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 listening to regardless of quite a few vital challenges going through the nation which are below our jurisdiction,” Durbin stated, highlighting the latest 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 extra vital than the problems of grave concern, which I’ve talked about,” Durbin added.
He then went even additional, suggesting that if cognitive decline was actually the problem, Republicans needs to be taking a look at President Donald Trump.
“If we’re going to make a query of cognitive potential, I believe we must always contemplate what occurred in Alberta, Canada, simply this week,” Durbin stated earlier than enjoying a video montage of Trump rambling about hurricanes being “the wettest from the standpoint of water” and migrants “consuming the canines” and “consuming the cats.”
Welch didn’t dangle round both. Based on 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 Cowl-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Structure”—underscores how Republicans in Congress stay fixated on Biden’s closing 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 largely revolved round Biden’s use of an autopen and media protection of his psychological acuity throughout his closing months in workplace.
In the meantime, over within the Home, Oversight Chair James Comer is operating his personal investigation into Biden’s psychological state, lining up interviews with former senior White Home workers seeking something to again up the GOP’s claims. On prime of that, Trump’s Justice Division is reportedly weighing whether or not Biden was competent sufficient to subject pardons throughout his closing weeks of workplace, yet 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 disaster” and used the panel—and his social media feed—to push claims that Biden’s aides, and even Jill Biden, have been secretly operating the present. A part of his so-called proof included a Beltway guide co-written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, which alleges that Biden’s interior circle hid his declining skills.
“We have to know who was in cost over the past months of the Biden administration,” Cornyn stated.
It’s not exhausting to see what’s happening. Cornyn, who cochairs the committee, is locked in a high-stakes 2026 main struggle in opposition to Texas Lawyer Common 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 isn’t just a refusal to take part,” Schmitt stated. “It’s a refusal to serve the American individuals who deserve solutions about who was actually main their authorities.”
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 holding a drained narrative alive.
And like we’ve stated earlier than, they most likely received’t cease. As a result of at this level, it’s all they’ve acquired.
