A group of House Republicans is making plans to impeach President Joe Biden if the GOP takes control of the chamber in November.
“I have consistently said President Biden should be impeached for intentionally opening our border and making Americans less safe,” argues Rep. Bob Good (R-VA). “Congress has a duty to hold the president accountable for this and any other failures of his Constitutional responsibilities, so a new Republican majority must be prepared to aggressively conduct oversight on day one.”
Republicans have already filed eight resolutions to impeach Biden for “high crimes” related to pandemic policies, illegal immigration, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and his son Hunter’s suspicious foreign business dealings.
In addition, pollsters expect several Trump-endorsed Republicans to win House seats in November.
The move to impeach Biden is reminiscent of 2019 when Democrats voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump for “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.” He was impeached a second time in January 2021, just a week before his term ended, for “incitement of insurrection” (he was acquitted both times).
Though the existing resolutions against Biden will soon expire, those who authored them are pushing to revisit the issue after an expected takeover of the House in November. As it was with the Democrats during Trump’s presidency, impeachment can easily become a distraction from far more important issues and can alienate moderate voters. Any move to impeach Biden will be viewed by many as an attempt to “get revenge” for Democrats’ treatment of Trump.
Even if Republicans are successful and Biden is removed from office, that would leave us with Kamala Harris as president and we would be even worse off than we are now.
Disgruntled Republican lawmakers have also filed articles of impeachment against Vice President Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Impeaching a high-ranking member of the Biden Administration rather than the president himself may be a smarter approach, especially if Republicans target Mayorkas and his failure to handle the crisis at the southern border.
After paying a visit to the border earlier this year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) described Mayorkas as “derelict” in his duties.
Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs (R), former head of the Freedom Caucus and endorser of multiple impeachment resolutions against Biden, accused Mayorkas and Garland of ‘intentionally making the country less safe, politicizing the DHS, and violating the rule of law – in some cases going so far as to instruct their subordinates to break the law.’
According to a recent poll conducted by University of Massachusetts Amherst, 68% of Republicans want Biden to be impeached if the GOP takes control of Congress in November and 53% are confident such an attempt would succeed.
Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.
Sources:
House conservatives prep plans to impeach Biden
Joe Biden Risks Impeachment if Democrats Lose Both House and Senate