Legal analyst Jonathan Turley fired back at Democrats who attempted to smear his character during the first day of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in his son, Hunter’s shady foreign business dealings. During the proceedings, some Democratic lawmakers chose to engage in vicious attacks on Turley instead of making substantive arguments against the inquiry.

Turley penned an op-ed in which he criticized Democrats for using ad hominem attacks against him instead of discussing the impeachment inquiry. He noted that during his testimony, he “laid out the constitutional and historical baseline for impeachment inquiries” and noted that while he did not believe “that the current evidence would support an actual article of impeachment,” he contended that “the evidence clearly satisfied the threshold for an impeachment inquiry.”

Democrats on social media deceptively edited a video clip of Turley’s comments to make it seem as if he argued that Biden should not be impeached. He then brought up Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), who tried to make it seem as if Turley supported pedophiles and polygamists.

However, Krishnamoorthi did not challenge my analysis. He attacked me personally. In a truly bizarre moment, Krishnamoorthi denounced me as a defender of a criminal child molester and polygamist.

Krishnamoorthi waved around a copy of a 2006 op-ed in The Guardian and an op-ed in USA Today to paint me as a supporter of Tom Green, a polygamist who was convicted of child rape.

It was untrue and I attempted to respond, but Krishnamoorthi refused. He then quickly left the hearing.

However, later in the proceedings, Turley was given an opportunity to respond to Krishnamoorthi’s attack. He explains further in the article:

In 2006, I was representing the “Sister Wives” family—first in a criminal investigation into polygamy and then in an action challenging the underlying statute. I have spent my entire career opposing “morality legislation” criminalizing consensual relations between adults. For decades, I opposed the criminalization of homosexuality and supported same-sex marriage. As someone with libertarian views, I oppose society mandating moral codes to be imposed on individuals. These laws have often targeted religious and social minorities, including members of the LGBT community.

We prevailed in the Sister Wives lawsuit and the law was found unconstitutional. (The decision was later set aside on appeal on technical grounds.)

Turley also noted that he “did not defend polygamy as a practice” and recalled saying “I detest polygamy.” He also reiterated his contention that Green was “properly prosecuted for a child sex crime—just as a person in a monogamous marriage would be prosecuted.”

It was strange to have a liberal Democrat attack me for such work, but Krishnamoorthi clearly knew all of this when he started waving around the “evidence” that I was a pedophilic fellow traveler.

Former Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI) used the same smears and bullying tactics. Back then, he was waving around lists of names of people who were to be blacklisted and condemned for holding opposing views.

I previously wrote how Democrats are increasingly adopting the tactics once used against the left during the Red Scare, including the use of blacklists and personal attacks to silence critics. Journalists, FBI agents, prosecutors, and whistleblowers have all been subject to these same ad hominem attacks.

What happened between Krishnamoorthi and Turley is not limited to the impeachment inquiry. Indeed, folks on the left have sought to employ personal attacks and blatant lies about their opposition to discredit them. In this case, the lawmaker’s motive seems clear: Democrats do not have valid arguments against the inquiry, so they are resorting to deflection and ad hominem attacks instead of discussing the issue head-on.

Nevertheless, despite Democrats’ protestations, the impeachment inquiry is happening. As Turley indicated, House Republicans likely do not have enough evidence to warrant impeachment proceedings, but they have more than enough to investigate the president. Chances are, they will find enough evidence of wrongdoing on Biden’s part to push through to the next phase: Actual impeachment hearings. To put it simply, it is probably a matter of when, not if, when it comes to impeaching their president.