Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans for using a “fabricated image” in the first impeachment inquiry hearing into President Biden.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden after Republicans alleged the president and his son, Hunter Biden, profited from foreign business deals. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee held its first hearing Thursday.
During the hearing Ocasio-Cortez sat next to a computer screen that showed a clock, ticking down the seconds until the federal funding deadline.
The fabricated image Ocasio-Cortez referenced was a screenshot of a text message presented earlier in Thursday’s hearing introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), she said.
“Earlier today, one of our colleagues, the gentleman from Florida, presented up on the screen something that appeared to be a screenshot of a text message containing or insinuating an explosive allegation,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the hearing. “That screenshot of what appeared to be a text message was a fabricated image.”
“I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know if it was the staff of the committee, but it was not the direct screenshot from that phone,” she added.
The New York congresswoman said the fabricated image excluded “critical context that changed the underlying meaning and allegation.”
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that members of the committee are within their rights to submit a fabricated image under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution, which protects members of Congress from lawsuits over legislative speech.
Still, she said they were wasting their time and that the hearing was an “embarrassment.” Each of the three witnesses testifying before the panel told Ocasio-Cortez and the committee that there is not enough evidence yet to impeach Biden.
“This is an embarrassment to the time and people of this country, and I would ask that the chair and I would ask that this Committee elevate to the promise of our duties here and comport ourselves with the consistency and practice that is required of our seats and our duty and … our oath to our responsibilities here,” Ocasio-Cortez said.