House Republicans on Thursday held the first public hearing of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Republicans say their House Oversight Committee inquiry is focused on whether Biden was involved in or benefitted from his family's foreign business dealings, among other issues. But so far, they have yet to release evidence that Biden profited from his son Hunter's business deals or was improperly influenced by them.
The White House has blasted the impeachment inquiry as "extreme politics at its worst."
Here is how the hearing unfolded. All times Eastern.
Sep 28, 2023, 3:47 PM EDT
Legal expert for Republicans says there is a basis for inquiry to go forward
While being questioned by Rep. Lauren Boebert R-Colo., law professor Jonathan Turley, a witness called by Republicans, responded when asked what is impeachable.
Turley said lawmakers can look at criminal codes that deal with bribery. At the same time, he reiterated that the laws are complex and there needs to be more investigating.
"I think that there's certainly a basis for this inquiry to go forward," he said. "My position is simply that this is early in an inquiry in terms of linking these which are still just allegations to the president."
Sep 28, 2023, 3:43 PM EDT
Comer struggles at times to manage contentious hearing
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has clearly struggled at times to control the flow and direction of his committee's unruly first impeachment inquiry hearing.
Republicans appeared unprepared for Democrats' procedural tricks. Comer has repeatedly sniped at Democrats during their testimony -- which is unusual for a committee chair.
Chairman James Comer speaks next to House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee impeachment inquiry hearing into President Joe Biden, focused on his son Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
"Can you read a bank statement?" Comer could be heard saying when Rep. Summer Lee, D-Penn., mocked Republicans and claimed they hadn't found a "smoking gun."
After Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., requested to add six excerpts from Hunter Biden's former business partner Devon Archer's transcribed interview into the record, Comer replied, "It's been entered twice. If you want to enter it again, go ahead."
Some of his own members have shouted over him and contributed to the raucous nature of this hearing.
"Democrats are the party of shutdowns. You love shutdowns," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called out when Lee was listing off the number of federal workers in each Republican members' district who would feel the impact of a shutdown.
The day has been reminiscent of some of the early Trump impeachment hearings in 2019, when former Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., struggled to spar with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and some of his members privately complained about his performance.
--ABC News' Benjamin Siegel
Sep 28, 2023, 3:26 PM EDT
Goldman: 'You bring in the fact witnesses and your case goes down the drain'
Like Democrats who spoke before him, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., reiterated that the hearing has no witnesses testifying with "direct knowledge of the evidence to determine that there is a basis for this impeachment inquiry."
"And this is an impeachment inquiry," he continued.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, raises a motion to enter a document into the record with unanimous consent during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Sept. 28, 2023.
Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images
There has been no new evidence or knowledge so far in this hearing, he said.
"So why don't we have some of the fact witnesses here?" Goldman said. "The reason is, you bring in the fact witnesses and your case goes down the drain."
Sep 28, 2023, 3:15 PM EDT
Porter calls out McCarthy's prior remarks on impeachment inquiry 'legitimacy'
Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., made a point to highlight House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's past remarks regarding an impeachment inquiry.
"A veteran of several impeachments said an impeachment without a floor vote by the Congress would create a process completely devoid of any merit or legitimacy," Porter said.
Rep. Katie Porter holds up a sign during a House Oversight Committee impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Sept. 28, 2023, in Washington.
ABC News
She held up a poster featuring a photo of McCarthy and his quote, made over former President Donald Trump's 2019 impeachment inquiry.
"This House vote didn't happen," Porter continued. "We have not followed what the speaker himself, Mr. McCarthy, has said is the process that we should be following so that an impeachment inquiry would have merit or legitimacy. Which is something that I think all Americans on both sides of the aisle should expect investigations or inquiries like this to have."
