“Clown Show”: The GOP Describes Its Own Impeachment Process

Even Republicans have criticized the attempt to get rid of President Joe Biden.

Mandel Ngan/Getty

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“New Low.” “Pathetic.” “Clown show.” On Thursday, during the impeachment inquiry hearing for President Joe Biden concocted by the GOP amid a potential government shutdown, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) used Republican’s own words against them.

The nation is less than three days away from a potentially devastating government shutdown, with millions of federal workers’ paychecks hanging in the balance. Still, a group of far-right members of Congress are preoccupied with an attempt to impeach President Joe Biden on unsubstantiated claims that he benefitted from the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden. 

Joining several other Democrats calling out the GOP during the hearing, Raskin’s team printed out quotes from Republicans denouncing the push to impeach Biden. “So let’s get it straight,” said Raskin during the hearing. “We’re 62 hours away from shutting down the government of the USA, and Republicans are launching an impeachment drive based on a long debunked and discredited lie.”   

Currently, Congress has until Saturday at midnight to pass a short-term spending bill or approximately 4 million federal employees will either be furloughed or forced to work without pay until legislators reach an agreement, according to CNN. 

Since 2022, many far-right Republicans, led by Rep. Jim Comer (R-Ky.), have spearheaded an effort to impeach Biden under the suspicion that he engaged in illicit financial activity with his scandal-ridden son, Hunter. However, as the media and several Democrats pointed out today, the evidence the GOP has of any wrongdoing on the president’s part is scarce. As my colleague, David Corn wrote:

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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