A torrent of litigation will follow the announcement that impeachment inquiry directed at President Biden has begun.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has announced that the House of Representatives will begin conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Mr. McCarthy, who has been under pressure to start impeachment proceedings since he became speaker, said President Biden lied about his knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings.
“Eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners, resulting in cars and millions of dollars into his son’s and his son’s business partners’ [accounts],” McCarthy said during a Sept. 12 press conference.
“We know that bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members, and associates, through various shell companies. The Treasury Department alone had more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by U.S. banks.”
“Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family. Biden used his official office to coordinate the Hunter Biden business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company.”
Impeachment is provided for in the U.S. Constitution. Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution states: “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
An impeachment is akin to an indictment in a criminal proceeding. The charges, known as articles of impeachment, are a series of accusations that must be proven in the Senate, which tries the president as a court of impeachment. Articles of impeachment need only be approved by a simple majority of the House of Representatives before they move to the Senate.
When a president is on trial, the chief justice of the United States—in this case, Chief Justice John Roberts—presides over the proceeding. Senators are sworn in, and a two-thirds vote is required for a conviction, which would be followed by removal from office.
Presidents have been impeached before, but no president has ever been convicted by the Senate and removed from office.
