DThe US House of Representatives, controlled by the opposition Republicans, has started the process for a possible impeachment trial against President Joe Biden. Republican lawmakers Thursday voted to submit a resolution by far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert to the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. In it, they accuse Biden of “abuse of power” and “violation of official duties” in the dispute over border policy.
Republicans have accused the 80-year-old president of failing to control immigration, leading to the “complete and total invasion” of the country and the loss of control of the border with Mexico to “foreign criminal cartels.”
Biden’s Democratic Party members see the move as just an attempt to divert attention from former Republican President Donald Trump’s numerous legal woes. “You can’t make this stuff up,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The “extremism” of the Republicans remains clearly visible.
Two-thirds majority in Senate needed for impeachment
If the House of Representatives votes in plenary to impeach, it would lead to an impeachment trial in the US Senate. Its members could then remove the president from office with a two-thirds majority. Given the Democratic majority in the Senate, however, this is more than unlikely.
Impeachment proceedings were initiated twice against Trump during his time in the White House, first because of the so-called Ukraine affair and later because of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Both times, however, the right-wing populist was convicted by Republicans in the Senate preserved. Trump is one of only three presidents in US history to have faced a Senate impeachment trial.
Though Thursday’s decision in the House of Representatives was made along party lines, Republicans are far from unanimous. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s camp accused the party’s far-right of stepping out of line.
Boebert originally wanted to have the impeachment voted on directly without first sending the resolution to committees. McCarthy, however, whose party has a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, insisted that any action must go through the usual process.
