The impeachment inquiry started with a bang on Thursday.
As I reported, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) lit up the room as he produced charts and messages, and asked a forensic accountant and a former assistant attorney general about those messages, blowing up the Democratic line that there was nothing here and "no evidence."
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) opened by saying she wasn't going to stand for any of the Democratic talk about a vote on impeachment inquiry when in the past, Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had argued there was no formal rule for how such an impeachment inquiry was to begin. "I don't want to hear another word," she said. "This is complete and total hypocrisy."
Warning: coarse language
Mace pointed to a 2017 deal with Chinese company CEFC, alleging the deal involved making millions "off of granting access to Joe Biden."
"Hunter even arranged for Joe Biden to share office space with the CCP-aligned company CEFC," she said.
We've reported on that here.
She then pointed out -- in very colorful terms -- how the claim that this all happened when Biden was no longer vice president wasn't true.
"My Democrat colleagues say none of this is relevant because Joe Biden wasn't vice president while his family did these shady deals," she said. "Turns out that's complete and total bulls---. It's a lie."
"Hunter Biden referred to access to his father as the keys to his family's only asset. Those words are going to come back and haunt Hunter Biden and his family forever," she said.
Mace laid out what Tony Bobulinski had told the Committee, including the CEFC was closing significant business deals in a variety of countries, including in Kazakhstan and the Middle East, and they were trying to use the Biden name and their connection to it to advance their interests. That connection -- and help from Jim Biden and Hunter Biden -- was going on when Joe was vice president.
Hunter and Jim didn't get compensation while Joe was VP, according to Bobulinski, because of the concern about CEFC connection to the Chinese government. But of course, they're Bidens; they still wanted the money. Then the Bidens made a million dollars shortly after Joe Biden left office. Mace termed that "back pay."
Mace also brought another text involving a meeting with the Chinese and Hunter's uncle's "BROTHER" (all in caps). "Hmm, I wonder who that could be," Mace mused. "I can't quite figure it out." That showed evidence of Joe's involvement.
"Betraying your country is treason," Maces finished explosively.