(Washington) Republicans in Congress took a cautious first step Thursday toward opening a potential impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, called for by a handful of Trumpists.
These elected officials accuse the Democratic leader of being responsible for an “invasion” on the border between the United States and Mexico because of his immigration policy.
The US Constitution provides that Congress can impeach the president for “treason, bribery, or other major crimes and misdemeanors”.
President Biden has “endangered the security of the United States and the health of the American people”, argues the elected Lauren Boebert in the articles of indictment that she defends. The Colorado Republican believes that the White House tenant deserves to be removed from office for this reason.
However, a formal impeachment procedure remains very hypothetical to date, for lack of political support.
The rest of the Republican opposition refuses at this stage to venture into this terrain, for fear of transforming the procedure into a purely partisan exercise.
Rather than deciding directly on impeachment proceedings, Republicans in the House on Thursday opted to go through a vote in committee first – putting the brakes on the Trumpists’ initiative.
Democrats have rallied against the impeachment inquiry.
Never has a president 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 eventually acquitted.
Richard Nixon preferred to resign in 1974 to avoid certain impeachment by Congress due to the Watergate scandal.