Investigation-wary CPAC attendees urge House Republicans to avoid getting wrapped up in settling old political scores: 'Today's not the day to go back and cry about it'
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- Insider asked Conservative Political Action Conference attendees about House GOP investigations.
- Some conferees said Republicans should scrap their revenge plans and focus on real problems.
- "Don't just get bogged down with a bunch of investigations where nothing comes out," one warned.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — While excited that House Republicans have investigative power right now, some Conservative Political Action Conference attendees fear GOP leaders are only interested in seeking revenge.
"What happened to us in the last few years … we don't have to do back to the Democratic Party," Michael Yadeta from Silver Spring, Maryland told Insider, bemoaning the historic back-to-back impeachments of embattled former President Donald Trump as sore spots that shouldn't be forgotten but need to be set aside.
"Today's not the day to go back and cry about it," Yadeta said outside the main CPAC ballroom, ticking off more pressing priorities than needling Biden administration officials such as lowering gas prices and combating inflation. "All we need to do is find a way to make the life of individual Americans easier."
The call to focus on economic concerns rather than retribution or pet projects comes as House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan and House Oversight Committee chair James Comer took heat this week for failing to deliver promised bombshells from credible "whistleblowers" and complaining that federal prosecutors didn't indict President Joe Biden's deceased son, Beau, prior to his death, respectively.
Jordan and Comer have mapped out plans to spend the next two years digging into President Biden, his troubled youngest son, Hunter, and anything else that could help sway the 2024 elections their way.
House Republicans created a new "weaponization" panel designed to explore their "deep state" conspiracy theories, while other standing committees are jumping all over Trump-era grievances like the southern border to try and orchestrate viral moments.
CPAC attendees who told Insider they supported the House GOP's oversight crusade were all over the place in terms of their preferred targets.
Some lobbied for publicly releasing all the security camera footage from the January 6, 2021 siege at the US Capitol in the hopes that it will exonerate the jailed rioters. Others remain obsessed with Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, arguing that "we still need answers" about the 2020 contest. A few mentioned "getting to the bottom" of COVID-19.
One fed-up attendee could barely contain herself when Insider asked about her biggest beef.
"The corruption — overall!" the animated woman, who declined to give her name, said as she waved her arms all about to signify that the rot is everywhere.
Yadeta, who unsuccessfully ran in the 2022 GOP primary to challenge Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said he did so, at least in part, to protest the work Raskin put into serving as impeachment manager of Trump's second trial and later as a member of the January 6 select committee.
"I didn't send you to impeach the president," Yadeta said of his frustration, adding that Raskin should have tackled local issues like homelessness and job creation.
With that "waste of time" now in the rearview, Yadeta said both sides need to move on.
"We need to get together and love one another, no matter of political differences," he said.
CPAC attendee Chris, who declined to provide his last name, didn't sound like he'd reached that kumbaya level yet. But the Pennsylvania native advised GOP leaders to either put up or shut up.
"I hope we don't just get bogged down with a bunch of investigations where nothing comes out," he told Insider.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/NBc92md
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