Democrat uses Comer’s 2019 tweet on impeachment ‘theater’ against him

A Democratic congressman displayed a 2019 tweet from House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to argue that the impeachment inquiry into President Biden is “political theater.”

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) started off his remarks to the committee by quoting a tweet posted by Comer in 2019 during former President Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.

“The people of America elected all 435 of us to do the things that they expect Congress to do. Real business, not theater … [and] try to have some type of prescription drug reform legislation passed before the end of the year. But instead … the majority party [is] conducting baseless impeachment hearings,” according to Comer’s displayed tweet. 

“Who do we think said this quote? Was it Nancy Pelosi? Maybe ranking member Jamie Raskin? Mr. Chairman, you might recognize that quote, because you said this in 2019,” Casar said at the hearing. 

“You sit on the floor of the U.S. House saying impeaching Donald Trump was political theater,” he continued. “Trump was first impeached for attempting to extort a foreign president into helping the Trump presidential campaign. And if you didn’t consider that criminal, how about when Trump was impeached trying to overthrow the rest of the results of the presidential election and then incited a violent insurrection against the government? So if you thought that impeaching Trump was political theater, then what would you call this.”

He went on to label the impeachment inquiry into Biden over his family’s business dealings a “disgrace” and said Republicans opted to open the impeachment first and find evidence for it later. He said that it is his “firm belief” that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and former President Trump should both face trial, but reiterated that the president has not been found to do anything wrong.

Casar also then asked for a show of hands on whether members of the committee want to see both Hunter Biden and Trump held accountable for their crimes if they are convicted. Democratic members appeared to raise their hands while no Republicans raised theirs.

“I think it is worse than embarrassing that Republicans won’t raise their hands they refuse to say that equal justice under the law should apply to everyone,” he said.