If the far right wing of the Republicans had their way, the impeachment against Joe Biden would have already begun. The party accuses the US President of being involved in the business of his son Hunter. Now the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is bowing to this faction. Today he is instructing the committees to “open formal impeachment proceedings against Biden,” McCarthy reported on Tuesday.
Allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption warrant this investigation, McCarthy said. The investigation should focus on the question of the extent to which Biden senior benefited from or may have supported Biden junior’s deals in Ukraine and China. There is no evidence of this, but McCarthy’s move makes the agitated mood in Washington even more hostile. Although it is unclear how McCarthy would get the necessary 218 of the 435 votes in the House of Representatives.
What are the Republicans accusing Joe Biden of?
The Biden family has been a favorite topic of the Republican opposition, which makes up the majority in the House of Representatives and the minority in the Senate, for months. Many of their lawmakers accuse the Democrat of helping his son make a lot of money at a Chinese investment firm and a Ukrainian gas producer, although none of this has been proven. They prefer to refer to the apparently vague contents of a laptop that the younger Biden is said to have left with a computer technician in Wilmington, Delaware.
In fact, Hunter Biden is under indictment, but for different reasons. A public prosecutor’s office accuses him of tax evasion and an illegally declared arms purchase. The buyer, who was suffering from personal problems at the time, disposed of the pistol shortly after purchasing it and paid the taxes and fine. An attempt to reach an agreement with prosecutors on a suspended sentence was stopped by a judge.
Especially for supporters of Donald Trump, the entire Biden case is, so to speak, the counterweight to the various Trump cases, which, however, seem much more concrete; the former president and current candidate has now been indicted four times. This is not least about his alleged contribution to the storming of the Capitol and the call for election fraud in the state of Georgia. As things currently stand, Biden and Trump will meet in November 2024 like four years before, and the duel is now reaching a new high point.
McCarthy needs support in negotiations with the government
For McCarthy, the announcement means a change in strategy that is probably not entirely voluntary. Until now, the speaker was of the opinion that the entire Congress would have to decide on possible impeachment. That’s actually common. At the same time, McCarthy knew that, apart from the Democrats, even moderate Republicans were temporarily opposed to impeachment proceedings. They believe investigators must first prove that Hunter Biden’s well-paid jobs at these foreign companies were linked to his father and that laws were violated. Nevertheless, McCarthy is now trying it this way.
The twist has to do with the fact that the speaker in the House of Representatives has to fear for his job. In January, McCarthy only had the necessary votes after numerous rounds. Since then, radical colleagues like Matt Gaetz have been pushing him ahead of him and making him feel that he could be dethroned at any time. McCarthy currently needs support in his negotiations with the Biden administration so that their commitments can continue to be financed and the capital city avoids a shutdown. On the other side of his party, he would have to convince moderate Republicans to actually push through an impeachment against Biden.