MSNBC host Jen Psaki mocked a Republican congressman who was stumped during a hearing when asked “What high crime and misdemeanor are you investigating” with the impeachment probe into President Joe Biden.

Republicans formalized their impeachment inquiry this week in a 221 to 212 vote — despite widespread acknowledgment by journalists (including Dan Abrams) and even other Republicans that there is “no evidence” of wrongdoing by President Biden.

On Sunday’s edition of MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki, Psaki asked Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) about his grilling of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) about the tough question of the hour — what crime specifically are you investigating?:

JEN PSAKI, MSNBC HOST: Every single House Republican voted this week to move forward with the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

So, Congressman Joe Neguse had a very simple question — sounded like one to me — for one of them. Let’s just say he did not get a very simple answer back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE NEGUSE (D-CO): What is the specific constitutional crime that you’re investigating?

REP. GUY RESCHENTHALER (R-PA): Well, we’re having an inquiry so we can do an investigation —

NEGUSE: OK.

RESCHENTHALER: — and compel the production of witnesses —

NEGUSE: And what’s the crime you’re investigating?

RESCHENTHALER: — and documents.

High crimes, misdemeanors, bribery.

NEGUSE: What high crime and misdemeanor are you investigating?

RESCHENTHALER: Look, I will — once I get time, I will explain what we’re looking at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: And Congressman Neguse joins me now.

Well, can I just say, watching that, which I watched a few times, it’s very cringey to watch that.

But I do want to ask you about that new poll I just mentioned because despite the fact that this is completely baseless, the poll shows that 70 percent of Republicans are in favor of impeachment proceedings.

As I want to ask you, does that concern you? And what do you — what fact do you think is not translating here to people, or what details not translating to people out there?

NEGUSE: Well, it’s good to be with you, Jen.

Certainly, that concerns me but I would say it’s more a reflection of the extremism that has metastasized within the Republican Party. And most of the empirical data that I’ve seen suggests that independent voters do not, at the end of the day, or rather are not, tuning into this farce of a process that —

PSAKI: Uh-huh.

NEGUSE: — Republicans have initiated against President Biden.

My sense is that most Americans care about kitchen table issues — economic growth, rising costs, building safer communities, all of which House Democrats have been singularly focused on with, of course, the leadership of President Biden.

So, no, I think as this process unfolds, you will find that more and more Americans will register their objections to it because they recognize what you stated at the outset, which is that Republicans have conceded, they are doing this for political purposes. I mean, they’re not — they’re unabashed about the fact that they are doing this as a political exercise to exact retribution against President Trump and — or excuse me, President Biden, on behalf of President Trump, and for no other reason. I think the American people get it.

PSAKI: Yeah, to your point, I mean, there’s such an overreach possibility here. I mean, we’ve seen — if you go back to the ‘90s when President Clinton was impeached, of course, that was also a different scenario. But there was — I mean, there had a political impact.

Do you think there’s potential for Democrats to kind of rally around the president and rally together against this overreach — politically?

NEGUSE: I certainly think — yeah, look, I do not think that this process is going to inure to the benefit of Republicans. But more important than that, Jen, is the reality that this is doing deep damage in my view to our republic. It’s a distortion of the impeachment clause in our Constitution.

You played that exchange from the Rules Committee, which was, of course, revealing and instructive. The fact that they can’t articulate a cogent basis for impeachment, the fact that they can’t point to any connection to the constitutional standard for impeachment, which, of course, as you know, is an exacting standard.

The last impeachment that we had, of course, was the impeachment of former President Trump for inciting a violent mob to disrupt the Electoral College proceedings on January 6th. That was a bipartisan impeachment. And so, the false equivalency that Republicans have attempted to create falls flat.

And again, I think the American people recognize that. It’s why when you look at empirical data, pulling data, it suggests that most Americans do not consider this to be a priority, and if anything, agree that it will be a waste of time. They’d like to see that Congress get back to doing the basic work of governing.

PSAKI: Yeah, the dangerous precedent piece is such an important point.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki.

The post ‘Very Cringey To Watch!’ Jen Psaki Mocks Republican Who Got Stumped At Impeachment Probe Hearing first appeared on Mediaite.

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