NEWS: Congressman Greg Casar Calls Out Republicans’ Double Standards During First Impeachment Hearing
“This impeachment hearing clearly is not about justice.”
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, called out Republicans’ double standards during the first impeachment hearing.
Remarks as delivered:
“Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin with a quote:
‘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 [this] year. But instead… the majority party [is] conducting baseless impeachment hearings.’
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 2019. You said it on the floor of the U.S. House, saying that impeaching Donald Trump was political theater.
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 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? This, this is a disgrace.
And I hope that someday, top Republican officials will find some integrity. In the case of Trump, because you fear his social media wrath, right-wing officials will deny all evidence against Trump come hell or high water.
But in the case of President Joe Biden, you decided to start the impeaching now and figure out the whole evidence thing later. And you still haven’t figured it out. Your own Republican-called witnesses today say they don’t see the evidence to impeach President Joe Biden. Bunch of stuff about Hunter this, Hunter that, but they’ve said they don’t see the evidence to impeach Joe Biden.
That is a disgraceful double standard— it damages our democracy, insults the institution of Congress, and more than anything, disgraces this body in the eyes of the American public.
This inquiry is a cynical attempt to tar everyone. To make everyone look suspect, make everyone look corrupt, so that voters just give up and say, “There’s not much difference here.” But we cannot give up on discerning truth from propaganda, we cannot give up on our collective governance. Congress is a place where people of enormous integrity have throughout history taken on big challenges of inequality, injustice, instability. We can and must impartially look at the evidence before us and have equal justice under the law.
And the evidence before us shows no wrong-doing by President Biden. We haven’t seen that evidence throughout the testimony today. Your own Republican-called witnesses have said they haven’t seen that kind of evidence.
There is separate evidence that supports indictments – unrelated indictments – against his son Hunter. And multiple indictments spanning 91 criminal charges against former President Trump.
I, for one, am grateful that we have an independent judicial system, where a President’s son, or a former President like Trump, can be investigated and prosecuted if they violate the law.
It is my firm belief that Hunter and Trump should both face trial and, if guilty, be held accountable for the crimes they've been accused of.
Can everyone on the Oversight Committee say the same thing? Will members of the Oversight Committee please raise your hand if you believe both Hunter and Trump should be held accountable for any of the indictments against them, if convicted by a jury of their peers?
We can take a minute.
It’s serious. This is a serious matter.
If y’all need to think about it, we can take a moment and think about it. It is serious. This is very serious. Think about it, should both Hunter and Trump be held accountable – I want to see whether you raise your hand. Should Hunter and Trump both be held accountable, if they’re found guilty on any of their indictments?
Raise your hand if you think that equal justice under the law applies, and if Trump should be held accountable.
I think it’s worse than embarrassing that Republicans won’t raise their hands. They refuse to say that equal justice under the law should apply to everyone.
And when you step back and think about it, it’s kind of scary. It’s kind of scary.
This double standard insults the institutions of the Congress, that people fought and died to build. This impeachment hearing clearly is not about justice.
We can’t say equal justice under the law for everyone, except for the guy that holds the leash.”
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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.