The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Thursday to markup a report to cite President Biden's ghostwriter in contempt of Congress.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We'll come to order without objection.
00:02The chair is authorized to declare a recess pursuant
00:04to Committee Rule 2, House Rule 11, Clause 2.
00:07The chair may postpone further proceedings today
00:11on the question of approving any measure or matter
00:14or adopting an amendment for which a recorded vote is
00:17ordered.
00:18We now recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin
00:20to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
00:26I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
00:29of America, and to the Republic for which it stands,
00:33one nation under God, indivisible,
00:36with liberty and justice for all.
00:40Pursuant to notice, I call up the report
00:42recommending that the House of Representatives cite Mark
00:44Zwanitzer for contempt of Congress
00:46for purposes of markup and move that the committee report it
00:49favorably to the House.
00:50The clerk will report.
00:51Resolution recommending that the House of Representatives
00:54sign Mark Zwanitzer.
00:54Without objection, the report be considered
00:56as read and open for amendment at any point.
00:58Before recognizing myself for an opening statement,
01:00I forgot to recognize our newest member.
01:02The gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Rooley, was recently elected.
01:06And of course, as you all know, sworn in,
01:07gave amazing, I thought, remarks on the House floor.
01:10Mr. Rooley was elected to represent Ohio's 6th
01:13Congressional District before this election.
01:16He served in the Ohio Senate.
01:17We're excited to have him join our committee.
01:20The Rooley family has had grocery stores in Youngstown
01:22for like 1,000 years.
01:24And it's great to have you now as part
01:26of the Judiciary Committee.
01:27So we welcome you to the committee.
01:30Yeah, we should clap for that.
01:31The chair now recognizes himself for an opening statement.
01:37President Biden willfully retained and disclosed
01:39classified materials after his vice presidency
01:43when he was a private citizen.
01:45That's what special counsel Herr found on page one of his report.
01:48On at least three occasions, Joe Biden, quote,
01:50read aloud classified notebook passages to his ghostwriter
01:53nearly verbatim.
01:55On page 200 of his report, special counsel Herr
01:57concluded that President Biden's disclosure
02:00of classified materials to Mr. Zwaanitzer
02:02risked serious damage to America's national security.
02:06It's worth repeating that special counsel Herr
02:07said that President Biden had strong motivations
02:11to share classified information with his ghostwriter.
02:14In fact, he had 8 million reasons to ignore the rules.
02:18Joe Biden shared some of the classified materials,
02:20materials he wasn't allowed to keep, with his ghostwriter,
02:23who was writing a book for which he was receiving
02:25an $8 million advance.
02:28All this, and yet special counsel Herr declined
02:30to prosecute Joe Biden because, quote,
02:33he is a sympathetic, well-meaning,
02:35elderly man with a poor memory.
02:37And that brings us to today.
02:39Following the release of special counsel Herr's report,
02:41we subpoenaed six categories of information
02:43from Mr. Zwaanitzer related to his work
02:46on President Biden's memoirs,
02:48including transcripts and audio recordings
02:50of his interviews with President Biden.
02:53To date, Mr. Zwaanitzer has refused to comply
02:55with the committee's subpoena.
02:57The responsive documents in Mr. Zwaanitzer's possession
03:00are necessary for our oversight.
03:02As an initial matter, we must know the extent
03:04to which President Biden disclosed classified materials
03:06to Mr. Zwaanitzer and his intent
03:08behind disclosing that information.
03:10In order to do so and to determine
03:12whether special counsel Herr appropriately carried out
03:14justice by not prosecuting the president,
03:17we need the audio recordings and the transcripts.
03:20Put simply, they are the best evidence
03:22of the president's mental state.
03:24Remember, on page 207 of his report,
03:26the special counsel said,
03:28Mr. Biden's memory also appeared
03:30to have significant limitations,
03:32both at the time he spoke to Zwaanitzer in 2017,
03:36as evidenced by their recorded conversations,
03:39and today as evidenced by his recorded interview
03:42with our office.
03:44Special counsel concluded that some jurors
03:46may have reasonable doubts because President Biden's
03:48apparent lapses and failures
03:50in sharing the classified information
03:52with Mr. Zwaanitzer would appear consistent
03:55with the diminished faculties and faulty memory he showed
03:59in the recorded interviews with his ghostwriter.
04:01Not only did special counsel Herr decline
04:03to prosecute President Biden,
04:06he also declined to prosecute Mr. Zwaanitzer
04:09for obstruction of justice.
04:11Special counsel Herr found that,
04:12quote, after learning of his investigation,
04:14Mr. Zwaanitzer deleted digital audio recordings
04:18of his conversations with Mr. Biden,
04:21where President Biden, in fact,
04:22disclosed classified information to him,
04:24audio recordings that the special counsel
04:26Herr found had significant evidentiary value
04:30to his investigation.
04:32We need to understand the extent to which Mr. Zwaanitzer
04:34impeded special counsel Herr's investigation
04:37by deleting these recordings, but to do all of this,
04:39the committee needs the information
04:41we subpoenaed from Mr. Zwaanitzer.
04:43No legal or constitutional privilege
04:46protects the information subpoenaed from disclosure.
04:48Mr. Zwaanitzer has a legal obligation
04:50to turn over the requested materials
04:51pursuant to the subpoena,
04:53and his willful refusal to comply with our subpoena
04:56constitutes contempt of Congress.
04:58Our oversight is too important to allow Mr. Zwaanitzer
05:01to willfully disregard our lawful subpoena.
05:04Now I yield to the ranking member for an opening statement.
05:08Mr. Chairman, we have an important oversight role
05:11in this committee.
05:13We oversee the Department of Justice,
05:14federal courts, federal antitrust policy,
05:17civil rights issues, federal law enforcement,
05:19and so much more.
05:21But we're not here today because of any of these
05:23legitimate areas for oversight.
05:26We're here today because after spending $20 million
05:29chasing dozens of conspiracy theories,
05:32MAGA Republicans have come up with nothing.
05:35In fact, the Republicans' stunning failure
05:37was made painfully obvious just yesterday
05:40when the Supreme Court ruled that the conspiracy theory
05:42underlying their signature investigation
05:44into social media companies was, quote,
05:47clearly erroneous.
05:49We're here today because there's a presidential debate
05:51tonight, and MAGA Republicans have decided
05:54the best way they can help President Trump
05:56is by bullying and intimidating a private citizen
05:59to obtain information about his highly sensitive
06:01and deeply personal conversations with President Biden.
06:05We're here today because Republicans are,
06:07in a word, desperate.
06:09This contempt resolution against Mr. Zwaanitzer
06:12is an abuse of the committee's oversight authority,
06:14pure and simple.
06:16The quorum and collegiality that clearly departed
06:18this chamber in favor of MAGA extremism
06:21when this committee harasses a private citizen
06:25to intimidate him into giving the chairman
06:27whatever he wants in his quest to find something damaging
06:30to use against President Biden.
06:32Earlier this week, we received a letter
06:34that White House counsel Ed Siskel
06:36sent to Mr. Zwaanitzer's attorney
06:38in which the White House said, quote,
06:40the committee's subpoena seeks broad swaths
06:42of personal information that President Biden
06:45provided to your client in confidence
06:46as part of the process for writing his memoirs.
06:49The vast majority of this information is private.
06:52The committee's subpoena is, therefore,
06:54a congressional subpoena for the president's information,
06:57which unavoidably pits the political branches
06:59against one another.
07:01Unfortunately, the committee has thrust your client
07:03into the middle of this inter-branch conflict.
07:07The letter continues, quote, your client is not authorized
07:11to provide any of the president's information
07:13until it has been reviewed
07:14for executive branch confidentiality concerns
07:17and a resolution of these constitutional issues
07:19between the two branches has been reached, close quote.
07:23Mr. Siskel also wrote to the chairman directly,
07:26advising him that, quote, the executive branch is ready
07:29and willing to engage in good faith with the committee
07:32in response to its purported interest in this matter.
07:35In other words, the committee's fight
07:36is not with Mr. Zwaanitzer.
07:38It's with the executive branch,
07:40and that's who it should be negotiating with.
07:42And according to Mr. Siskel's letter to the chairman,
07:45Republicans have not engaged in negotiations
07:47with the White House at all.
07:50Well, we're not here today to engage
07:51in good faith negotiations.
07:53We're here today because the majority has instead chosen
07:56to bully and intimidate a private citizen
07:58because they think they can break him
08:01before they break the executive branch.
08:03They desperately want the audio recordings
08:05of Mr. Zwaanitzer's dozens of hours of private interviews
08:08with President Biden conducted when they worked together
08:11on Promise Me, Dad,
08:12a memoir detailing President Biden's loss of his son
08:16when he was vice president.
08:18I would like to read some of the entries from this book
08:20so that as we move forward
08:21with this ridiculous contempt proceeding today,
08:24we can all keep in mind what kind of information
08:26and recorded conversations Republicans want to acquire
08:29and weaponize against President Biden.
08:32In his book, the president recalls telling his dying son,
08:36quote, I will never stop doing everything I can
08:38to keep you alive, to keep you with us.
08:43It's okay if you go now.
08:45It's okay if you don't fight anymore.
08:47It's okay to go to sleep.
08:49He recalls his son telling him,
08:51you've got to promise me, Dad,
08:53that no matter what happens, you're going to be all right.
08:56Give me your word, Dad.
08:58You're going to be all right.
09:00President Biden recalls making an entry in his diary
09:02after his son's diagnosis, writing, quote,
09:05no Thanksgiving would ever be quite the same.
09:09I pulled out my diary and started to write.
09:11I did have one big item from my own Christmas list that year,
09:15but I was keeping it to myself.
09:17Naval Observatory, November 30th, 2014, 7.30 p.m.,
09:21just home from Nantucket.
09:23I pray we have another year together in 2015.
09:27Bow, bow, bow, bow.
09:30He recalled making another entry.
09:32As Air Force Two took off,
09:33I felt compelled to open up my diary and write,
09:37March 29th, leaving MD Anderson with hope.
09:41Bow is an amazing man, as is Hunter.
09:45He is staying with Bow until the next procedure.
09:47I'll be coming back.
09:50I paused.
09:51What else was there to say?
09:53I was afraid if I really opened up,
09:55I would give into a lurking despair,
09:57and I could not allow that to happen.
10:00I could not allow Bow or anyone else to see that, ever.
10:04I set aside the diary until the flight was nearly over,
10:07then picked it up again to add one line.
10:09Just landed, 6.07.
10:12I feel so goddamn lonely.
10:15He also recalls watching his son wither before his eyes.
10:19My eye was drawn to Bow as we talked.
10:21It wasn't yet late in the evening,
10:23but it was already tiring.
10:25He was so gaunt, and his face seemed drained of color.
10:28I could see the outlines of the leg brace through his pants.
10:32Bow had been losing recall of more and more proper nouns
10:34lately, and he seemed less willing to fight through it.
10:38Ashley, Bow's sister, had told me
10:40that Bow was no longer inviting her
10:42into the room for his speech therapy
10:44because his decline really bothered him.
10:47Bow said almost nothing that chilly February night
10:49in Washington.
10:51He would whisper something to his brother instead,
10:53and Hunter would speak for him."
10:56Unquote.
10:58I think most parents would agree,
11:00watching your child suffer and die
11:01is the worst possible torment you can imagine.
11:04And that tragedy, that heart-wrenching,
11:08gut-churning agony that President Biden endured
11:12is what Republicans want to use against him.
11:14Their desperation knows no bounds.
11:17And don't let them pretend here that they have compassion
11:19for President Biden's loss
11:21or that this request has anything to do with oversight.
11:24If this committee really wanted to conduct oversight,
11:27it would work in good faith with the DOJ and the White House,
11:31not employ intimidation tactics and punitive subpoenas
11:34against a private citizen.
11:36They don't want to conduct legitimate oversight.
11:39They want to get those audio files
11:41to help MAGA Republicans this election cycle.
11:44Mark my words, if Republicans get these files,
11:48their priority will be getting altered
11:49and context-free audio clips into Republican campaign ads,
11:54not doing the real work of the American people.
11:58This is about digging for embarrassing audio
12:00of President Biden when he was in a vulnerable state,
12:03discussing the death of his son.
12:05This is about their political game.
12:08Oversight Chairman James Comer said so himself in an email.
12:13He said if he gets the tapes, he will release them
12:15for the purpose of demonstrating,
12:16quote, Biden's mental state to convince,
12:19quote, swing voters.
12:21What more evidence do you need?
12:24In case I have to explain this,
12:25demanding material to bolster your political campaigns
12:29does not constitute the kind of legitimate legislative purpose
12:32that makes a subpoena enforceable in court.
12:35Despite Republicans' desperate attempts
12:37to feign a substantive need for these files,
12:40one simply does not exist.
12:43Today's markup is about making the chosen Republican leader,
12:45Donald Trump, happy by hunting down
12:48any possible vulnerabilities of President Biden.
12:52And to achieve that goal,
12:54this committee is willing to put a target
12:55on the back of an American citizen,
12:57a private American citizen
12:59who has already been cleared of wrongdoing in this very matter.
13:03Frankly, this is frightening.
13:05Trump is weaponizing this MAGA Republican-led committee
13:08to get information on his opponent,
13:10President Biden, at any cost,
13:13even if it means publicly flogging an American citizen
13:16trying to live a private life.
13:18And I have to wonder, is this just the beginning?
13:22Is this what we have to look forward to?
13:24If Trump gets a second term, is this the playbook?
13:28Anyone, public official or private citizen
13:31who doesn't give Trump what he wants
13:33will have the weight of the government hammered down on them.
13:37Anyone who questions Trump's authority
13:39will have his name fed to Trump's ravenous
13:41far-right supporters who instill fear and submission.
13:44Anyone who asserts their constitutional rights
13:46to get in the way of a Republican agenda
13:49will be held in contempt by Trump's enablers in Congress.
13:53That is not an America I want to live in.
13:55That is not the American democracy
13:57I have devoted my career to fighting for.
14:00And I know this is not the country
14:02the American people want.
14:04Every American should sit up in fear
14:06watching this public attack on a private citizen.
14:10If he isn't safe from this kind of government abuse,
14:13what makes you think you are?
14:16I urge members to oppose this dangerous resolution.
14:18And I yield back.
14:19The gentleman yields back.
14:20I would just add, Mr. Zwonitzer is, in fact,
14:22a private citizen, a private citizen
14:23who tried to destroy evidence
14:25once an investigation was announced,
14:26the very evidence we seek in our subpoena
14:28that he fails to comply with.
14:30That's why we're here.
14:31Without objection, all other opening statements
14:33will be included in the record.
14:34The chair now recognizes himself
14:36for the purposes of offering an amendment
14:37in the nature of a substitute.
14:39The clerk will report the amendment.
14:40Amendment in the nature of a substitute to the committee.
14:42Without objection, the amendment in the nature of a substitute
14:44will be considered as read and shall be considered
14:46a base text for the purpose of the amendment.
14:47The chair now recognizes himself to explain the amendment.
14:49The amendment makes a grammatical change
14:50on page five of the report.
14:52It does not change the subs of the report.
14:54Who seeks recognition?
14:57Gentlelady from North Carolina is recognized.
15:00Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
15:05Gentlelady is recognized. Excuse me.
15:06Thank you.
15:07I am not surprised that the majority
15:11has taken this ridiculous fight with the executive branch
15:15to a private citizen.
15:18They're bullies.
15:20Mr. Zwanadzer is a writer and director,
15:23not a political figure.
15:26And his attorney has repeatedly explained
15:29that Mr. Zwanadzer is not in a position
15:32to determine what materials he can share with this committee,
15:36especially when the executive branch
15:39has asserted significant interest in this material.
15:44Going after a private citizen
15:46who is now caught between two branches of government
15:50is not only legally bankrupt,
15:54but also an unjustified abuse of power.
15:59Mr. Zwanadzer set out to write a memoir in President Biden's name
16:04about the death of his son, Beau.
16:08Nothing more.
16:10He's now caught in a legal battle in which he has no stake,
16:14all because the majority on this committee
16:17is desperate to get its hands on any material
16:21related to President Biden
16:23in order to justify its relentless
16:27and fruitless investigation into anything
16:30and everything related to this administration.
16:34Congress is supposed to work for the people,
16:38for people like Mr. Zwanadzer,
16:41who, in addition to his work with President Biden
16:43on his memoir, is working on a documentary
16:46about the creation of the transcontinental railroad.
16:51Instead, the majority is attacking the people,
16:56the very people it is supposed to protect and represent.
17:01I refuse to be associated with this attack
17:03on a private citizen,
17:05and I refuse to be associated
17:07with the members of this committee
17:09who are leading this charge.
17:11And as the ranking member said,
17:15this has been timed for the debate.
17:19It has been timed for the election.
17:22It is nothing more than a political stunt,
17:27and it is an abuse of power.
17:29Thank you, and I yield back.
17:32Finally yields back.
17:33Who seeks recognition?
17:36Gentleman from North Carolina is recognized.
17:38Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
17:40I wonder if my friend from North Carolina
17:42would engage in a colloquy,
17:44so I'd like to pose a question to Ms. Ross,
17:48given what was just said.
17:52Mr. Zwanadzer was the ghostwriter
17:55of what you just described
17:56and the ranking member before you described
17:59as a book about the death of President Biden's son.
18:03Why was President Biden,
18:05according to special counsel Herr,
18:08reading from classified materials about Afghanistan
18:12to his ghostwriter in a book
18:14that was solely about the death of President Biden's son?
18:21You don't care to answer?
18:22I can understand.
18:23No, I didn't yield,
18:25and I don't have any information about that.
18:27So I suggest that you use your four minutes
18:31to address the contempt resolution.
18:33I'm alluding to the gentleman from North Carolina.
18:35Yeah, that's my time.
18:36I offered to engage in a colloquy, too,
18:39which would have the effect of refuting
18:40the absurd allegation that you made.
18:43But I can understand why you don't want to answer
18:45because it's an irrefutable point.
18:49No one that I know about
18:51who's interested in securing Mr. Zwanadzer's compliance
18:54with the lawful process served upon him
18:57has had anything to say about the death of Beau Biden.
19:00No one's read from the provision,
19:05the parts of the book about Beau Biden
19:08to frame this matter.
19:10The question is,
19:13why was Joe Biden reading from classified materials
19:17to somebody without a security clearance
19:20in a matter for which he was going to be paid $8 million?
19:25And this Congress needs to investigate
19:28and consider what is necessary.
19:30And it is the committee vested by this House of Representatives
19:34with inquiring into the grounds
19:38for impeachment of the selfsame president.
19:43And the hypocrisy is mind-blowing.
19:49I wonder if Steve Bannon could imagine
19:53that someone might, for a political purpose,
19:56pursue a contempt resolution.
20:01But there's no political purpose here.
20:03It is the responsibility of this person
20:06who received classified information
20:10to provide what he has to this committee to evaluate.
20:17It's just almost, it's unspeakable.
20:20I was thinking about the legislative purpose
20:22that was cited in order to secure
20:24the personal private income tax returns of President Trump.
20:31We can all say with certainty that there was no motivation
20:35of a political sort involved in that.
20:37Wow.
20:38Calling the tune requires playing by the tune.
20:44But Mr. Zwonitzer is an ordinary citizen.
20:50The process served upon him to compel him
20:53to provide information to this committee is straightforward.
20:57He has, with the most frivolous of arguments,
21:01flouted his responsibility under law.
21:04It is this committee's responsibility to proceed.
21:07That's how it works.
21:08It's very simple.
21:09Nothing more to it than that.
21:11It's time we get on with it.
21:12I'm fully in support of the ANS, Mr. Chairman.
21:16With that, I yield to anyone else who wants the time.
21:20Mr. Biggs from Arizona.
21:21Thank you very much.
21:23When we listened to the first two speakers
21:25from across the aisle,
21:27it is clear that they are infected with TDS.
21:31The ranking member could not utter a sentence
21:34without mentioning MAGA.
21:37But it gets to the point that Mr. Bishop, my friend, made.
21:43The ranking member said that we want to get
21:49a hold of, and quote,
21:51sensitive and deeply personal conversations
21:53with Zwonitzer, close quote.
21:56This was for a book that was going to be published.
22:01These were classified documents.
22:04And you want to tell us, oh, we want access
22:06to sensitive, deeply personal conversations
22:09with his ghostwriter who was making a bundle of money
22:13to publish a book.
22:15That's not deeply sensitive and personal.
22:18What it was, it was illegal.
22:22The special counsel said he had classified documents
22:25from the time he was even the senator,
22:27some of which were still classified.
22:31And then Zwonitzer, showing a guilty mind,
22:35destroyed evidence when he was confronted about it.
22:39Yield back.
22:42Gentleman yields back.
22:42Who seeks recognition?
22:43The gentleman from Georgia is recognized.
22:45Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
22:46Today is a sad day in history,
22:51in the history of this particular committee
22:54that we have stooped to the point
22:56of trying to intimidate and bully a private citizen,
23:01a journalist, no doubt,
23:04who has collaborated with President Biden
23:09at some of his most sensitive moments
23:13about very sensitive issues, the death of his son.
23:19And this committee is using its power
23:24to try to get at some audiotapes
23:27between this journalist and President Biden,
23:32wherein President Biden
23:33is discussing these kinds of sensitive matters.
23:36And the only reason why the other side is doing it
23:40is because they're now trying to scrape up
23:44as much information as they can to make Donald Trump happy
23:49because he needs fodder for campaign ads.
23:53And so that's why this audio is important to my friends
24:00on the other side of the aisle,
24:01just to appease President Trump.
24:04And, you know, fact of the matter is,
24:09this is the outgrowth of $20 million in taxpayer money
24:15having been spent by this committee and this Congress
24:19investigating President Trump, excuse me,
24:22President Biden and Hunter Biden,
24:26trying to find evidence of a criminal gang
24:32as they have billed it.
24:34They have come up with no evidence
24:37after spending that much money and all of the staff time.
24:42They've not been able to come up with any evidence of corruption
24:47by President Biden or his family,
24:51which they call a crime family.
24:53This committee has been front and center
24:56in that investigation.
24:58It has been fruitless.
25:01In addition to this committee,
25:04you've had folks like Robert Herr,
25:08a special counsel, excuse me,
25:11a holdover from the Trump administration,
25:14yes, special counsel,
25:16who looked into classified documents that were found
25:22and turned over by President Biden
25:26that were in his possession after he had left office.
25:33And Robert Herr looked into it to determine
25:37whether or not there was any criminal liability.
25:43And he found none, but he chose on his way out,
25:47issuing a final report to include in that report
25:54inappropriate characterizations
25:59of the president's mental competency,
26:04President Biden's mental competency.
26:06For the express purpose,
26:08that was a giant breadcrumb offered to this committee
26:14to enable them to follow up on that
26:17as they are doing right now.
26:19So in addition to those fruitless,
26:22rabbit-hole investigations, now we have morphed into,
26:25okay, we need to get the audio files
26:28of the ghostwriter for President Biden.
26:32Isn't that a ridiculous use of this committee's time,
26:36that we're sitting here and a private citizen
26:41is being bullied and intimidated
26:44and threatened, a journalist, by this committee?
26:49It's really a sad day.
26:51The American people see that this is doing nothing
26:55to make life better for them.
26:58This is just an outgrowth of a rabbit-hole investigation.
27:03It'll go nowhere.
27:05We're wasting our time.
27:06The American people expect us to do the business
27:09that makes their lives better.
27:11That's what we need to be about, putting people over politics.
27:15And so I will yield back the balance of my time.
27:21This is a sad day.
27:23Gentleman yields back. Who seeks recognition?
27:30The gentleman from California is recognized.
27:35If the MAGA impeachment investigation
27:39was a missing person,
27:44we'd all have amber alerts on our phones a long time ago.
27:49And that's what this is really about.
27:51They promised you that they were going
27:53to have the goods to impeach the president,
27:58and they failed.
28:00They came up short.
28:02You've got nothing, nada, zilch, zero.
28:06It's a big goose egg.
28:08And so you're just screwing around now on the margins
28:12with this batting practice, exhibition,
28:15pre-season game-like exercise
28:19because you're not ready for prime time.
28:23I'll yield to anyone who will tell me
28:25when you're bringing your impeachment vote.
28:28If anyone wants to tell me,
28:29because you promised the American people
28:31you were going to impeach President Biden.
28:35So bring it.
28:37I'll yield. Bring it.
28:39Come on.
28:40You promised the American people.
28:41Bring it.
28:43Don't screw around with this stuff.
28:44I'd be glad to speak to that.
28:45Yeah. Do you have a vote, Mr. Bishop?
28:47Yeah. Okay, make the motion.
28:48Here's the answer. Make the motion.
28:49Here's the answer. Make the motion.
28:51Come on. You didn't ask me to make a motion.
28:53You asked me to explain when it would occur.
28:55You want me to answer you?
28:55Was it a question you want to answer?
28:56You're a big man, right?
28:57You talked about impeaching the president.
28:59Bring the motion.
28:59I'll be glad to answer your question
29:01if you want an answer.
29:02You mean you don't want an answer.
29:03Come on, Biggs.
29:04Bring the motion.
29:05Stop wasting our time.
29:06You're wasting our time.
29:07Here's the answer.
29:08As soon as they stop stonewalling the investigation,
29:10we can get to the next step.
29:11You guys got nothing because Joe Biden has been acquitted.
29:15And this is just a pathetic, pathetic postgame
29:20of a exercise that yielded nothing.
29:24This is embarrassing.
29:25It's embarrassing and it's a waste of time.
29:27You have people sitting in here who are wearing shirts
29:30that say, moms demand action.
29:32Do you think moms are demanding impeachment?
29:34No.
29:36They want their kids to be safe in their classroom
29:38from gun violence.
29:39You actually sit on a committee that can do that.
29:42Man, come here and do something.
29:46You have a colleague right now
29:48who's trying to put the attorney general in handcuffs
29:51with this Anna Paulina lunacy
29:54because she can't accept that the former president
29:57was arrested and convicted.
30:00In her own district,
30:01she has some of the highest home ownership insurance rates
30:06in the country.
30:08Her state has a six week abortion ban.
30:12And this is the lunacy that she's coming here
30:15and focusing on?
30:17Guys, it's over.
30:19It's dead.
30:21It's rigor mortis.
30:23It's time to move on.
30:24I yield back.
30:26Gentlemen yields back.
30:28Votes have been called on the floor.
30:30We have a bunch of them too.
30:32I think like 20 votes.
30:33So the committee will be in recess
30:36while they're speeding up the time on that first vote.
30:39So we will go vote and then we'll come back
30:42and pick up where we left off.
30:44Committee stands in recess.