US Republicans continue investigation into Biden’s impeachment. Why the Houthis are attacking ships in the Red Sea and what that means for the world

Republicans in the US House of Representatives are continuing the investigation into a possible impeachment of US President Joe Biden and making the investigation official. The House voted on Wednesday (local time) with the majority of Republicans to continue the investigation and ‘formalize’ it. It’s a technical move that Republicans hope will give them more legal leverage in their investigations. This does not open impeachment proceedings against the president. “Instead of doing anything to improve the lives of Americans, they are focused on attacking me with lies,” Biden said in response to the vote.

So far there is no clear evidence

Some Republicans accuse Biden, a Democrat, of abusing his public office for his family’s financial gain. However, they have not yet provided clear evidence of serious misconduct. Biden rejects the accusations. The president accused Republicans on Wednesday of inaction on key issues, such as approving more aid to Ukraine. Instead, they are ‘wasting’ their time on a ‘political stunt’.

The House of Representatives voted 221 to 212 to formally open the investigation. Democrats voted unanimously against it. The Republican chairman of the House of Congress, Kevin McCarthy, who has since been fired, launched the investigation in September. But he shied away from a vote on it in the parliamentary chamber. His concern was that some more moderate Republicans would vote against the proposal. That hasn’t happened now.

Voting must create a legal basis

Republicans who conducted the investigation argued last week that they did not have the necessary legal basis for subpoenas or document requests. The White House had handed over documents. However, according to Republicans, these are not enough. The new Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, gave in to the right wing of his party in the vote. He insisted that the investigation be made official. The current mood ensures that the investigation will continue throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign.

The question is whether the investigation will actually lead to impeachment proceedings. Because this first requires a majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans have a slim majority there, but several more moderate Republicans have recently criticized the project. They could then shy away from actually starting a procedure. Even if it were successful in the House of Representatives, the other chamber of Congress, the Senate, would have to decide whether to impeach the president. Biden’s Democrats have a slim majority there. The possibility that the president will ultimately be found guilty and removed from office has so far been ruled out.

Biden’s son Hunter in the picture

Many Republicans repeatedly link the president to the affairs of his son Hunter Biden. On Wednesday morning (local time), Hunter Biden, who is accused of possible tax crimes, among other things, appeared before the US Congress and offered to testify against his father during a public hearing on the impeachment inquiry. Republicans had called him to testify behind closed doors. However, he refused this for strategic reasons. “Let me be as clear as possible that my father had no financial involvement in my company,” Hunter Biden emphasized.

Former US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on his party colleagues in the past to initiate impeachment proceedings against Biden. During Trump’s term in office, Democrats in Congress initiated two impeachment proceedings against him. The Republican was the first president in American history to face two such impeachment proceedings in the Senate – one over allegations of abuse of power, the other over the violent storming of the US Capitol by his supporters. In both cases he was acquitted by the Senate, where his party was still in charge at the time.

The election campaign for the next presidential elections is now underway, in which Biden and Trump want to become candidates for their parties. Trump is facing four criminal charges in the middle of the election campaign; two of them are related to his efforts to retroactively overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. (sda/dpa)