AOC says Republicans used ‘Russian intelligence’ to try to unseat Joe Biden as Stephen Colbert asks if GOP is spreading ‘propaganda’ from 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 “infected” the party.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert asked him if he agreed with Republicans’ damning assessment of their own party.

“I think if we trigger any House Oversight hearing in the last year, we’re going to see Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and all these people engaged in tremendously propagandistic rhetoric,” the New York Democrat told Stephen Colbert.

“We just went through an attempted impeachment of the president of the United States that began with a source that Republicans used who was in communication with Russian intelligence,” he continued.

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

Smirnov’s claims have played a major role in the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped trigger 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, although they acknowledged they could not confirm whether they were true.

“So here are not only the last members of the bench, but the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative James Comer, takes “evidence” and accounts for someone who was working with Russian intelligence and tried to impeach and remove the president of the United States. States about it. This is serious!’ Ocasio-Cortez continued.

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

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-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even heard spoken in the House.”

“To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it will become more difficult for us to see this as a battle of authoritarianism versus democracy,” he added.

Comer, meanwhile, responded to accusations that his impeachment inquiry is failing, insisting it has been “successful,” though he does not appear to be on track to hold a vote to impeach the president.

‘Is not true. And I think this investigation has been one of the most successful in the history of Congress,” he said Tuesday on Fox News.

Last month he suggested he would seek criminal referrals to the Justice Department rather than impeachment.

“I want to take responsibility,” the Kentucky Republican said on NewsMax. ‘What does true accountability look like? Does it look like Joe Biden is impeached in the House and then the Senate brings him up?

‘Or does it mean providing actual criminal references to the Department of Justice? I think it’s the second,” added Comer, president of the Supervisory Committee.

“We want to be held accountable and I think the best path to accountability is criminal referrals.”

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 House Republicans detained President Biden’s brother James and his son Hunter, along with Hunter’s former associates and thousands of pages of documents and records.