AOC undermines GOP’s Biden impeachment with one simple question

The Independent

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez undermined the suitability of the Republican witnesses at the House Oversight Committee’s first hearing on the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Joe Biden with one simple question.  “In your testimony today, are you presenting any first-hand witness account of crimes committed by the president of the United States?” Ocasio-Cortez asked Jonathan Turley, the conservative legal scholar who the Republicans have called as a witness.  “No, I’m not,” he replied.  Ocasio-Cortez asked the same question to the two other Republican witnesses - Bruce Dubinsky and Eileen O’Connor - and received the same answer from both, immediately undermining their usefulness as witnesses in the case against Biden.

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00:00 Today the Republican majority has called in three witnesses to advance their case.

00:03 Mr. Turley, I have a simple question for you. In your testimony today, are you presenting

00:11 any first-hand witness account of crimes committed by the President of the United States?

00:16 Mr. Turley No, I'm not.

00:17 Ms. O'Connor No, you are not.

00:18 Ms. O'Connor, you are the second Republican witness here today. Have you, in your testimony,

00:24 presented any first-hand witness account of crimes committed by the President of the United States?

00:29 Mr. Turley I have not.

00:30 Ms. O'Connor Thank you. Now, Mr. Dubinsky,

00:32 as the third and final Republican witness in this hearing, have you, in your testimony,

00:38 presented any first-hand witness account of crimes committed by the President of the United States?

00:43 Mr. Dubinsky I have not.

00:44 Ms. O'Connor And Professor Gerhardt, given that you are

00:47 the minority witness, I assume the same, correct?

00:49 Mr. Gerhardt I am not a FAC witness, correct.

00:51 Ms. O'Connor Thank you. And to clarify,

00:54 two individuals presented today who do have first-hand accounts surrounding the progeny

01:00 of these allegations are being blocked from testifying by the Republican majority. And I

01:06 want to explain why this is important. Members of Congress, all of us in this hearing, are not

01:14 under oath, as we are presently covered by the Speech and Debate Clause. Isn't that correct,

01:19 Professor Gerhardt?

01:20 Mr. Gerhardt That is correct.

01:21 Ms. O'Connor And the Speech and Debate Clause covers all

01:24 statements by a member of Congress, whether they are factual or not. There are only four people in

01:30 this room that are presently under oath in their testimony, and those are the four witnesses here

01:36 today. Is that correct, Professor Gerhardt?

01:37 Mr. Gerhardt That is correct.

01:38 Ms. O'Connor And so the direct testimony

01:41 of the four individual witnesses here today are the bona fide words that this committee must use

01:51 in order to proceed or substantiate an investigation.

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