Democrats mock Biden impeachment inquiry hearing, GOP chair struggles to keep control

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., was the latest Democrat to display Trump's social media posts behind her as she accused Republicans of doing his bidding.

"It's a campaign strategy ... we see the long arms -- but tiny hands -- of Donald Trump, and his fingerprints all over this impeachment," she said.

Republicans have largely ignored Democrats' jabs against Trump and his indictments, though one GOP lawmaker taunted Democrats.

"I love the fact that Trump lives rent-free in the Democrats' heads every day, that is a beautiful thing, even though we are here talking about the impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden," Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said.

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Democrats tear into GOP over ‘sham’ impeachment inquiry

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., claimed the reason Republicans launched the inquiry is to boost former President Donald Trump’s chances of being elected in 2024.

ABCNews.com

During her time to ask questions, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the allegations are "extremely serious," but called the hearing an "embarrassment."

She established that none of the four witnesses can give any firsthand witness account of any crimes committed by the president.

"This is an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment to the time and people of this country," she said.

Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., followed by saying he was concerned about the "seriousness of the allegations."

"We have all sorts of smoke, maybe not fire," he said. "It deserves a strong response from this body."

Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, asked Democratic witness Michael Gerhardt what he believes is the "primary flaw" in the Republican claims about President Biden.

"Well, I suppose I can say a lot. The problem is the dots are not connected," Gerhardt replied. "The name repeated most often is Hunter Biden, not President Biden. And the point of an impeachment inquiry is not about a president's son, it has to be about the president himself and I don't think those dots connected. Lots of assumptions and accusations, not evidence."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called testimony from Hunter Biden's former business partner, Devin Archer, "the most telling evidence" of the president's potential involvement in an "influence-peddling scheme."

Jordan said that a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating a Ukrainian company tied to Hunter Biden's was fired after Hunter Biden received a request from Burisma's top executive and then called his father, who "leveraged $1 billion of American tax money" to get the prosecutor fired.

But a review of Archer's testimony, detailed in a publicly-released transcript, shows that Jordan left out key parts of Archer's testimony and mischaracterized other parts of it.

Among other things, Archer said the request from Burisma's top executive wasn't specific to the prosecutor's firing, and he wasn't even sure that Hunter Biden called his father after getting the request.

--ABC News' Mike Levine and Luc Bruggeman