GOP airs old grievances with `weaponization' investigation
WASHINGTON >> When hard-right Republicans extracted concessions from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in exchange for supporting his election last month, one of their top demands was that he robustly fund and give sweeping jurisdiction to a special subcommittee to investigate their claims of pervasive bias in the federal government against conservatives.
But the first public hearing of the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government produced little to no new evidence about government misconduct or targeting of the right, instead serving mostly as a forum to relitigate old grievances about how former President Donald Trump and others have been treated by federal law enforcement officials, Democrats and the news media.
Events were resurfaced from 2016 news cycles that still anger Trump. The name of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state and a favorite target of the right, was repeatedly invoked. There was sinister talk of destructive forces on the left that Republicans said held undue influence both in the United States and globally. Yet there were no fresh revelations. Fox News, the favorite channel of the right, declined to carry most of the fourhour hearing live, featuring just a few clips before turning to other topics.
“We'll get back into it for anything newsworthy,” anchor John Roberts said, before cutting away.
The panel heard on Thursday from current and former lawmakers who outlined an array of concerns. Tulsi Gabbard, a former representative from Hawaii who recently left the Democratic Party, complained that Clinton had smeared her. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, blasted “partisan media and Democratic leadership” for spreading “fake information” about his work conducting Senate investigations. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., bashed the investigations and impeachments of Trump.
Topics varied from media bias and Twitter censorship to coronavirus restrictions.
“It is also becoming obvious that the World Health Organization has been captured by the Chinese government,” Johnson testified. “That global institutions in general have been captured by the left, and that some charitable foundations are exerting far more power over public policy than should be allowed.”
“I have barely scratched the surface in describing the complexity, power and destructive nature of the forces we face,” he added.
Democrats pushed back, saying that even without new evidence, what the panel was doing was dangerous.
“I'm deeply concerned about the use of this select subcommittee as a place to settle scores, showcase conspiracy theories and advance an extreme agenda,” said Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, the top Democrat on the newly created subcommittee.