Almost a year before the 2024 presidential election, the political climate in the USA is heating up again like never before. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, announced today that he has ordered the formal opening of impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden. The allegations that are at the heart of the proceedings and have not yet been proven concern the Democratic president’s alleged complicity in his son Hunter’s suspicious business dealings abroad. The move announced by McCarthy sets off a new head-to-head clash between the two parties that share leadership in America, less than three years after the attack on the Capitol led by pro-Trump right-wing militants and the second impeachment vote put to the vote (unsuccessfully) a few days before Congress against the (then) outgoing President. In an attempt to preemptively tarnish the next election campaign, Republicans are trying to show the electorate that Biden’s ethical stance is in no way superior to that of the previous and likely future nominee. “He lied to the American people about his family’s foreign affairs,” McCarthy attacked head-on today, adding venomously that “the presidency is not for sale” and citing Biden’s alleged possible crimes, from abuse of power to obstruction Presidency justice to corruption.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy announces the opening of the investigation against Biden (Ansa – EPA/SHAWN THEW)
The White House response and counting the numbers
Biden’s reaction was not long in coming. The request to impeach the president is “political extremism at its worst,” a White House spokesman said, recalling that “House Republicans have investigated the president for nine months and have found no evidence of wrongdoing.” Hunter Biden, the president’s controversial son, has been under investigation for various crimes for years: tax evasion, illegal lobbying abroad, money laundering, and illegal possession of weapons. On this latest charge in particular, the 53-year-old is expected to be arraigned by the end of this month after an attempt to reach a plea deal failed. But the involvement of Biden Sr. Everything remains to be proven when it comes to the son’s past conspiracies, and at the moment there don’t seem to be enough members in Congress to really subject the president to the most severe of all legal-political punishments, impeachment to be able to condemn. It would take 218 votes, but several Republicans appear unwilling to follow the extremist path taken by McCarthy in a pure Trump style.
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