Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, criticized a reporter who questioned the evidence that House Republicans are using as a basis for their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Perry spoke at a Freedom Caucus press conference following an announcement by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that he would support an impeachment inquiry into Biden over his conduct as vice president. At the end of the press conference, Perry explained the evidence that the House Republicans have accumulated serving as the basis for this process after a reporter questioned the evidence. (RELATED: House Freedom Caucus Throws Wrench Into Congress’ Government Spending Fight)
“We have their bank accounts. You can see that the homes that the Bidens own can’t be afforded on a congressional or Senate salary. You also understand that it’s not normal for family members to receive millions of dollars from overseas interests,” Perry said in response to the question. “Those activities are not normal. It’s not normal to have 20 shell companies. These things are not normal and it alludes to not only widespread corruption but [also] money laundering if not influence pedaling.”
“If you can’t see that! If you are that blind!” — Rep. Scott Perry gets very mad at a reporter who asks him what actual evidence Republicans have against Biden (he never cites evidence!) pic.twitter.com/pqlI7PXcgR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2023
“What actual evidence that you have as opposed to allegations to show to the American public to conduct an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden instead of doing it for the sake of enacting political revenge for Donald Trump?” the reporter had asked.
“We also have the president — the vice president, at the time — on record saying that the prosecutor was fired. ‘Well, son of a bitch. He got fired,’ because the prosecutor was going after the company that his son was working on. That’s what we have,” Perry added. He referred to Biden’s comments at a public event in 2019 describing his support for the 2016 dismissal of Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings, a company that employed Hunter Biden.
“If you can’t see that, if you’re that blind, well, I’ll turn it over to the attorneys here,” Perry concluded, before shouting “You don’t report it!” at the journalist who asked the question, who attempted to follow up by saying “[t]he people … think it’s political revenge.”
Perry was followed by Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina, who argued that Biden’s conduct was a violation of federal laws regarding foreign activities. “If you were a federal prosecutor, how can you not see a FARA violation? This would [also] be a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violation.”
“When we come from the Durham Report, it’s not that you have to prove the case. There’s not been a single subpoena to a Joe Biden or Hunter Biden or a Biden family bank account. Until an impeachment inquiry begins, we won’t have jurisdiction to do that,” Bishop added.
Following up, Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia said “I invite you to go to clyde.house.gov/bidencrimefamily. You can take a look at the evidence there. If you read through that, I think you’ll be convinced.”
Perry was separately asked about whether the impeachment inquiry would affect the appropriations process, with McCarthy reportedly using the inquiry to solicit Freedom Caucus votes to avoid a government shutdown. He dismissed those suggestions.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time. If the speaker is going to use the spending agreement as leverage, the American people will learn that’s the case. I don’t think it would be appropriate.”
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