Congressional Republicans haven’t had any success uncovering wrongdoing on President Joe Biden’s part, but the party’s impeachment inquiry is nevertheless moving forward. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan appeared on Fox News this week to offer his latest justification for the GOP crusade.
“When you do something that benefits your family financially and you’re a public official, that’s not supposed to happen,” the Ohio Republican said. “But that’s exactly what it looks like took place.”
As the video clip of the comments shows, the far-right congressman did not appear to be kidding.
At this point, I could spend a few paragraphs noting that there simply isn’t any evidence of Biden ever using his office to advance his family’s business interests. I’d also note, of course, that Jordan and other Republicans have invested an enormous amount of time and energy trying to find such evidence, and the fact that they’ve come up empty suggests the Democratic incumbent has done nothing wrong.
But that’s not the only problem here. Remember this Politico report from January 2020?
In three years in the White House, Donald Trump has accomplished something no president before him has done: fusing his private business interests with America’s highest public office. Trump’s early decision to maintain his grip on his sprawling real estate empire — despite his pledge to put his business aside while in the White House — has created a vast web of potential conflicts of interest, accusations about his policies being driven by his business interests and even possible violations of the law, according to documents and interviews.
The same report added that the former Republican president “has managed to skirt accountability for widespread possible conflicts of interest that critics say represent a blatant abuse of power and create dangerous risks to the integrity of the presidency.”
Earlier this year, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a prominent watchdog organization, published a related report noting that Trump’s presidency “was marred by unprecedented conflicts of interest arising from his decision not to divest from the Trump Organization,” which was run by his family during his White House tenure.
The report added, “Donald Trump made up to $160 million from international business dealings while he was serving as president of the United States, according to an analysis of his tax returns by CREW.”
In case this isn’t obvious, what benefited the Trump Organization necessarily benefited members of the former president’s family.
All of which brings us back to what Jordan told Fox News’ audience: “When you do something that benefits your family financially and you’re a public official, that’s not supposed to happen. But that’s exactly what it looks like took place.”
Oddly enough, what the Judiciary Committee chairman said was true — except he was describing the actions of the wrong president.
Steve Benen
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.”
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