House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) pushed back on a prevailing line of attack voiced by Democrats as the first hearing in the impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden over allegations of corruption came to an end on Thursday.
During his closing statement, Comer said Democrats focused on arguing against impeaching Biden at a time when the inquiry is at an early stage and investigators are still gathering evidence that could later support articles of impeachment.
BREAKING: "Therefore today, I will subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their affiliated companies," James Comer (@RepJamesComer) says at the end of the first hearing of Joe Biden's impeachment inquiry. WATCH pic.twitter.com/KKzgBHNnVb
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“My Democrat colleagues have used this hearing to talk about impeachment — not an inquiry but actual articles of impeachment. We aren’t talking about impeachment today and they know that,” Comer said.
“Unlike Democrats’ investigations, this committee under my leadership does not launch investigations based on predetermined conclusions,” he added. “We have entered an impeachment inquiry because, as our witnesses have testified, the evidence justifies that. This is how an investigation is supposed to work.”
Indeed, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced a formal inquiry into corruption allegations only weeks ago, and has long stressed that it would give lawmakers more powerful tools to investigate.
But Democrats sought to leverage testimony by the GOP’s own witnesses to disparage the impeachment inquiry. For instance, they picked up on George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley saying House investigators have not presented sufficient evidence to justify impeaching Biden — even though he also testified the House had “passed the threshold” to open an impeachment inquiry.
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Ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who delivered his closing remarks just before Comer did, quipped that Republicans were frustrated by how the hearing turned out as their own witnesses “have all agreed that there is not a sufficient quantum of evidence that would justify impeachment of President Biden.”
Comer, by contrast, said the witnesses at the hearing “all identified the evidence the committee has uncovered as deserving further inquiry.” He also pledged that the panel would continue investigating “no matter where that evidence leads.”
The chairman ended his remarks by announcing that he would subpoena the bank records of Biden’s son Hunter, brother James, and their affiliated companies, setting the scene for the next stage of the impeachment inquiry.