Democratic Congressman Catches Fox News Lying About Democrats Wanting To Impeach Bush

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:42 pm

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Fox News Sunday tried to pull the both sides do it argument on the impeachment, but Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called out and corrected their lie.

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Transcript:

WALLACE: We have got less than a minute left and I want to bring in Congressman Jeffries. You know, back in 2008, some members of your party, Democrats filed bills to impeach George W. Bush for his conduct of the Iraq War. Is this any different than what Democrats did to President Bush?

JEFFRIES: Of course, it’s completely different. House Republicans are clearly taking us on a march towards impeachment, and whether …

WALLACE: But look, did Democrats take — Excuse me, sir, did Democrats take the House on a march towards impeachment in 2008?

JEFFRIES: Not at all, because then Speaker Nancy Pelosi clearly said impeachment is off the table. Congress has several other …

WALLACE: Basically that’s what John Boehner said this week too, sir.

JEFFRIES: John Boehner did not say that. He didn’t make an unequivocal statement. And to the extent that John Boehner has taken definitive positions before, such as — he won’t shut down the government, he moved forward and shut down the government for 16 days costing the American people $24 billion in lost economic productivity. So there’s no real credibility there. We’re not clear who actually is running the House of Representatives. Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas seems to have outside influence. That’s why we’re concerned. But, Chris, the focus really should be on doing what’s right for the American people, dealing with the talking points issue important to the middle class and those who are striving to be part of the middle class.

Rep. Jeffries was correct. During a 2006 news conference, Rep. Pelosi emphatically stated, “I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table.”

In contrast, Rep. Boehner has made vague references to impeaching President Obama. Earlier this year, Boehner said, “We’re just not going to sit here and let the President trample all over us. This idea that he’s just going to go it alone, I have to remind him we do have a constitution. And the Congress writes the laws, and the President’s job is to execute the laws faithfully. And if he tries to ignore this he’s going to run into a brick wall.”

The Democrat who championed impeaching Bush is current Fox News employee Dennis Kucinich. House Democratic leadership ruled out impeaching former President Bush in a way that Boehner and the House Republicans have never done. Speaker Boehner will only say that he doesn’t support impeachment. He refuses to use his power as the Speaker of the House to take impeachment off of the table.

Earlier in the same interview, Rep. Steve King said that House Republicans need to examine impeachment if President Obama acts on immigration. There is no comparison between the behavior of Democrats and Republicans. Rep. Jeffries caught Fox News red-handed and busted them for trying to create a false equivalency.

Both sides don’t do it. Democrats never used impeachment as a political tactic against Bush. The Fox News spin failed, and Democrats aren’t going allow Republicans to get a free pass on their Obama impeachment talk.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association