Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat in this Congress on the House Oversight Committee, is speaking out against the impeachment inquiry effectively underway from House Republicans, which the party’s members in the chamber might soon formalize with a vote on provisions officially establishing it.
So far, the contours of the investigation essentially constitute just vibes, with Republicans in legislative power using the authorities associated with their positions to pursue information about the Bidens. The impeachment inquiry targets the president and has seen Republicans searching — fruitlessly — for evidence tying the older Biden to ostensibly corrupt business activities in which family members of his were involved.
“Voting to launch an impeachment inquiry will not change the fact that, following many months of endless investigation by House Republicans this Congress and by Senate Republicans in 2020, the evidence plainly shows no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, much less an impeachable offense,” Raskin said. “Chairman Comer cannot even identify what crime he thinks President Biden has committed.”
Citing investigative progress including “dozens of hours of witness testimony from Hunter Biden’s business associates, then-Vice President Biden’s former financial adviser, and nine witnesses from agencies across the Administration, including the FBI, IRS, DOJ, and National Archives,” Raskin added: “All of it shows no misconduct by President Biden.”
Speaking in summation, Raskin offered a grim outlook for the Republicans’ impeachment charades. “But the price of this stupidity is huge constitutional damage as Republicans try to turn the extraordinary device of impeachment into a meaningless political event, plunging the nation into further lawlessness and nihilism,” he said.
Like other Democrats, Raskin accused Republicans of just seeking to prop up GOP political causes, particularly those of Donald Trump. Unlike Biden, Trump does face substantive accusations of wrongdoing to the tune of 91 criminal charges across a total of four criminal cases — one of which has made it before trial to the Supreme Court. Prosecutors in that matter want the nation’s highest court to decide on arguments from Trump that he holds wide-ranging legal immunity covering his time in office that should block the case.
