'Right-wing chatter' and 'overheated insinuations' fuel Comer's impeachment push: analysis

Evidence in the House Oversight Committee's impeachment case boils down to “overheated insinuations,” “rhetoric” and “right-wing chatter,” according to a new analysis from the Washington Post.

Columnist Philip Bump Wednesday broke down the corruption case that Chairman James Comer (R-KY) — who contends President Joe Biden received “millions and millions of dollars from our enemies” — continues to assert is “credible.”

“It is entirely unfounded but a staple of right-wing chatter about the president,” Bump writes.

“He has shown that President Biden’s son Hunter leveraged his last name to generate business, but this was already obvious. Beyond that? Overheated insinuations.”

Bump debunks Comer’s claims that Biden received $20 million from American enemies and corruptly arranged for a Ukraine prosecutors’ firing, a theory Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) resurfaced Wednesday morning.

The actual amount the Biden family received was $7.5 million and the “enemies” were a Chinese energy company with government ties, writes Bump, citing reporting from the Washington Post.

As for the Ukrainian prosecutor, Bump first quotes Fox News commentator Sean Hannity’s interpretation before digging into the political weeds:

“[Hunter Biden’s] father took actions as vice president, withheld $1 billion, leveraged that billion dollars to get an investigative prosecutor fired,” Hannity said on his show Tuesday night. “The investigation is over. Hunter got paid.”

Writes Bump: “That is not correct.”

Bump notes Hunter Biden’s prestige position with the Ukrainian company Burisma coincided with the Obama administration’s attempts to ouster prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, accused of turning a blind eye to corruption by foreign officials.

Hannity argues Hunter Biden told his father, then vice president, that he needed to lean on Shokin to stop him from leaning on Burisma, Bump writes.

As evidence, those who believe this theory point to Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine days later.

ALSO READ: Enviro congressman’s wife buys — then dumps — dozens of oil, energy and other stocks

“But this is nonsense,” Bump writes. “There’s no evidence that Shokin was putting particular pressure on Burisma.”

Why then, Bump asks, without evidence, does Hannity continue to present theory as fact and Comer continue to promise “robust evidence proving Biden’s criminality remains only a subpoena away?”

According to Bump, it’s no mystery.

“It’s dishonest and the most serious allegation they can present against the president,” Bump says. “There’s no money route that’s been drawn to Joe Biden and no evidence that Hunter Biden’s business deals were intentionally facilitated by his father. There’s just this thing that, stripped of context and accuracy, seems like the sort of thing a corrupt politician would do.”