Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, got fact-checked on live TV during a press conference by an NBC reporter, and video of the exchange has gone viral on social media.
Presenting what he claimed was “evidence” of illegal activity by President Joe Biden, Smith began making all sorts of wild allegations, HuffPost reports.
“Smith … claimed the committee had “over 700 pages of examples where people should be very concerned.”
But NBC reporter Ryan Nobles was having none of the dog and pony show Smith was leading, and he immediately began peppering Smith with facts and questions that severely undercut the congressman’s claims.
The reporter wondered about the relevance of a WhatsApp message Hunter Biden allegedly sent in 2017, when Donald Trump was the U.S. president and Joe Biden hadn’t yet announced his 2020 presidential run.
“If he’s not the president or the vice president at that time, where’s the wrongdoing? He wasn’t even a candidate for president at that time,” Nobles asked.
Smith tried to counter: “He was a candidate.”
Actually, Biden didn’t announce his candidacy until 2019, which makes Smith a liar.
Rather than admit his mistake, Smith inquired of Nobles, “What source are you with?”
NBC, Nobles replied, to which Smith whined, “So, apparently you’ll never believe us.”
Nobles retorted:
“You presented a piece of evidence that you say came on August 6th, 2017, that demonstrates that Joe Biden was using political influence to help his son. But he wasn’t a political figure at that time. The first WhatsApp message you put up — how does that demonstrate that there was some sort of political influence being put over him if, at that time, he is not a political, not an elected official?”
Getting more exasperated by the second, Smith told Nobles he wasn’t about to “pinpoint one item.” But as Nobles reminded him, “You presented it! It was [the] first thing that you brought up.”
Perhaps sensing that he was only making matters worse, Smith turned away from Nobles and told the other reporters, “I’ll take the next question.”
U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) melts down as an NBC reporter questions GOP claims of DOJ political interference in favor of Joe Biden before he was president. pic.twitter.com/Afm75G5CDq
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) September 27, 2023
The so-called “impeachment inquiry” being conducted by House Republicans is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the fact that their leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump, stands accused of 91 criminal counts in four separate jurisdictions. And their actions are backfiring on them in humiliating fashion.
