Ohio Republican steps down, Comer's blunderous impeachment attempts
Plus, concerning poll numbers for Biden heading into an election year.
WHAT YOU MISSED
On Friday, Ohio state Rep. Bob Young (R-Green) resigned following a tumultuous summer that saw him indicted for assaulting his wife in July and ordered to wear an ankle monitor after disobeying a protective order by leaving her multiple voicemails in August.
During the assault, Young reportedly “struck his wife, threw her phone in a pool as she tried to call police, followed her as she fled to her brother-in-law's house with her children and tackled his brother through a glass door.” Summit County Police later charged Young with two counts of domestic violence and a misdemeanor count of disrupting public services.
Young’s tenure, which was discouraged by Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and 34 Republican members of the Ohio House after the second arrest, will officially end on Oct. 2. In his resignation letter, the disgraced representative said he plans to litigate the accusations brought against him.
"I will be vigorously defending myself, and I'm looking forward to personal and legal vindication as the court process plays out," Young wrote.
"I was hopeful that this matter could be resolved before this point, but I can no longer deny the distraction that this matter has caused the Ohio House of Representatives as an institution, as well as my colleagues, with whom I serve."
A new report highlights the farcical nature of a Biden impeachment
The Congressional Integrity Project, a liberal watchdog group, released a report today that demonstrated the inability for U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, to provide any evidence of the so-called “Biden Crime Family.” Comer has been leading the charge to impeach the president on grounds that he and his family have “received [money] from China." He told CNN earlier this year that the committee’s investigations had “found a lot that’s certainly unethical … We found a lot that should be illegal. The line is blurry as to what is legal and not legal with respect to family influence-peddling."
But according to the report, Comer has found essentially nothing of note that would be grounds for impeachment.
“James Comer has been investigating President Biden for nearly a year. After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his MAGA crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations,” it reads.
“In fact, Republicans have been forced to walk back claim after claim.”
For example, a memo released by Comer in August claiming to have evidence that Biden had engaged in financial corruption and bribes that involved his son Hunter and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma revealed… nothing of the sort. And in July, Comer’s supposed “star witness” — Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer — came before the committee to verify a supposed quid pro quo between the Biden’s and the gas and oil firm. But all Archer did was testify that Joe Biden had simply been present with Hunter during phone calls and did not discuss business with Burisma representatives.
Not exactly the “bombshell” Comer had hyped up on Fox News — so much so that even host and notorious pinhead Steve Doocy was unimpressed with Comer’s gumshoe work.
Such blunders came after Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) published an open letter that insisted that then-Vice President Biden had a “criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” This was based entirely on an unverified FBI tip.
As the report puts it, Comer's antics are really just a series of “face plants, walk backs, and failed accusations.” A nothing-burger as it were.
POLL WATCHERS
A Times/Siena poll from last week found some troubling data: President Biden’s floundering support amongst Black and Hispanic communities seems a part of a broader trend. While such numbers may indicate lower turnout and not necessarily a pivot by so-called “non-white” voting blocs to Republicans, the figures are not reassuring. Maybe pointing at raw economic numbers when low-income people — who are overrepresented in Black and Hispanic populations — are still struggling in the post-pandemic economy isn’t the strongest electoral strategy.
