Hearings like the one with former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday have forced the leaders of those political groups involved to respond, and make official statements of how they view the situation as President Trump did on Friday. As Blasting News reported, the President answered to the charge that James Comey had tried make him drop his investigation on Gen. Flynn and also defended himself against Comey's claim that the President was asking him for his pledge of loyalty.
Paul Ryan downplays Trump's obstruction of justice
Needless to say, President Trump denied everything that Comey said and called him a liar.
House Speaker Paul Ryan also defended Trump after the hearing, saying on behalf of House Republicans -- and likely all Republicans -- that the President was inexperienced and didn't know what he was doing. Clearly, much of the view around this is that it was the GOP leadership giving Donald Trump another free pass. At the very least, Ryan downplayed Comey's view that the President was trying to force him to be loyal and to no longer pursue the investigation on Flynn.
Republican calls Speaker Ryan a liar
Pundits and satirists did what they do best and mocked Paul Ryan for his response. But former Republican congressman for South Carolina Bob Inglis called Paul Ryan a liar on Twitter for something else he said.
During Paul Ryan's press briefing after the Comey hearing, the House Speaker said that they would not call for the impeachment of a Democratic president if they were faced with the same charges as President Trump. It should be noted that Inglis was on the committee that handled the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
Even the conservative blog the Hill felt that what the House Speaker said was worthy enough for them to publish, which suggests that the hypothetical outcome of the GOP not wanting to impeach a Democratic president would be unexpected.
Bob Inglis also tweeted that Ryan should not obstruct justice, and yet, at the same time he appeared to contribute to the line of support for Trump, saying that now was not the time to call off the impeachment of President Trump.
GOP were ready to block SCOTUS nominee
During the 2016 presidential race, Paul Ryan was in a similar situation as he is now with defending Trump every time he would make incendiary statements or do things that would test the resolve of the Republican Party.
In many of those cases, Ryan would say that despite it all Hillary Clinton was still not the option.
Most Republican supporters have said that Hillary Clinton would be worse. As Election Day neared and many Republicans thought that Clinton would win the election, they also made gestures to suggest that they would make Clinton's presidency difficult. For instance, the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice had already been an issue under the Obama administration, with Republicans refusing to hold any hearings for Obama's pick within hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died at the beginning of 2016.
Even when Obama selected Merrick Garland, Republicans still refused and said that they would wait until the next president.
However, as it appeared that Hillary Clinton would win, Republicans were already positioning themselves to prevent Clinton from putting in her court justice. The Atlantic reported in an article titled: "More Republicans are vowing to block Clinton's Supreme Court nominee if she wins," just days before Election Day that Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) were going to make sure the opening remained for at least another four years, clearly showing that they would hold a hearing for a Republican president but deny one from a Democrat.
GOP was ready to impeach Madame President Clinton
There is also no doubt that Republicans would have wanted to impeach President Hillary Clinton from day one.
Already, as they had continued to make an issue of the Benghazi terror attack and her private email server against her, Republicans would have used those issues as impeachable offenses. Proof of this is when conservatives rejected the final determination by the FBI which said they would not file charges against Clinton and would close their investigation on her. Despite this, conservatives have continued to bang the drum against her. More proof of this is when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attempted to "grill" James Comey during his hearing on Thursday over why he had closed the investigation on Clinton. Here is that clip of the hearing.
Last year, Politico reported that within days of Election Day in an article titled: "McCaul: If elected, Hillary Clinton could be impeached" that Rep.
Mike McCaul (R-TX) said they would start impeachment immediately should she win the election. McCaul said directly that the House of Representatives (of which Paul Ryan is speaker) would begin impeachment proceedings, then move the process forward to the Senate and have her removed. But now that Clinton is no longer a "threat" to the GOP, they have practically dropped their assault on her for the time being. This is the press briefing where Paul Ryan was asked the question, which starts at 8:35.
