Republicans in Congress took a first step on Thursday to open a possible investigation leading to an impeachment trial against President Joe Biden, called by a handful of Trumpists.
The legislators hold the Democratic leader 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 with “treason, corruption, or other serious crimes and misdemeanors.”
Biden has “endangered the security of the United States and the health of the American people,” argues Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in the impeachment articles, who considers it a sufficient reason to remove him.
However, a formal impeachment trial remains highly hypothetical thus far due to a lack of political support.
The rest of the Republican opposition refuses to enter that terrain, fearing that the procedure will become a purely partisan exercise.
Rather than vote directly on impeachment proceedings, House Republicans preferred to have a preliminary vote in committee on Thursday, stalling the Trumpists’ initiative.
Democrats are against the impeachment inquiry.
Never in the history of the United States has a president been impeached. Three were subjected to the impeachment trial: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021. Although in the end all were acquitted.
To avoid a similar procedure in Congress, Richard Nixon preferred to resign in 1974 after the Watergate scandal broke.