Exhibit A: In Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee, Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) reprised allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden pressed Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, for which Hunter Biden was working. The unequivocal rebuttal came from freshman Congressman Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), a former federal prosecutor: “Categorically false and there is no evidence of it.”
Nonplussed, Comer meekly asked whether Goldman was sure. Without hesitation, Goldman replied, “Yes, in fact, I am . . . [A]s the lead counsel in the first impeachment investigation, we proved that he was actually fired because he was not prosecuting corruption.”
Exhibit B: A similar boomerang followed, as to the Republican claim that the “Deep State” suppressed speech on Twitter before the 2020 election.
Company executives testifying Wednesday before the Oversight Committee acknowledged a mistake in pulling down a New York Post tweet about Hunter Biden’s laptop. They refuted committee member Jim Jordan’s conspiratorial claim that they had taken down the tweet at the behest of the FBI.
Then, in response to skillful questions from Democrats, Anika Collier Navaroli, a former member of Twitter’s content moderation team, testified that the Trump White House had in fact lobbied the social media company to “cancel” an expletive-laced, anti-Trump tweet by model Chrissy Teigan.
With that, more air went out the Republican investigative balloon.
Capturing the point, a CNN story on Thursday was headlined: “Republicans Held a Hearing To Prove Twitter’s Bias Against Them. It Backfired in Spectacular Fashion.”
An NBC commentary the same day carried a similar header: “Why the Twitter, Hunter Biden Hearing Backfired on Republicans.”
Jim Jordan triggers backlash by declaring only US citizens can vote: ‘This is not controversial’
reasons for the MAGA House hearings’ bellyflop
Exhibit A: In Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee, Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) reprised allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden pressed Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, for which Hunter Biden was working. The unequivocal rebuttal came from freshman Congressman Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), a former federal prosecutor: “Categorically false and there is no evidence of it.”
Nonplussed, Comer meekly asked whether Goldman was sure. Without hesitation, Goldman replied, “Yes, in fact, I am . . . [A]s the lead counsel in the first impeachment investigation, we proved that he was actually fired because he was not prosecuting corruption.”
Exhibit B: A similar boomerang followed, as to the Republican claim that the “Deep State” suppressed speech on Twitter before the 2020 election.
Company executives testifying Wednesday before the Oversight Committee acknowledged a mistake in pulling down a New York Post tweet about Hunter Biden’s laptop. They refuted committee member Jim Jordan’s conspiratorial claim that they had taken down the tweet at the behest of the FBI.
Then, in response to skillful questions from Democrats, Anika Collier Navaroli, a former member of Twitter’s content moderation team, testified that the Trump White House had in fact lobbied the social media company to “cancel” an expletive-laced, anti-Trump tweet by model Chrissy Teigan.
With that, more air went out the Republican investigative balloon.
Capturing the point, a CNN story on Thursday was headlined: “Republicans Held a Hearing To Prove Twitter’s Bias Against Them. It Backfired in Spectacular Fashion.”
An NBC commentary the same day carried a similar header: “Why the Twitter, Hunter Biden Hearing Backfired on Republicans.”
Jim Jordan triggers backlash by declaring only US citizens can vote: ‘This is not controversial’