later. Republicans have sought to connect that to Hunter Biden’s business interests with Burisma holdings, which was in Shokin’s crosshairs.

The White House has been adamant that the then-vice president did not push to oust Shokin to benefit his son’s colleagues.

Comer did not publicly set a date for the next impeachment inquiry hearing, but said that he hopes to get hold of another batch of bank records he recently subpoenaed.

Before that happens, Congress will likely have to grapple with a partial government shutdown, due to begin at 11:59 p.m. Saturday.