W.H. Uses GOP Remarks to Fight Impeachment Inquiry

The White House is relying on dated and partial Republican comments to push back on an expected impeachment inquiry vote before the entire House.

The House Republican majority is preparing to vote as soon as next week to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

House committees, led by the Oversight and Accountability Committee, have been probing Biden’s alleged influence peddling on his family’s foreign business dealings.

A Tuesday morning email from the White House’s impeachment war room included 11 comments from GOP lawmakers regarding the House’s impeachment probe. But the included statements were extracted from old stories to support Biden’s case.

Some examples:

• The White House said Rep. Mike McCaul admitted: “We don’t have the evidence.” That was linked to a Sept. 17 tweet showing McCaul saying, “We don’t have the evidence now, but we may find it later.”
• Rep. Darrell Issa, former House Oversight Chair said: “The actual participation by the vice president and now president – that still has to be discovered and or nailed down.” That was linked to a Sept. 14 tweet.
• Rep. Ken Buck saying the evidence for impeachment “doesn’t exist right now,” and “I haven’t seen evidence linking Hunter Biden’s activities to Joe Biden” and that “I’m not convinced that that evidence exists.” That was linked to early and mid-September stories.
• A GOP lawmaker telling CNN, “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or that Joe Biden, you know, agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money. There’s just no evidence of that. And they can’t impeach without that evidence. And I don’t I don’t think the evidence exists.” That was linked to an Aug. 28 CNN story.

The White House’s list of GOP comments did not include Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., telling Newsmax on Thursday that, “The evidence is overwhelming. We now have evidence of actual cash payments that went to family members like Hunter and [James Biden] that were paid to Joe Biden. You have canceled checks. You have the whole nine yards. One was for $200,000. I think one was for $20,000 or $40,000.”

Or Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., telling Newsmax on Monday that corruption charges plaguing Biden may be the “tip of the iceberg.” The lawmaker added that “I believe that we [Republicans] are united. We should be united in this effort.”

The White House insists that no new evidence of wrongdoing by Biden has emerged, and “their latest false allegations distorting loans and other bank records have been fact-checked and debunked.”

Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, continues to say impeachment talk is being promoted by “extreme House Republicans.”

“[Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-Ga.] may be clamoring for the House to proceed to impeachment, but numerous House Republicans have already gone on record that the evidence just doesn’t back it up,” Sams said.

“Americans already overwhelmingly believe House Republicans are prioritizing the wrong things, and any vote to move ahead with MTG’s favorite pastime would reveal that she is truly calling the shots in this extreme House Republican conference.”