Is there a threat of impeachment proceedings?
Biden has a “job to do” and is calm
September 14, 2023, 4:49 a.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
His son Hunter’s business dealings have followed Joe Biden for years. Now the Republicans are putting the issue back on the agenda and are taking steps towards impeachment proceedings. This obviously doesn’t impress the US President. So far the danger for him is manageable.
US President Joe Biden responded to the Republicans’ threat of possible impeachment proceedings against him with demonstrative calm. He has “a job to do,” Biden said on Wednesday evening (local time) on the sidelines of a campaign event in McLean, a suburb of Washington in the US state of Virginia.
The Democratic politician said he had to deal with issues that affect the daily lives of Americans and didn’t know exactly why the Republicans were even pursuing a case against him. As far as he understood, they wanted to impeach him for alleged official misconduct in order to paralyze the government, Biden said with a view to the upcoming budget negotiations.
The Republicans only have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and some members have already indicated that they only want to approve the budget if the party leadership initiates impeachment investigations against Biden. If there is no majority for the budget, a so-called shutdown would occur, meaning government business and public administration would be paralyzed.
On Tuesday, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, initiated the first concrete steps towards possible impeachment proceedings against Biden. There are credible allegations that the president was involved in his son Hunter’s illegal business and further investigation is needed, McCarthy said. Even if the procedure in the House of Representatives were to be successful, impeaching Biden would require a two-thirds majority in the other chamber of Congress, the Senate – which is currently considered impossible. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate.