Congress is tasked with several responsibilities. They can declare war and name post offices. They provide oversight, pass legislation and conduct investigations. Our current House of Representatives appears to be a lot more interested in investigating than in legislating.
Republicans were thrilled to win the House in 2020, maybe not so much to improve the lives of the American people, but more about gaining power to root out the corruption they’re convinced is in the Biden Administration. Their years-long fascination with Hunter Biden’s laptop finally has a green light, and they now see an opening for digging up dirt against the “Biden crime family.” Some are also interested in fighting Donald Trump’s battles for him as they attempt to investigate the investigators of the former president. They deny the seriousness of his alleged crimes and the impact of such corruption on the American people.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is in charge of a new Select Sub-Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. This committee was formed to expose bias against Trump, and misconduct they’re convinced was committed by the CIA, DOJ and FBI – which, ironically, would have occurred during Trump’s administration when these agencies were headed by his own appointees. Since Jordan thinks Trump can do no wrong, he believes all the current investigations of the former president are bogus, and he’s determined to shut them down. Jordan, however, is not the brightest committee chairman, so when he took his hearing to New York, it was a bust. It was meant to discredit Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who has brought numerous criminal charges against Trump, but nothing came of the hearing, other than embarrassment for Jordan’s committee.
Embarrassment is also the biggest take away for House Oversight Committee Chair, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. Comer has been working for months investigating the Biden family, and he’s hinted there’s an informant ready to divulge explosive information about huge sums of money paid to the Bidens by the Chinese. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley joined Comer in announcing they had information about crimes by the Biden family. A few days later, Grassley had to admit publicly he didn’t actually know if they had any information, or not. This was unfortunate for Grassley. At 89 years of age, he needs to avoid looking foolish. When he said a year ago, “Hiring more IRS agents would have them coming to your door with an AR-15,” he was ridiculed around the country. It didn’t do Iowa’s image any good, either.
Comer is looking pretty foolish now, too. On conspiracy-loving Maria Bartiroma’s Fox Sunday Show, Comer admitted his informant has now disappeared. He’s left with egg on his face, much like those who insist the 2020 election was stolen, without any evidence to back it up. Then, there was Trump’s obsession the FBI had illegally investigated Russia’s influence on his 2016 campaign. He pushed former AG William Barr to appoint Special Counsel John Durham to investigate the FBI. And Barr was more than willing to do so. After four years and $7 million investigating Trump’s claims of a FBI witch hunt, Durham’s findings basically amounted to nothing. He criticized the FBI for launching the investigation in the first place, but made only a few recommendations for changes. The FBI says they made the changes two years ago.
The investigation of Hunter Biden will end eventually. If Hunter is charged by the Department of Justice, it apparently involves tax law violations and perhaps lying on an application to buy a gun. Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation, is a Trump appointee made four years ago, and left in place by President Biden when he took office. No one, except some MAGA politicians and conspiracy theorists, believes President Biden will be investigated for anything. When they talk impeachment, the common response is, “For what?”
There are politicians in Congress who do next to nothing legislatively, and spend most of their time in political warfare. Serious problems are ignored while most of their energy is given to attacking our institutions and destroying American’s faith in our democracy. The people we elect to Congress have an obligation to deal with real problems; they are not in Washington to obsess over conspiracy theories.
Enough with the investigations.