AOC says Republicans used ‘Russian intelligence’ to oust Joe Biden, while Stephen Colbert asks her if the Republican Party is spreading ‘propaganda’ from the Kremlin

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry took evidence from “Russian intelligence” after two Republican House members said Russian propaganda had “tainted” the party.

Late night host Stephen Colbert asked her if she agreed with Republicans’ scathing assessment of their own party.

“I think if you go to any House Oversight hearing in the last year, you’ll see Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and all these people engaging in wildly propagandistic rhetoric,” the New York Democrat told Stephen Colbert.

“We just completed an impeachment effort against the President of the United States, which was initiated by a source that the Republicans used and who was in communication with Russian intelligence,” she continued.

Late night host Stephen Colbert asked her if she agreed with Republicans’ scathing assessment of their own party

Informant Alexander Smirnov is accused of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.

Smirnov’s claims have played a major role in Republican efforts in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spur what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden.

Republicans investigating the Bidens demanded that the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they could not confirm whether they were true.

“So you not only have the bottom bench here, you have the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative James Comer, taking ‘evidence’ and accountability from someone who worked with Russian intelligence and tried to depose the President of the United States.” to turn on and off. States about it. This is serious!’ Ocasio-Cortez went further.

Over the weekend, Intel Chairman Mike Turner backed State Department Chairman Michael McCaul’s claim that Russian propaganda has “infected” Republicans.

Informant Alexander Smirnov is accused of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015.

It’s absolutely true,” Turner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We see attempts coming directly from Russia to mask communications that are anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian messages, some of which we even hear in the House of Representatives.”

“To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it becomes harder for us to really see this as a battle between authoritarians and democracy,” he added.

Meanwhile, Comer pushed back on accusations that his impeachment inquiry is “winding down,” insisting it has been “successful” although it does not appear to be on track for a vote to impeach the president.

‘It’s not true. And I think this investigation has been one of the most successful congressional investigations in history,” he told Fox News on Tuesday.

Last month, he suggested he would pursue criminal referrals to the Justice Department instead of impeachment.

“I want accountability,” the Kentucky Republican said on NewsMax. ‘What does real responsibility look like? Does it look like Joe Biden will be impeached in the House of Representatives and then the Senate will table it?”

‘Or does this mean that there should be real criminal referrals to the Ministry of Justice? I think the latter,” added Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee.

“We want accountability and I believe the best path to accountability is to refer criminals.”

A criminal referral would largely amount to a symbolic letter suggesting to the Justice Department that prosecutors investigate specific crimes they believe have been committed.

The path forward for the impeachment inquiry is murky after Republicans in the House of Representatives brought in President Biden’s brother James and son Hunter, along with Hunter’s former associates and thousands of pages of records and documents.