A House hearing on Joe Biden’s potential impeachment descended into chaos after Republican chairman James Comer and Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin clashed repeatedly, each claiming the other ‘needed therapy’
Wednesday’s hearing formed part of the ongoing Republican inquiry into Mr Biden, which accuses the president of “corruption” through alleged family business dealings with foreign powers, as well as unsubstantiated allegations of bribery. Another line of inquiry has been related to Mr Biden’s work as vice president in Ukraine.
So far the enquiry has not uncovered any wrongdoing by the president, which Mr Raskin attempted to highlight multiple times during the hearing.
After Mr Comer asked whether it was “okay” for China to bribe the Biden family with $9m, Mr Raskin responded: “But that’s the lie that’s been discredited. Where is your impeachment investigation? If Joe Biden took a $9m bribe from China, why aren’t you impeaching him for that?”
“Who says we’re not?” Mr Comer replied,
Mr Raskin said: “Do you want to move for impeachment today because I thought that was your main agenda item, you said it was the paramount priority of the committee.”
Mr Comer later accused the Maryland congressman and the Democrats of having “an obsession with Russia and Trump,” adding: “It’s disturbing… You need therapy, you all need therapy.”
“You need therapy,” Mr Raskin spat back. “You’re the one who’s involved with the deranged politician, not me. I divorced myself from Donald Trump a long time ago you’re the one who needs to disentangle.”
Later, following a particularly heated exchange between the two congressmen, Mr Raskin added: “Somebody here needs therapy but it’s nobody on our side of the aisle.”
Comer: Let the record show that Mr. Raskins could not answer the question
Raskin: Let me start with this. My last name is Raskin. We sat next to each other for more than a year. You don’t have to add the ‘s’ pic.twitter.com/hX6hit5ey3
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2024
When Mr Comer attempted to steer proceedings back on track, banging his gavel, Mr Comer angrily demanded he have his time restored, shouting “You interrupted me”.
Their disagreements continued to get more trivial after Mr Comer referred to his opponent as “Mr Raskins”.
“My last name is Raskin,” the congressman corrected him. “We have sat next to each other for more than a year. You don’t have to add the ‘s’.”
He later declared: “What is the crime that you want to impeach Joe Biden for and keep this nonsense going? Tell America right now… We have spent tens of millions of dollars with you pursuing Joe Biden and you have not identified a single crime.”
Mr Comer replied: “That is not true, that is a lie. You are lying… We haven’t spent hardly anything.
“Oh, it’s been free? Okay…Then you know what we get what we pay for because you got nothing,” Mr Raskin retorted.
The Maryland representative later questioned whether, had the president taken $5m from Ukraine, how the Republicans would respond to Mr Trump allegedly taking more than that amount from the Chinese government while still in office.
Mr Comer said: “Well we know that Donald Trump had a legitimate business that he talked about and campaigned on.”
Mr Raskin replied: “The legitimate business was the White House. He sold the White House.”
Raskin: What do you think of Trump taking $5 million from the Chinese government while in office?
Comer: Trump had a legitimate business that he talked about and campaigned on.
Raskin: The business was the White House. He sold the White House
Comer. What business were the… pic.twitter.com/HMliyEchNV
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2024
“Oh give me a break,” said Mr Comer exasperatedly. “What business were the Bidens in? Did they own hotels? Did they own a social media company? Did they own golf courses? Did they have casinos? Did they have office buildings?”
The clashes in the chamber come after the president declined to appear before investigators, writing in a Monday letter through an attorney that the investigation “is over.” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said the “litany of false allegations” from the GOP had been “repeatedly debunked” during the inquiry.
“Your Committee’s purported ‘impeachment inquiry’ has succeeded only in turning up abundant evidence that, in fact, the President has done nothing wrong,” Mr Sauber wrote in the letter, obtained by The Hill.
“Your insistence on peddling these false and unsupported allegations despite ample evidence to the contrary makes one thing about your investigation abundantly clear: The facts do not matter to you.”
