Biden Impeachment Inquiry: What are the allegations against the US president?

It seems United States president Joe Biden is going the Donald Trump way. After the former US president was impeached by the House of Representatives, then controlled by the Democrats – he was acquitted both times by the Senate – the House is now going after Biden over his family’s business dealings.

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on 12 September that he was launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden after uncovering a “culture of corruption” that demands deeper review. “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he will direct the chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to lead the impeachment inquiry. The panels have been working together for months on various probes related to the Biden family and have yet to directly connect the president to any of it.

Democrats called the action as “absurd”, while the White House called it “extreme politics at its worst.” “House Republicans have been investigating the president for nine months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement.

What are the allegations that have led to this impeachment inquiry? Why has it been called for now? What does this mean for Biden as he campaigns for the 2024 US president elections?

What has led to this impeachment inquiry?

First things first, an impeachment inquiry is an investigation of possible wrongdoing by a federal official, such as the president of the United States, Cabinet officials or judges. The process is written into the Constitution and is the most powerful check that Congress has on the executive branch.

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Incidentally, the impeachment inquiry into Biden will be the third presidential impeachment inquiry since 2019. Former president Trump underwent two inquiries, subsequently being impeached twice. However, the Senate acquitted him on both occasions.

According to McCarthy, Biden has profited while he served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 from his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business ventures and that he “lied to the American people” about it.

One of the allegations against the US president is that Biden sat in on phone calls with son Hunter Biden’s business partners, which led to millions of dollars in payments and cars to him and his associates. Earlier, Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer had testified to the House Oversight Committee that he witnessed then-Vice President Biden and his son have multiple “casual conversations” in the presence of Hunter’s business partners, including on speakerphone, but Archer said they did not involve any business discussions.

McCarthy has also alleged that the Biden family and their business associates had received more than $20 million in payments from foreign sources in countries including China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia and Romania.

There’s also the unverified FBI claim that Biden pressured Ukraine’s government to fire a top prominent prosecutor to halt an investigation into Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, where Hunter was on the board. The claim first emerged in 2019.

In addition to these issues, House Republicans have also suggested that Hunter Biden has received preferential treatment by Biden’s own administration, treatment that not otherwise would have” been “received if they were not related to the president.”

This comes after Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigators who were scrutinising Hunter Biden’s taxes testified that their inquiry was slow-walked and stonewalled at times. But they also said many of their complaints arose during the Trump administration, and they made no allegation that President Biden had tried to impede the inquiry.

Why an impeachment inquiry now?

While McCarthy has formalised an impeachment inquiry now, Biden has long been threatened with it. Since January, when Republicans gained control of the House, the calls for an impeachment against Biden have grown louder.

In fact, McCarthy won the post of Speaker of the House by making a series of deals with the hard-right lawmakers, who have been calling for an impeachment of Biden. “McCarthy is doing this for a very simple reason: If he doesn’t, he’ll be replaced as Speaker,” political scientist Larry Sabato told AFP.

Democrats also believe that the impeachment inquiry would serve as a good distraction from the legal troubles weighing Biden’s potential 2024 contender Donald Trump, who faces 91 criminal charges that will play out in different trial across the coming year.

Moreover, it will firm up the public support against Biden. In a recent poll, majority of Americans reported that they do not believe President Joe Biden’s claims that he had no involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The CNN/SSRS poll found that 61 per cent of Americans believe that Biden had some involvement in his son’s Ukraine and China businesses, which is a clear indication that the Republicans’ claims and investigations are affecting voters’ psyches.

Additionally, 42 per cent Americans believe Biden’s conduct surrounding his son’s business dealings was illegal.

Does this mean Biden will be removed from office?

Not necessarily. An impeachment is a two-stage process. First, the lower House of Representatives conducts a vote by a simple majority on articles of impeachment detailing the charges against the president. In the event of approval, the Senate puts the president on trial. At the end of the debate, the 100 senators vote on each article. A two-thirds majority is required to convict, in which case impeachment is automatic and final. Otherwise, the president is acquitted.

Currently, Republicans hold a narrow lead in the House, and amidst them there is division on this matter. While hard-right wingers are pushing for an impeachment, there are centrists who have expressed unease on moving forward with it, claiming that it would only enflame political divisions in America.

And even if the House does move forward with the process, the Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, virtually ensuring that any Biden impeachment referral would not pass.

Reacting to the impeachment inquiry, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer was quoted as saying, “The American people want us to do something that will make their lives better, not go off on these chases and witch hunts,” he said.

Other Democrats called the move a partisan effort to shift attention from the legal woes of Donald Trump and from the Republicans’ own struggles.

But political pundits do opine that even though Biden’s chances of being removed from office were virtually none, it would hurt his chances in the 2024 presidential race.

Thomas Gift, the director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London, had a differing view. He believes that the move could backfire against Republicans and help the president. Speaking to ABCNews, he said, “A lot of the American populace, despite all of what we hear about political polarisation, are relatively centrist.”

“They care about healthcare, they care about education, they care about the environment, they care about the economy – and that’s where they want legislators to be putting their focus. When there are other big challenges going on, I think a lot of Americans, particularly moderates and swing voters who are going to be critical in the lead-up to the 2024 election, could just see that (inquiry) as an overreach.”

With inputs from agencies