As we saw on Wednesday morning and evening, ABC News was almost foaming on Thursday’s Good Morning America with a half-dozen shrieks of “no evidence” over House Republicans voting to formally launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and allegations he was enriched by foreign business dealings involving his corrupt son Hunter (and brother Jim). At one point, they even implied it might not even be constitutional.
Co-host and former Clinton tool George Stephanopoulos huffed in a tease that the GOP has “present[ed] no evidence of wrongdoing by the President”. In a chyron for the actual segment, ABC even made sure to include the line “No Evidence of Wrongdoing.”
Stephanopoulos had the setup there as well, seeming to imply the entire exercise could be legally dubious: “To Capitol Hill now where House Republicans voted last night to approve a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden despite presenting no evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors, which is the constitutional standard for impeachment.”
With senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott busy advancing the cause of baby killing as “health care” and chief Biden apple polisher Mary Bruce covering for Team Biden on Israel, the task here fell to senior White House correspondent Selina Wang.
Wang clearly understood the assignment:
[T]here is still no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, but House Republicans say this is about strengthening their investigations while Democrats say this is a sham intended to help his Republican rival, Donald Trump. This morning, House Republicans are pushing ahead with an impeachment inquiry into President Biden despite finding no evidence of wrongdoing in nearly a year of investigations..
She made sure to keep Hunter’s life of ruin as esoteric as possible: “The inquiry is focused on allegations that the President abused his power to enrich his family and whether he made decisions while Vice President to boost his son Hunter’s businesses...[H]e has been under scrutiny by Republicans for his work with companies in Ukraine and China.”
Since it had been a few seconds, Wang again had to say the phrase: “So far, there’s no evidence of the President’s involvement.”
Wang did run soundbites from both Hunter Biden and two congressional Democrats plus three from Republicans (including two from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer).
Her conclusion about President Biden’s formal reaction showed how in sync ABC is with the left:
President Biden issued a scathing statement, saying House Republicans are focused on attacking him with lies instead of making American lives better. Now, some Democratic lawmakers tell me that that contrast could even help the President’s re-election chances in 2024.
As for CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today, they varied in degrees of defense, indifference, and surprising fairness.
CBS co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King made sure to do her part in a tease: “House Republicans open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, despite a lack of evidence in connection to his son Hunter.”
The show’s “Eye Opener” usually ends with a late-night comedy show clip, so they naturally selected CBS’s Late Show host Stephen Colbert mocking Republicans.
Congressional correspondent Nikole Killion had the only network mention that the regime (via inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre) admitted “President Biden was familiar with what his son was going to say before he showed up here at the Capitol.”
Like she did on Wednesday morning, she stayed away from the hijinks and framed both sides (though only at a surface-level).
In the “Eye Opener at 8,” King again doubled down: “Hunter Biden speaks on Capitol Hill before House Republicans vote to approve an impeachment inquiry into President Biden despite zero evidence of wrongdoing.”
NBC co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb were even more measured (click “expand”):
GUTHRIE [in tease]: Republicans making it official, escalating their investigation of the President.
KOTB [in tease]: Setting up a major election year showdown for the White House.
(....)
KOTB [in tease]: Battle lines drawn.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN [at dais] The resolution is adopted.
KOTB [in tease]: House Republicans formally authorize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
COMER: I think that sent off a message loud and clear to the White House.
KOTB [in tease]: The focus: Did the President benefit from his son Hunter’s business dealings? Democrats blasting the move as a baseless stunt.
CONGRESSMAN DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY) [on NBC News NOW’s Meet the Press NOW, 12/13/23]: The Republicans are doing this for political retribution at Donald Trump’s direction.
KOTB [in tease]: This morning, what happens next, what it all means for the President, and the race for the White House.
(....)
KOTB: But first, let’s move to our top story: that vote by Congress to launch an official impeachment inquiry into President Biden. It fell strictly along party lines. All 221 Republicans voting yes. All 212 Democrats voting no.
GUTHRIE: The focus of it all? Accusations the President profited during his time as Vice President from the business dealings of his son Hunter, something the White House and Hunter Biden have strongly denied. The vote came on the same day that Hunter Biden defied a subpoena to speak with lawmakers at a closed door hearing.
Senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake made sure to swing the pendulum back: “[T]his impeachment inquiry adds some new muscle to an investigation already been underway for more than a year, but has failed so far to connect President Biden to any wrongdoing.”
Haake also went the vague route in explaining what Hunter was up to, saying the GOP’s “probe focuses on...Hunter’s business dealings abroad...but, so far, they’ve been unable to demonstrate any concrete evidence that directly connects President Biden to any wrongdoing.”
At least Haake closed by noting Republican concerns about Hunter Biden’s line on how his father “wasn’t financially involved in his businesses, speculating that, perhaps, he was somehow involved in other ways”.
Haake came back in the second hour with one more mention of how the GOP “has so far failed to connect President Biden to any wrongdoing.”
To see the relevant transcripts from December 14, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
