How effective has the 2023-24 House of Representatives been? The House voted 749 times in 2023 and passed 27 bills that have become law. Could they be distracted? Do you expect more in 2024?
We are trying to fund the government again this week, and again in another week or two (they split it up so we can now do this twice as often). We have not secured our southern border, which almost everyone seems to agree has been a hot mess for decades.
We seem to be wavering on what was once considered vital aid to Ukraine, allowing Russia to gain ground in an invasion that just began year-three of death and destruction. People are dying while we are lobbying.
What are House members doing? They should be back from a two-week break this week, after taking just a one-week break in January. Ready for work?
What shiny object has drawn Congressional attention in the past few months more than solving America’s problems? Last year, the House opened a formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy bowed to his most-right “colleagues” in citing that there were multiple issues uncovered that would support a Biden impeachment.
In a September 2023 speech announcing the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry, McCarthy cited an FBI data form (FD-1023), which Congress had uncovered and subpoenaed from the FBI.
For context, that form is used to collect and record evidence that then needs to be further investigated and corroborated. McCarthy used the form to determine that “Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family.”
Despite FBI warnings about the “raw, unverified reporting” in any FD-1023, Republicans had found a smoking gun, and they came out firing with it.
Not heeding FBI advice, James Comer, who is managing the impeachment inquiry, said “this is a very crucial piece of our investigation,” adding that “I think it’s very credible.”
In a January 2024 appearance on Fox News, Jim Jordan called the FBI form “really the heart of this matter.” He added that, “the most corroborating evidence we have is that 1023 form from this highly credible confidential human source.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, chairperson of the House Republican Conference, called the bribery allegation “bombshell reporting” and part of “the biggest political corruption scandal” in a century. She added that “we are going to make sure that we follow the facts.” Do we?
Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas added the colorful description of the Biden bribery allegation as “gold” and “direct evidence of naked corruption.”
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee noted the “overwhelming” evidence for impeachment and a “nail in the coffin” for Biden.
Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted “Joe Biden is a criminal and is compromised!” “IMPEACH BIDEN!!!”
Conservative “news” networks steadily reported the bribery claims, even though all other House testimony about Hunter Biden, from multiple sources, revealed zero financial connections or wrongdoing attributed to Joe Biden.
One problem for crack investigators in the House and for Sean Hannity: FBI agents use an FD-1023 form simply to record raw, unverified data from a source.
FBI personnel stipulated, after being subpoenaed by Comer to get the form, that a FD-1023 is a document that does “not reflect the conclusions of investigators based on a fuller context or understanding. Recording this information does not validate it, establish its credibility, or weigh it against other information known or developed by the FBI in our investigations.”
Whoops!! Did we jump the smoking gun?
Alexander Smirnov was the source for the info compiled on the FBI’s uninvestigated form. Smirnov was arrested Feb 14, 2024, and was then indicted for providing “false derogatory information to the FBI” about Biden and his son Hunter in 2020.
His bribery story unraveled after the FBI interviewed Smirnov and reviewed his travel records, messages, and other information (in other words, INVESTIGATED) and concluded that the facts “were in direct conflict with what he reported” to the FBI in 2020.
Smirnov, who has been an FBI “confidential human source” since 2010, made his false claims about the president and his son, “despite repeated admonishments that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he must not fabricate evidence,” the indictment said.
Wow, maybe our Congressional leaders should have worked on funding the government. Or on figuring out how to save IVF for prospective parents, now that Alabama courts have gone off the rails. Or fixing immigration at the southern border (oh, we tried that, but ex-President Trump asked his followers to tank that four-month bi-partisan Senate effort).
Now, the House turns to “other suspicious actions” by Biden, although they have not discovered any. Today, Comer claims that the FBI informant was not a major element in the impeachment inquiry, seeming to contradict what most were saying just a few months ago. This is the first time since yesterday that Congressional members have contradicted themselves.
After all of this, James Comer announced, “We will continue to follow the facts to propose legislation to reform federal ethics laws and to determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted.” That is from the same guy who was asked last July, “Do you believe that you will be able to prove Biden bribery?” and replied, “I sure hope so.”
Congress has never heard the business axiom, “Work smarter, not harder.” Hey, let’s do both.
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes opinion columns regularly.
Tweets @curtmacrae — comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com
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