President Joe Biden has been Republicans’ white whale since they reclaimed the House majority last year. But like Captain Ahab, their obsession with impeaching the president has not yielded the hoped-for results. The chairs leading the inquiry are scrambling to figure out next steps after a series of dead ends and embarrassments have left them without enough support for impeachment among their fellow Republicans.
Politico reported Wednesday that after leading the GOP base on for so long, those Republican leaders are now searching for a Plan B to get themselves off the hook. It’s obvious that impeachment was always the goal for House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky. But, in a blatant attempt to save face, he said in an interview that his top priority as the leader of his committee’s Biden investigation has been to “pass influence-peddling legislation.” It’s because Comer’s motivations weren’t noble that I was surprised to see the “influence-peddling legislation” he claims to favor. It looks suspiciously reasonable. From Politico:
Republicans on the committees leading the investigations have outlined a slate of potential proposals stemming from their work. They include tougher financial disclosure laws for family members of presidents and vice presidents, changes to foreign lobbying law, tougher ethics rules and adjusting how classified documents are handled.
Well, don’t threaten me with a good time. We’ve seen no evidence that Biden profited corruptly while vice president from the business dealings of his son Hunter. Not even the special counsel report by Robert Hur on Biden’s mishandling classified information gave Republicans any basis to accuse the president of high crimes or misdemeanors. Still, Biden doesn’t have to have done anything wrong for Congress to shore up the ethical firewall surrounding the presidency.
In fact, if there is Republican “influence-peddling legislation” being planned, then there’d be ample…
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