A GOP impeachment inquiry based on nothing? You don't say!

Tuesday, July 25, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA

- Trademark attorney Josh Gerben ([link removed]) , referencing the almost 900 active trademark registrations covering the letter “X”, Elon’s ~*brilliant*~ Twitter re-brand

For those of us who thought the madness might end with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) showing stolen pornagraphic images during a congressional hearing, no such luck!

* In absence of any plans or policy vision to help alleviate the problems Americans face, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says that his band of goons may launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden ([link removed]) . “Uh…what for?” you may ask. McCarthy went on Fox News on Monday and told Sean Hannity (who else) “We’ve only followed where the information has taken us.” Lol.

* So what exactly do congressional Republicans claim to have on president Biden? You will be positively shocked to learn: not much! A series of investigations led by the GOP-controlled House have targeted the president, his administration, and members of his family—with Hunter Biden being their main obsession. Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-OH) released an internal FBI document containing a highly dubious allegation that President Biden was involved in an illegal foreign bribery scheme ([link removed]) . So is there any supporting evidence? Nope! Just the allegation, which even Donald Trump’s Justice Department deemed bogus.

* That hasn’t stopped Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer from pretending to think it’s very credible. The FBI took the extraordinary step of allowing members of the House Oversight Committee to privately view the document (but not hold on to them) and now Grassley and Comer are pushing the FBI to release it publicly. The form, known as a 1023, formally documents claims from an FBI informant, but does not provide supporting evidence that his allegations are true. It’s also important to note that the other man who was supposed to be James Comer’s “star informant” turned out to be a felon on the lam who was also an unregistered agent for the Chinese government. ([link removed])

Let’s dig in a little deeper into the accusation at hand.

* The FBI document in question states that the informant provided the information to the Bureau in June 2020, but the conversations and meetings described date back to 2015. The informant described a 2016 meeting with the CEO of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, who claimed that he had made two $5 million payments to “the Bidens” but did not specify further. The FBI described the informant as credible but noted that they were “not able to provide any further opinion as to the veracity” of the claims. We should note it surely does resemble the “dirt” that Rudy Giuliani, acting at Trump’s behest, pressured Ukrainian officials to fabricate about the Bidens in the corruption scandal that led to Trump’s first impeachment.


* The FBI responded to the GOP disclosure of the form by blasting Republican lawmakers for ignoring the bureau’s “significant concerns” about the dangers of releasing the materials, saying that it “...at a minimum – unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.” Interestingly, House Democrats have already released the transcript of separate private comments Zlochevsky made to Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas, where the CEO stated that “no one from Burisma had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him,” while Hunter Biden served on the company’s board. Parnas has repeatedly called this line of GOP accusations against President Biden “misinformation” ([link removed]) and stands ready to testify under oath—you’ll be stunned to learn that Republicans don’t want to hear from him.



Add it all up and it looks like Republicans are gearing up to conduct a revenge impeachment based on nothing, and by sheer coincidence, to do so at the same point in Biden’s presidency as Trump’s first impeachment. In the span of just a few weeks, the idea of impeaching president Biden went from a fringe Marjorie Taylor Greene stunt that made even certain spineless GOP miscreants queasy, to a reality now being floated by the speaker of the House. Very healthy, normal political party brimming with good ideas!

With the senate set to vote on the Supreme Court Code of Ethics, many are asking “Should the White House push for increasing the number of Justices on the Supreme Court?” On a recent episode of Positively Dreadful, host Brian Beutler asks Adam Serwer of The Atlantic and Ben Wittes of The Brookings Institute their thoughts in a special debate format that we’re rolling out all summer long. Tune into this and more great conversations on Positively Dreadful ([link removed]) every Friday.
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Hot Strike Summer just got a little cooler. UPS struck a deal with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday to avert what could have been one of the largest labor strikes in modern American history ([link removed]) . Both parties claimed victory on a tentative five-year contract, which includes raises for all UPS employees and installation of air conditioning units in new delivery vans. The tentative agreement states that all UPS employees would receive a $2.50 raise on their hourly pay this year and a $7.50-an-hour pay raise over the next five years. Part-time UPS workers, who make up about half of the company’s employees, would start at $21 per hour, less than the $25 per hour demanded by the union but still a notable increase from the current starting wage of $16.20. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was ebullient, saying, “We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it…This contract sets a new
standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.” Some rank-and-file union members expressed dismay that only new trucks will be required to be outfitted with air conditioning units, and not until 2024. The union will have to sell its members on the contract before taking a vote between August 3-22. Should members vote no, a strike of 340,000 UPS employees could still occur.

The Fulton County, GA district attorney’s office is reportedly examining several statutes under which to charge disgraced former president Donald Trump including solicitation to commit election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud ([link removed]) .


Recently-unsealed court motions revealed that eight search warrants were filed in connection with Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago ([link removed]) .


Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) laid off more than one-third of his 2024 campaign staff ([link removed]) (including this guy ([link removed]) who tweeted out a pro-DeSantis video replete with Nazi imagery) on Tuesday. So you know everything’s going great!


Texas A&M University professor Joy Alonzo, an expert on the opioid crisis, was suspended after allegedly criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ([link removed]) (R-TX) in a lecture. “Free speech!!!” conservatives have done it again!


An archaeological dig to find a lost children’s cemetery in Nebraska near the site of a former Native American boarding school has ended ([link removed]) , with no remains found.


President Biden honored Emmett Till on Tuesday by establishing a national monument that will span two states ([link removed]) . Addressing recent attempts in GOP-controlled states to rewrite the uglier parts of American history, Biden said,“Darkness and denialism can hide much but they erase nothing…We can't just choose to learn what we want to know.”


Federalist Society bigwig and hall-of-fame right-wing judge benefactor Leonard Leo has refused to provide Democratic lawmakers with information regarding the trips he gifted to Justice Samuel Alito ([link removed]) .

A proposed amendment to enshrine abortion rights into the Ohio state constitution secured enough valid signatures to make the November ballot ([link removed]) , with almost half a million valid signatures gathered across 55 counties. Let’s friggin’ go, Buckeyes!
Long-distance power-line policy does not typically make for sexy messaging, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer never met an un-sexy issue he didn’t want to embrace with open arms. Schumer has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the bipartisan panel known as FERC, even less sexy somehow) to “strengthen and finalize” rules governing where power lines can be built in the United States ([link removed]) , and who will pay for them. He stated that such rules will be essential to delivering “reliable, affordable, and clean power to Americans.” The letter from Schumer suggests that Democrats are getting pretty fucking tired of dithering over reforming domestic environmental-permitting laws with their uncooperative Republican colleagues, and will instead seek agency action to secure most of their climate goals. Long-distance transmission is key to increasing the power grid’s share of wind and solar power, which is obviously
why Republicans are doing everything they can to obstruct it. This work-around shows that Democrats are serious about the climate commitments they made in the Inflation Reduction Act, because a Princeton study shows that some 80 percent of the carbon reductions from the law might be lost if new power lines are not built quickly. Nice to see Democratic leadership making appropriate pivots when partisan gridlock tries to slow them down!
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Plus it tastes like a mug of hot cacao met a chai latte and they had a baby. Give it a try and use code CROOKED ([link removed]) for 15% off today.

The Biden administration unveiled new rules for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act on Tuesday, requiring insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental-health care ([link removed]) .


New reports show that consumer confidence continued to trend up in July ([link removed]) , hitting a two-year high.


Democrats are using recent Supreme Court rulings upholding key aspects of the Voting Rights Act to plan a new strategy to take back the House by winning new districts in the south ([link removed]) .

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gave the largest-ever single donation to the Screen Actors Guild strike-relief fund ([link removed]) , said to be seven figures. Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? It’s solidarity.
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