‘Gross abuse of power’: Dem slams GOP for using hearing to push debunked lies

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a key Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, demolished Republican lies about President Joe Biden’s involvement in Ukraine with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, following a controversial hearing in which Republicans tried to baselessly allege FBI involvement in Twitter’s erroneous decision to suppress a New York Post story about emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.

That laptop story was used by Republicans to bolster the theory that Biden and his son were financially profiting off dealings in Ukraine, particularly involving a company known as Burisma, and that Biden, as vice president in the Obama administration, forced the resignation of that country’s prosecutor-general to prevent those ties from being investigated — which, as Goldman noted in the hearing early in the day, has been debunked repeatedly.

“How much of an effect do you think your pushback will have?” asked Cooper. “What you were saying — what you went on to say is that what then-Vice President Biden was doing is in line with policy and European nation efforts were to have that Ukrainian prosecutor removed because he was not actually prosecuting corruption.”

“Yes,” said Goldman. “What is really dangerous about this is that the Republicans have made it very clear that they are on a mission to destroy Hunter Biden in every way they can. Hunter Biden is a civilian. He is the son of a president. Unless there’s some link to President Biden and any misconduct, then this is a gross abuse of power by this committee for political purposes. It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars. It’s outside of the jurisdiction of the committee.”

And the fact of the matter, Goldman continued, is that “there is no link.”

Even if you give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt, there’s no link to Joe Biden,” said Goldman. “Joe Biden did everything by the book, consistent with U.S. policy. In fact, his actions and the actions of our allies in Europe, and ultimately of Ukraine, were potentially hurtful to him because they wanted more corruption to be charged. It’s yet another example of an investigation that has reached a conclusion before they figured out the facts. What we want to do and what we did today is we brought out the facts. The facts are on our side. They are not on their side.”

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Dan Goldman on debunked Burisma-Biden allegations

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Dem teacher-turned-lawmaker rakes in stunning fundraising haul



James Talarico reports raising nearly $7 million, continuing cash influx to U.S. Senate bid

State Rep. James Talarico raised nearly $7 million for his U.S. Senate run during the latest fundraising quarter, increasing his total haul to $13 million since launching his bid, his campaign said Friday.

Talarico established himself as a prolific fundraiser after raising $6.2 million in the first three weeks of his campaign, which far outpaced other recent Democrats who sought statewide office. Democrats have not won statewide office in Texas since 1994.

The figure released Friday — $6.8 million worth of contributions — suggests the money momentum continues for Talarico, a former public school teacher who has represented a district that includes North Austin and parts of Pflugerville and Round Rock in the Texas House since 2018. Most of Talarico’s donations — 98% — were for $100 or less and none came from corporate PACs, according to the campaign.

It is not clear how much of the money Talarico has already spent. All candidates for federal office must file a finance update with the election commission by the end of the month.

“With the help of more than 215,000 neighbors, we are building a campaign to win the primary, win the general, and deliver for working people across Texas,” Talarico said in a statement, referring to the number of individual contributors.

A spokesperson for his primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, did not immediately return a request for comment. Crockett, who filed to run for Senate later than Talarico, is also a prolific fundraiser.

A poll released last month had Crockett leading Talarico by 8 percentage points.

Talarico’s early cash influx gave him an upper hand over former U.S. Rep. Collin Allred, who took two months to raise as much money during his unsuccessful challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz last cycle. Allred left the Senate race in December and pivoted to run for the Dallas-based 33rd Congressional District.

On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is facing the biggest challenge of his career in a three-way contest to be the GOP nominee as Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, try to unseat the incumbent. As of October, Cornyn carried a big financial advantage over Paxton and Hunt.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

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