The opening of an impeachment investigation against Joe Biden, ordered by the president of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has no signs of succeeding, but reflects an increase in pressure from the conservative bench against the Democratic president .
Conservatives accuse Biden of intervening in his son Hunter's foreign business dealings by taking advantage of his political connections and profiting from those transactions. They also believe that the Democratic Administration has granted favorable treatment to the family because of who they are.
After months of preliminary investigations without conclusive evidence, the opening of this investigation paves the way for them to request bank records and other documents in their attempt to find evidence of corruption or financial irregularities.
McCarthy has put the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, in charge of the investigations, in coordination with the chairmen of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, and the Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, all of them Republicans.
At first, the legislator assured that he was going to submit the opening of the investigation to a vote of the plenary session, but the reluctance of some moderate conservatives has made him make the decision unilaterally, under pressure from the hardest wing of his party.
When the time comes, the Lower House must vote on whether to file charges against the current Democratic president, but the power to carry out this impeachment subsequently falls to the Senate.
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to impeach and remove the president, vice president, and other federal officials for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
The process begins in the Lower House with the vote on the presentation of charges by approving an impeachment resolution by a simple majority of its members. If approved, it goes to the Senate, where resolutions on the matter must obtain the support of two-thirds of the senators present.
The Senate also has the authority to disqualify the person on trial from holding federal office again in the future.
The Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections last November and have held that majority since January, with 222 of its 435 seats.
In the Senate, the Democrats have 48 seats and the Republicans 49, but the three independent senators are progressive, so the eventual removal of Biden is an unlikely scenario. The Senate's decision cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Republican Richard Nixon (1969-1974) resigned before the Lower House voted against him due to the Watergate scandal and thus avoided being removed by the Legislature. He remains the only president to have voluntarily resigned from office.
American history accumulates, however, four cases of political trials: one against Democrat Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), another against also progressive Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and two against Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021). All of them were acquitted by the Senate, which considered them not guilty.
