Does Joe Biden deserve impeachment? Republicans launched their impeachment inquiry into the US president on Thursday, motivated by his son’s controversial affairs abroad but viewed by Democrats as completely baseless.
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Conservatives, who have held the majority in the House of Representatives since January, accuse the Democratic leader of lying to the American people about the businesses of his youngest son, Hunter Biden.
This investigation has almost no chance of success, but could become a headache for the White House ahead of the 2024 presidential election in which Joe Biden is running.
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“Abused his public functions”
During the first parliamentary hearing on the case, the chairman of the House investigative committee, James Comer, asserted that he had found “an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that President Biden abused his public offices to benefit his family financially to achieve.”
“For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge and involvement in his family’s corrupt dealings,” the Kentucky Republican said.
The investigation was immediately dismissed by Democrats.
“If Republicans had irrefutable evidence, they would present it today,” scoffed Jamie Raskin.
The Democrat-elect from Maryland accused his Republican colleagues of conducting this investigation solely under “pressure” from Donald Trump, who himself was twice impeached by Congress and who had called for this investigation against his successor.
No chance of success
Hunter Biden, a 53-year-old former businessman, has become a popular target of the American right.
Elected officials particularly criticize him for conducting questionable business dealings in Ukraine and China, exploiting his father’s name and networks, during Joe Biden’s tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president (2009-2017).
The U.S. Constitution provides that Congress may impeach the president for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The procedure takes place in two steps.
After completing its investigation, the House of Representatives votes by a simple majority on articles of impeachment detailing the facts alleged against the president: this is known in English as “impeachment.”
At this point, “I don’t believe the current evidence supports impeachment,” said one of the witnesses at Thursday’s hearing, George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley.
However, if there is a vote on impeachment, the Senate, the upper house of Congress, would put the president on trial. However, he would most likely be acquitted since Joe Biden’s party has the majority in that chamber.
Johnson, Clinton, Trump
The 80-year-old president has always publicly supported his son, who has a history of addiction problems, has also struggled with the law and been accused of illegally possessing a firearm.
“I get up every day (…) without focusing on impeachment. I have a job to do. “I have to deal with the issues that affect the American people every day,” he said in September.
Impeachment proceedings have been called for for months by the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party, with whom House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to make numerous compromises in January to gain access to office.
No president has ever been impeached in American history. Three were indicted: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021. But all were ultimately acquitted.
Richard Nixon chose to resign in 1974 to avoid certain impeachment by Congress due to the Watergate scandal.