During a discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) denounced the idea that the recent declaration from House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of an impeachment inquiry amounted to much of anything at all.
The House did not undertake a formal vote on starting such an inquiry, which here targets the president. Goldman argued that there was concurrently no actual expansion to the investigative powers held by House Republicans, who’ve already been investigating for months on end in a manner clearly oriented towards a potential impeachment. “His declaration of an impeachment inquiry does not change any authority that these committees have,” Goldman said Tuesday. “So, their authority today to issue Congressional subpoenas and get materials is the same as it was yesterday.”
Goldman also emphasized other points, including his observation that the Republican emphasis on the Biden family as an entity in allegations of corruption is remarkably out of line considering it’s none of the rest of them but Joe Biden actually in office. Goldman also argued that the Biden team has already proven itself intensely cooperative in providing various documents Republicans in the House already sought, contending that Republicans had failed to isolate any particular circumstance in which they wanted a document relevant to their investigations and didn’t get it.
Some of the Republicans running with this whole thing have spoken extensively about what are known as Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), but these documents do not by themselves even provide any conclusive evidence of wrongdoing by anyone. The reports are made by financial institutions to alert the relevant authorities to potential areas relevant to investigations. Like the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), whose data on deaths and damaging health outcomes has frequently been misrepresented, the investigations that show whether the SARs mean anything at all come after the initial data collection. A SAR generally isn’t enough to prove misconduct by anyone!
Rep. Dan Goldman, lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment, says the inquiry Speaker McCarthy launched today doesn’t grant Republicans any more investigative power. “Their authority today to issue congressional subpoenas and get materials is the same as it was yesterday.” pic.twitter.com/h7jxRiYE15
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) September 13, 2023
