The Republicans' star witness for their first impeachment inquiry hearing into Democratic President Joe Biden's alleged corruption completely undermined their claim during the hearing.
Conservative legal analyst Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor who previously served as a Justice Department tax attorney, was one of the first witnesses Republicans chose to provide an informed analysis of Biden's family business dealings.
But the GOP should've double-checked to make sure they were on the same page.
In a statement prior to the hearing, Turley posited that there wasn't enough evidence to support the GOP's ongoing claim of wrongdoing.
While Turley previously stated he believed that an impeachment inquiry was warranted, he wrote:
“I do not believe that the evidence currently meets the standard of a high crime and misdemeanor needed for an article of impeachment."
He continued in the statement:
"My testimony also reflects the fact that I do believe that, after months of investigation, the House has passed the threshold for an inquiry into whether President Joe Biden was directly involved or benefited from the corrupt practices of his son, Hunter, and others."
"Since my testimony focuses on the historical and legal aspects of this inquiry, I will leave much of the discussion of the evidence to my fellow witnesses and to the Committee members themselves."
During the hearing, Turley doubled down on his observation, saying:
"The current evidence doesn't support articles of impeachment."
You can watch a clip of his statement here.
James Comer's witness Jonathan Turley: \u201cI do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment\u201d— House Judiciary Dems (@House Judiciary Dems) 1695913311
People weighed in on the situation.
@HouseJudiciary To no surprise, this is backfiring so quickly on them.— Jack Mattera (@Jack Mattera) 1695913368
@HouseJudiciary @JohnLaprise Not only is Funding the government backfiring but so is Impeachment \u2026 \n\nI\u2019ll take GOP can\u2019t Govern for a thousand, Alex !— \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udf39WINTER\ud83c\udf39\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udf39WINTER\ud83c\udf39\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1695914613
@HouseJudiciary Wasn't he their big star witness?!— Vic: Deep State(?!) Agent \ud83d\ude0e\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2 (@Vic: Deep State(?!) Agent \ud83d\ude0e\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2) 1695914899
@BidenHQ House republicans \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02— Yasmine Mary, ARNP-FNP-C (@Yasmine Mary, ARNP-FNP-C) 1695913250
@BidenHQ Lol. He had no choice but to tell the truth. This is the star witness for the Republicans.— Island Girl - 100% Pro-Choice, Vote Blue (@Island Girl - 100% Pro-Choice, Vote Blue) 1695915602
@HouseJudiciary Turley\nHe just elevated my trust in his legal opinion.— Hewitt Newton (@Hewitt Newton) 1695917052
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry earlier this month.
Republican House Oversight Chair James Comer of Kentucky said GOP members would present "two dozen pieces of evidence revealing Joe Biden's corruption and abuse of public office" using email, text exchanges, and bank records. But even then, the GOP witnesses at the hearing confirmed there was no evidence worthy of impeachment.
The inquiry was a months-long result of Republicans repeatedly accusing Biden of being guilty of misdeeds from the time he served as Vice President to former Democratic President Barack Obama to the present–including his time out of office.
Despite the allegations, there has been no substantive evidence to support the GOP's claim.
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