Plenty of past controversies raised in committee hearing
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden’s drug problem. Allegations about President Donald Trump’s sex life. A congressman’s past DUI arrest.
No controversy even marginally related to the House impeachment proceeding was overlooked Thursday as Republican and Democratic lawmakers waged one last battle over articles of impeachment before the matter moves to the floor next week.
Frustration had built for both parties over a month of tightly controlled hearings, in which committee procedures restrained the partisan conflict just enough to keep the impeachment process moving. But Thursday’s markup session in the House Judiciary Committee unfolded without those controls, in an open format that allowed members more than eight hours of spontaneous and at times nasty confrontation.
Lawmakers from both major parties took advantage.
“Today, I’m reminded of Judas,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La. “Because Judas for 30 pieces of silver betrayed Jesus. For 30 positive tweets for easy re-election, the other side is willing to betray the American people.”
“You guys don’t respect the 63 million people who voted for this guy,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Democrats. “That’s why the speaker of the House called the president an ‘impostor.’ That’s what’s wrong.”
The historic session reflected the partisan divisions that have hardened in the Trump era and become more rancorous around the impeachment inquiry, in which Democrats concluded that Trump withheld military aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine to pressure the country’s leaders into announcing investigations that would benefit him politically. Often, the session veered into a broader debate over Trump’s conduct, with Democrats highlighting other controversial episodes from his presidency. Republicans accused their counterparts of knee-jerk hatred and the same autocratic tendencies critics decry in Trump.
Early stages of the session gave lawmakers a rare opportunity to debate the facts of the Ukraine saga in an informal way, and they produced a handful of lucid moments.
Soon, however, the arguments became more charged.
Rep. Steve Chabot, ROhio, who served during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, said the difference with Trump’s was that “President Clinton committed a crime: perjury.”
“This president isn’t even accused of committing a crime,” Chabot said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who also served during Clinton’s impeachment, argued that Trump had committed a far greater offense — and brought up one of Trump’s alleged sexual partners to make her point.
“I would just like to note that (Republicans’) argument that somehow lying about a sexual affair is an abuse of presidential power, but the misuse of presidential power to get a benefit somehow doesn’t matter,” she said. “If it’s lying about sex, we could put Stormy Daniels’ case ahead of us. We don’t believe that’s a high crime and misdemeanor.”
Daniels, an adult film actress, alleged that she had a brief affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied a relationship.
One of the most dramatic moments of the session came after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., proposed an amendment to add a mention of Hunter Biden and his former position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, to the articles of impeachment. Biden is the son of former Vice President and Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
Gaetz then proceeded to discuss Biden’s struggle with drug addiction, reading directly from a New Yorker article that discussed it and an episode involving a crack pipe discovered in Biden’s Hertz rental car.
“I don’t want to make light of anybody’s substance abuse issues. I note that the president is working real hard to solve those throughout the country. But it’s a little hard to believe that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to resolve their international disputes when he could not resolve his own dispute with Hertz,” Gaetz said.
This stunned at least one Democrat, who responded by indirectly noting Gaetz’s previously reported DUI arrest in 2008. He was not convicted.
“The pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., without specifically naming Gaetz.
The moment left the room momentarily silent as Johnson waited for Gaetz to respond.
Democrats vented their frustration with several colorful comments throughout the day.
Johnson pointed to a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in New York in late September, in which Trump told reporters “there was no pressure.”
“You saw President Zelenskiy shaking his head as if his daughter was downstairs in the basement, duct-taped. There is an imbalance of power in that relationship. It always has been,” Johnson said.