Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto did not have kind words for the GOP after House Republicans' impeachment inquiry hearing ended, saying he doesn't "know what was achieved."
Earlier this month, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued an order calling for an impeachment inquiry into the President for alleged influence peddling.
McCarthy's move to advance an impeachment inquiry against President Joe 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 the end of the month.
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.
Cavuto was left unimpressed, noting that the GOP made no compelling case connecting any criminality to Biden:
“I don’t know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours. ... The way this was built up — where there’s smoke there would be fire…but where there’s smoke today, we got more smoke."
“The promise of explosive testimony and proof …did not materialize today."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Elsewhere, he noted that no one had actually "provided any proof for impeachment":
"I want to put it in perspective here though, and we are going to legally go through all the details. But James Comer, the Oversight Committee chairman had said that there would be presented a mountain of evidence against Mr. Biden. It was referring to President Biden."
"But none of the expert witnesses today presented yet any proof for impeachment."
"Now, to be clear, this was not about impeachment, this is about launching an impeachment inquiry. But it is worth pointing out that none of the witnesses today were fact witnesses. That means that none were involved in the investigation into the alleged activities in the first place."
"What's more, none of the witnesses testified today of direct knowledge of what Republicans have been claiming about Joe Biden."
You can hear his remarks in the video below.
Many concurred with Cavuto's assessment.
Cavuto concluded that "the best [Republicans] could say now, after this six plus hours of testimony back and forth, is that they're going to try to get more bank records from Joe Biden and his son."
However, he pointed out that this comes after months of GOP House probes that "failed to provide anything resembling concrete evidence." He called the charges an "unproven allegation."
A defiant Comer defended the inquiry in his opening remarks, saying Republicans "have led this investigation and now we need the inquiry status as we move forward to get the information."