Ever since Joe Biden emerged as Donald Trump’s chief political rival, Mr. Trump has been relentlessly seeking validation from authoritative figures to support his political attacks on the man who ultimately defeated him in the presidential race. Now, in his bid to reclaim the highest office in the land, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has willingly taken on the task of launching an impeachment investigation of President Biden on Mr. Trump’s behalf.
It is abundantly clear that this move is a shameless attempt to partisanize one of Congress’ most solemn powers and duties. However, dismissing it as mere politics would be a grave mistake, as it would overlook the harm that Mr. Trump and the Republicans are causing to the very foundations and institutions of our republic.
At present, all the House Republicans have is innuendo, which, unsurprisingly, Mr. Trump believes is sufficient. His loyalists in Congress and the right-wing media are already framing this in exaggerated, Trumpian terms. Representative Elise Stefanik of Schuylerville, self-proclaimed “ultra MAGA,” has gone as far as calling it “the biggest political corruption scandal in our nation’s history.”
However, this claim may prove to be baseless. So far, the most damning evidence Republicans have presented is that Mr. Biden was dishonest when he initially denied knowledge of his son’s business affairs. He has since clarified that he was not involved in his son’s dealings. After years of investigation, Republicans have failed to find any evidence suggesting that Mr. Biden illicitly enriched himself or misused his position for the benefit of his family members.
Nonetheless, innuendo, when coupled with the stamp of a Congressional investigation, may be all Mr. Trump and his allies believe they need. Consider how, after countless courts rejected his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, Mr. Trump attempted to coerce senior Justice Department officials into confirming that the presidential election was “corrupt.” As documented in notes from a December 2020 phone call, Mr. Trump implored then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the R. (Republican) Congressmen.”
Let us also not forget the events of 2019, when Mr. Trump used delayed military aid as leverage to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into announcing an investigation into Mr. Biden. This abuse of power rightfully led to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment by the House. The second impeachment followed his incitement of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he attempted to interfere with Congress’s certification of Mr. Biden’s victory. Despite the glaring evidence of Mr. Trump’s abuses of power in both instances, his Republican allies in the Senate stood by him and prevented his conviction.
House Republicans are not the only ones recently resorting to impeachment for blatantly political purposes. In Wisconsin, the state Assembly’s Republicans are actively exploring the impeachment of a liberal state Supreme Court justice who recently won election, thereby ending conservative control of the court. Her alleged offense? Accepting campaign contributions from the Democratic party and openly criticizing the state’s egregiously gerrymandered legislative districts, which have provided Republicans with undue power. A judicial commission has already determined that she violated no rules.
However, in the realm of politics, such facts tend to be disregarded, as evidenced by the multiple investigations into Hillary Clinton regarding the Benghazi U.S. embassy attack and her use of a private email server. Although no criminal wrongdoing was found, the insinuations and the pretense of official investigations were sufficient to fuel the Trump campaign’s rallying cry of “lock her up.”
Using the power of Congress to trivialize the solemn process of impeachment is an affront to the Constitution, which these representatives swore to uphold and defend. The true offense lies in wasting public time and resources on behalf of a former president facing four real and substantial criminal prosecutions.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
