Following an unusually unproductive and chaotic session in 2023 — and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this month without a shred of evidence that he committed a high crime or misdemeanor — the Republican-led House took a vacation. During the two-week recess, GOP leaders doubled down on another baseless, pointless, partisan witch hunt and made no visible progress on averting a government shutdown, securing the U.S. border with Mexico or providing military assistance to Ukraine.

While they were away, Special Counsel David Weiss, who was originally appointed by President Trump, indicted Alexander Smirnov for lying to FBI investigators that in 2015 and 2016 the Ukrainian corporation Burisma paid Joe Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million apiece to protect it “through his dad [then Vice President] from all kinds of problems.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Cal.) cited this allegation by “a trusted FBI informant” to justify launching an impeachment probe against President Biden in September. This “highly credible confidential human source,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), provided “the most corroborating evidence we have.” Fox News cited it in stories about “the Biden crime family” more than 2,600 times; Sean Hannity touted the claim on 85 segments of his........

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