September 12, 2023
That was House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announcing this morning that he is authorizing a formal Biden impeachment inquiry because of his alleged improper participation with his family’s business dealings.
Now – there’s a lot to unpack in what he said. So this video is going to explain the difference between an impeachment inquiry and an impeachment and will tell you what is going to happen next.
First – this is an impeachment inquiry. That is very different than an impeachment. You’ll probably remember those from former President Trump’s two impeachments in the House a few years ago. Just to be clear – an impeachment is a political process authorized by Article II of the constitution that can result in the removal of any civil officer including a president for a conviction of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach a federal official. But only the Senate, after a trial can convict and remove a federal officer.
Now before the House can even get to a vote on impeachment, there *can be an inquiry. Which is exactly what’s happening now. An impeachment inquiry is basically an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. So what are the allegations in Biden’s case? Here’s the Speaker.
His wording is so important. The very first thing he said is “these are allegations.” By definition – an allegation is a claim that someone has done something illegal, typically made without any proof. To secure an impeachment you have to have proof. So this impeachment inquiry is meant to pull the threads of those allegations to see if house republicans can come up with evidence or proof they need to support these allegations about the president.
Now – once an inquiry is open – they can go on for as long as they need to. Days, months a year – sure. The house speaker said the inquiry will be led by the leaders of the House oversight, judiciary and ways and means committees. And normally, once an inquiry is open, eventually – an impeachment vote will follow.
But that’s where Speaker McCarthy has an issue. The votes.
For months when McCarthy was asked about whether he would open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden he said – he believed he needed to put it full House vote. And as you know the Republican majority is so slim in the House that McCarthy didn’t have those votes to open this inquiry – so today instead of taking the vote he just order it open.
White House officials responded by saying “House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn’t have support. Extreme politics at its worst.”
Watch Speaker McCarthy’s full announcement of the Biden Impeachment Inquiry here.
