Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett did not mince words during the House GOP-led impeachment hearing on Thursday as she expressed her frustration with Republicans for what she perceived as a lack of concern over former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Crockett's words marked the most withering criticism yet of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden for alleged influence peddling.
During the hearing, Republicans suggested they had sprawling evidence that Biden committed high crimes, stressing their review of Biden's son Hunter Biden’s business dealings. They also cited communications with Biden family members and business associates, but produced nothing of the sort.
Crockett said the one thing Republicans demonstrated is that Biden is "guilty of loving his child unconditionally."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
In her pointed questioning of impeachment witness Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law expert, Crockett criticized the GOP for investigating Biden for corruption while seemingly ignoring Trump's criminal charges.
Trump currently faces 91 criminal charges across four separate indictments.
Two of these charges concern his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election while one addresses his theft of classified documents. Another highlights potential campaign finance violations related to a hush money payment he made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
After listing some of these, Crockett said:
“When you’re talking about impeachment, you’re talking about high crimes or misdemeanors. And I can’t seem to find the crime. And honestly, no one has testified of what crime they believe the president of the United States has committed.”
As she waved a picturee of boxes of classified documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, she added:
“But when we start talking about things that look like evidence, they want to act like they’re blind. They don’t know what this is. These are our national secrets!"
"Looks like in the sh**ter to me. This looks like more evidence of our national secrets say on a stage at Mar-a-Lago.”
She concluded by dismissing Republicans' claims of corruption between the President and his son and addressing concerns about an imminent government shutdown:
“I will tell you what the president has been guilty of. He has unfortunately been guilty of loving his child unconditionally. I hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child until they find some evidence."
"We need to get back to the people’s work, which means keeping this government open so that people don’t go hungry in the streets of the United States.”
Crockett's words resonated with many.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's move to advance an impeachment inquiry against Biden without a full vote of the House is seen as an attempt to placate far-right lawmakers who have threatened to remove McCarthy from his leadership position if he does not support their calls for significant spending cuts. The standoff is expected to result in a government shutdown by tomorrow.
The House's far-right contingent announced they will seek to oust McCarthy as soon as next week and replace him with one of his deputies, likely Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer.
The Washington Post reported McCarthy's opponents "think Emmer is more attuned to their concerns and will better deliver conservative results."
