Senate Democrats staged a near-total boycott Wednesday of a GOP-led listening to into former President Joe Biden’s psychological health and the alleged “cover-up” surrounding it—an evidence-free campaign Republicans refuse to let go of.
Solely two Democrats confirmed up initially: Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont. Durbin, the Judiciary Committee’s rating member, didn’t keep lengthy. He used his opening remarks to torch the listening to as a sideshow, then walked out.
“The Republican majority on this committee has not held a single oversight hearing despite numerous critical challenges facing the nation that are under our jurisdiction,” Durbin stated, highlighting the current assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and the handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla throughout a Division of Homeland Safety press occasion—points he stated deserve actual consideration. Padilla, a California Democrat, additionally serves on the Judiciary Committee.
“Apparently, armchair diagnosing former President Biden is more important than the issues of grave concern, which I have mentioned,” Durbin added.
He then went even additional, suggesting that if cognitive decline was actually the problem, Republicans must be taking a look at President Donald Trump.
“If we’re going to make a question of cognitive ability, I think we should consider what happened in Alberta, Canada, just this week,” Durbin stated earlier than taking part in a video montage of Trump rambling about hurricanes being “the wettest from the standpoint of water” and migrants “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats.”
Welch didn’t dangle round both. In accordance with Politico, he exited quickly after denouncing the proceedings as a waste of time that had nothing to do together with his constituents.
The listening to—absurdly titled “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution”—underscores how Republicans in Congress stay fixated on Biden’s remaining months in workplace, despite the fact that he’s largely stepped out of public life. It featured three GOP witnesses, together with former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer and former administration official Theodore Wold. Their testimony principally revolved round Biden’s use of an autopen and media protection of his psychological acuity throughout his remaining months in workplace.
In the meantime, over within the Home, Oversight Chair James Comer is working his personal investigation into Biden’s psychological state, lining up interviews with former senior White Home workers in the hunt for something to again up the GOP’s claims. On high of that, Trump’s Justice Division is reportedly weighing whether or not Biden was competent sufficient to challenge pardons throughout his remaining weeks of workplace, one more autopen-related conspiracy.
Nonetheless, Republicans handled Wednesday’s Senate listening to like Watergate 2.0.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas declared the state of affairs a “constitutional crisis” and used the panel—and his social media feed—to push claims that Biden’s aides, and even Jill Biden, had been secretly working the present. A part of his so-called proof included a Beltway e book co-written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, which alleges that Biden’s inside circle hid his declining skills.
“We need to know who was in charge during the last months of the Biden administration,” Cornyn stated.
It’s not arduous to see what’s occurring. Cornyn, who cochairs the committee, is locked in a high-stakes 2026 major battle in opposition to Texas Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton—and making an attempt to out-MAGA his opponent.
His cochair, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, echoed the speaking factors and blasted Democrats for strolling out.
“This de facto boycott is not just a refusal to participate,” Schmitt stated. “It’s a refusal to serve the American people who deserve answers about who was truly leading their government.”
However Democrats are proper to name this what it’s: a farce. Biden is not in workplace. The GOP’s obsession together with his psychological health isn’t about oversight—it’s about retaining a drained narrative alive.
And like we’ve stated earlier than, they most likely gained’t cease. As a result of at this level, it’s all they’ve received.
