The purpose was to obtain bank records and other documents from the president and his son Hunter Biden
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy ordered the initiation of an investigation to determine whether the president, Joe Biden profited from his son’s business hunter. McCarthy justified his decision by alleging that there were “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” in the activities of Hunter Biden, who may be charged in Justice later this month for not paying taxes and have a firearm without a license.
A final impeachment of Biden It does not cost the president his job., but it would save McCarthy’s job. The House president is under intense pressure from the far right wing of his party, whose opposition to Biden is outspoken. If McCarthy doesn’t even open an investigation against the president, it’s very likely that this faction will be forced to impeach him and the House of Representatives will once again fall into disarray, as happened in January when McCarthy needed 15 votes to take office. due, precisely, to the opposition of the ultras of his own party. Not since 1860 – on the eve of the American Civil War to abolish slavery – has it taken so many votes to confirm a House leader.
As a result, McCarthy took the unusual decision to order an investigation into Biden without first submitting it to a vote of the entire House. This is because the central Republican sector against impeachment, claiming that there are no reasons to do so. The investigation will be conducted by three committees, all of them controlled by members of the Freedom Caucus, the far-right wing of the Republican Party.
If the House eventually launches an impeachment process, it’s unclear if it will proceed. First, because the Republican majority is so thin – just five seats in a chamber that currently has 434 – and it’s possible that some congressmen from that party will vote against it. If impeachment is approved, it will go to the Senate, where Biden’s removal is debated. The probability of that happening is zero. On the one hand, the Democrats have a majority in the Senate and, on the other, many prominent senators – including the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell– they are against impeachment.
Impeachment, thus, is a movement of the most conservative wing of republicanism, which will mobilize the party’s bases but the Democrats could also do it before the 2024 election, which is what moderate Republicans and members of the Senate of that party want to avoid.
In the decision to open the investigation, McCarthy also showed that he was not in a position of strength to stop his party colleagues on his right. Until this week, the Republican leader insisted that he would only take such a step if the full House approved it. Now, in his resignation, McCarthy made it clear that that minority of lawmakers, representing roughly one-third to one-half of the Republican caucus, has effective control of the party.
But McCarthy also pursued another goal: to ensure that, in exchange for the promise of impeachment, Republicans have raised their opposition to approving new budget provisions that must pass the House between this week and next. Many Republicans oppose it, which means, once again, the closing of the Public Administration, which is almost a tradition in American political culture. The problem is that the closure of the State, once again, is a dangerous step, which may cause a part of the citizens who did not decide on their vote in 2024 to blame the Republicans for inventing a crisis . Among the aid that must be approved is, in addition, a package of 24.1 billion dollars (22.4 billion euros) to Ukraine.
