CNN’s Jake Tapper Corrects GOP Rep Who Compares Biden Impeachment To Trump’s — And Who Says Biden’s Is Not ‘Justified’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper corrected Rep. Ken Buck’s (R-CO) comparison of an effort to impeach President Joe Biden with ex-President Donald Trump’s impeachments — even as Buck was arguing there’s no justification for even launching an impeachment inquiry against Biden.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made headlines last month by saying his party’s investigation into the president and his family “is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.”
But so far things are going way too slow for Trump and his fans, as Republicans leading the investigations against Biden keep getting pushed into admitting they don’t have evidence against the president.
On Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Rep. Buck — a critic of the move to impeach Biden — told Tapper he believes the push is motivated by “revenge” for Trump’s impeachments, which he said demonstrated a lack of “respect” for the process.
But Tapper corrected him by pointing out key differences, and wrapped up by saying “I’m still not quite sure what crime Joe Biden is to have committed”:
JAKE TAPPER: Let’s turn to the Republican leadership, the House Republican leadership’s push to open an impeachment inquiry targeting President Biden. Last month, you notably called impeachment talk a shiny object to distract from budget negotiations. What are you hearing about the impeachment inquiry conversation in your discussions with other members of the House Republican Caucus and for that matter, from your constituents back home?
KEN BUCK: Yes. So I think the Speaker is intending to either bring a floor vote or it doesn’t appear that one is necessary by the Constitution. He may just order an impeachment inquiry to move forward. My constituents back here, really in all of Colorado are split on this issue, a lot of them.
And part of this, Jake, I think it’s fair to say it doesn’t justify having an impeachment inquiry or an impeachment of President Biden.
But part of this is based on the fact that President Trump was impeached twice and acquitted twice by the Senate. I think there is more of an appetite on the right now for impeachment because it really hasn’t been respected the way it was for the last 150, 200 years. So I think that my constituents back here, some of them want revenge, some of them want retribution, and others want to get over this, and they want to move on and solve the problems that we face in this country.
TAPPER: I mean, for the record, the second impeachment was after January 6th, and it was a bipartisan vote to impeach Donald Trump in the House and the Senate. Republicans in both the House and Senate voted against Donald Trump for that impeachment, so it might be observed that they’re not even equal in importance in that way.
BUCK: Well, I think that’s right. I think, you know, the first impeachment, one Democrat who is now changed to Republican Jeff Van Drew, voted not to impeach the president. And in the second impeachment, I think there were 10 or 11 Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump.
So, yes, but we’ll see what happens with this. Obviously, we’re not at the point where we’re ready to offer evidence of impeachment, but rather just to start an inquiry into whether impeachment is appropriate.
TAPPER: Yes, I’m still not quite sure what crime Joe Biden is to have committed.
Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.
