That Republicans will likely vote to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden on Wednesday should not come as a surprise to anyone given the GOP’s history of (1) being obsessed with the unproven claim that the president sits at the top of a sprawling family crime ring (2) doing everything Donald Trump tells it to do, and (3) having no shame. What is surprising—and downright hilarious—is that Fox News, which the GOP thought had its back, keeps telling viewers that Republicans have zero basis to impeach the president and are also hypocrites to boot.
The hypocrisy callout came on Tuesday night, when anchor Bret Baier played a 2019 clip of Mike Johnson, then a little-known congressman, declaring that the founding fathers were rolling over in their graves on account of Trump facing impeachment so close to an election year. “The founders of this country warned against a single-party impeachment—for good reason. They feared that it would bitterly, and perhaps irreparably, divide our nation,” Johnson said almost exactly four years ago. “As the next election in 2020 is drawing so close now, and their candidates for president are so terribly weak, they obviously met somewhere at liberal high command about 75 days ago and convinced Nancy Pelosi they had to pull the trigger. I hope and pray that future Congresses can and will exercise greater restraint.”
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Noting that 17 House Republicans who represent districts Biden won in 2020 would probably love for Johnson to “exercise greater restraint” now, Baier asked the House Speaker to square away the blatant double standard on display. Naturally, the House leader rebutted by saying that this time is totally, totally different, and that his party has followed proper procedure, something he claimed Democrats failed to do when impeaching Trump for trying to extort Ukraine.
“We’ve shown great restraint,” Johnson insisted. “I mean, there are a lot of people who are frustrated that this hasn’t moved faster. But there’s a big distinction. I stand by every word I said in that video. There’s a big distinction between what’s happening now and what the Democrats do. Those were rushed, sham impeachments.”
Johnson’s about-face—and Baier’s callout—came days after two other Fox News stars, father and son Steve Doocy and Peter Doocy, reminded viewers that Republicans have been investigating Biden for more than a year and have still come up with no evidence to impeach him. As in zero, zilch, nada. “The House Oversight Committee has been at this for years,” Boy Doocy said Friday, “and they have so far not been able to provide any concrete evidence that Joe Biden personally profited from his son Hunter’s overseas business.” On Monday, Peter’s father informed the Fox & Friends audience that “at this point…[Republicans] have not connected the dots” between Hunter’s alleged crimes and Joe Biden. “They’ve connected the dots—the Department of Justice did on Hunter. But they have not shown where Joe Biden did anything illegally.”
Which was apparently a bridge too far for House Oversight chair James Comer, who whined to Newsmax on Tuesday about Steve Doocy not falling in line, explaining that the host’s insistence on calling out Republicans is why he stopped going on the guy’s show.
Bess Levin
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