Just over a month ago, this July, I asked House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, “Is impeachment now just the way of Washington?”
“If it is, it's because the Democrats impeached Donald Trump twice, and I blame this impeachment craze on the Democrats,” Comer replied, before adding. “So, we're in this situation—talking about impeachment—because the Democrats abused their impeachment power.”
Audio attached. Rough transcript below of Rep. James Comer (R-KY) at the US Capitol on July 20, 2023. Slightly edited for clarity.
Matt Laslo: “How does your party, on impeachments, avoid becoming the party that cried wolf? Because one of your members on Oversight [Committee] had ‘Impeachment Week’—that where every day she announced another member of the cabinet…”
James Comer: "Look, we've got a lot of members that want to impeach, and we've got some members that would probably rather not go down that route for the simple reason that they don't think the Senate’s going to do anything and it gobbles up valuable floor time.
"But, look, [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy’s gonna make that call. I think, you see that in recent days he's taken steps to move forward with impeachment on both [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas and [Attorney General] Merrick Garland. And I think they're waiting to see what more evidence we come up with in the Oversight Committee with respects to Biden."
Laslo: “Is impeachment now just the way of Washington?”
Comer: “Well, you know—if it is, it's because the Democrats impeached Donald Trump twice, and I blame this impeachment craze on the Democrats. And, I think, a lot of Republican voters are like, ‘you know, they impeached Trump twice, we should impeach Biden.’ And, again, that's irresponsibility on the Democrats' part. I think that Biden's committed a lot more suspicious activity than Donald Trump ever did. So, we're in this situation—talking about impeachment—because the Democrats abused their impeachment power.”
Laslo: “What about the idea of trying to make Congress better? And not being the lowest common denominator and doing what they did?”
Comer: “We represent the people and there are a lot of people out there that want impeachment.”
Laslo: “Yup. Preciate ya sir!”
NOTE: My wire service, The LCB, sold exclusive first publication rights of this interview to Raw Story, which published it on the day of the interview, July 20, 2023.
ME: Congressional reporter since 2006 for many outlets, but Lights, Cameras, Memes! is more WIRED magazine contributor me.
Since 2016, I’ve lectured on new media’s impact on government at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). I’ve also been an op-ed contributor with Reuters, the Guardian, NBC Think and On Tap (craft beer). @MattLaslo on most social media.
Oversight Chair Comer: "we're in this situation ... because the Democrats abused their impeachment power”