No, the House Shouldn't Impeach President Biden

Impeachment Is Now Just a Messaging Tool

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave the far-right a nod this week when he floated the possibility of an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. Here we go again. McCarthy was quick to point out that an impeachment inquiry is different from impeachment. An impeachment inquiry is traditionally the start of the impeachment process.

Any time the word “impeachment” is used by any member as a tactic, let alone the Speaker of the House, it’s serious, but we’ve entered the stage of American politics where impeachment is a messaging tool. The seriousness and weight of impeachment have lost meaning. It’s no longer reserved for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Impeachment is becoming just another partisan political game.

The phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” is defined in Federalist 65. Alexander Hamilton wrote that grounds for impeachment “are those offences which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.”

Impeachment today has little to do with high crimes and misdemeanors is mostly about political retribution, including an obsessive resentment over the results of an election. As a matter of clarification, Hamilton noted that the nature of impeachment is political, but he doesn’t say it’s partisan. It’s a political process that is supposed to relate to harm to American society.

Since 1789, the House has impeached three presidents—Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. Of course, Trump was impeached twice. None were convicted by the Senate. Johnson’s impeachment was politically motivated after he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The Senate just barely acquitted Johnson. Congress later repealed the Office of Tenure Act. The Supreme Court, some 60 years later, suggested in dicta that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional. The impeachment proceeding shouldn’t have been initiated.

Obviously, Clinton lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Perjury is, of course, a crime. The House voted in bipartisan fashion to launch an impeachment inquiry. Only two of the four charges—perjury and obstruction of justice—were approved by the House. The Senate acquitted Clinton. I know we can argue about the merit of the impeachment proceeding against Clinton because an actual crime was committed. That said, it was more of a moral crusade. Republicans misjudged Clinton’s popularity. Ultimately, the impeachment of Clinton backfired on then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Republicans in the 1998 midterm. In my opinion, the impeachment proceeding shouldn’t have been initiated. Censure would’ve been a better option.

It was a mistake to impeach Trump the first time. He clearly broke the law—that is, a direct appropriation from Congress for military aid to Ukraine—when he temporarily withheld funding in an attempt to extort the funding for dirt on his political opponent, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden, among other things, including a tying a White House visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to an investigation into the Bidens.

Clearly, Trump’s behavior was highly problematic and unethical. What else is new? Did it rise to the level of impeachment? I’m not convinced it did. Censure would’ve been a better option, but Democrats were looking for an excuse to impeach Trump, and they found one. (Separately, it’s clear to me that the far-right’s animosity toward Zelenskyy and Ukraine comes from this.)

The second impeachment of Trump was more than justifiable considering the blatant lies about the 2020 election that he told, his encouragement of people to protest at the Capitol, and his hours-long inaction when insurrectionists stormed the building to intimidate Members of Congress who were performing their constitutional obligation. Trump should’ve been convicted, removed from office, and prohibited from ever holding office again. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

President Nixon would’ve been impeached had he not resigned. The writing was on the wall. The House launched the impeachment inquiry by a vote of 410 to 4. The Judiciary Committee had already marked up articles of impeachment. President Nixon was approached by Republican senators, including Barry Goldwater, about the dire situation he faced in the Senate. He resigned.

It would be a profound mistake to impeach President Biden. When the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment inquiries into President Nixon and President Clinton, members of the committee had independent counsel reports that detailed alleged crimes. If the House directs the Judiciary Committee to move forward with an impeachment inquiry of President Biden, there won’t be an independent counsel report. The impeachment inquiry will undoubtedly produce a committee report based on unverified claims that confirms the biases of those on the committee who vote for it.  

I’m not convinced that we’ll get this far, though. There are 18 House Republicans who represent districts that President Biden won in 2020. House Republicans already face a tough road ahead to keep in the chamber in 2024. Some of these 18 House Republicans aren’t in a place where they can vote for an impeachment inquiry, let alone impeachment, regardless of what the base of the party wants. It also seems like Senate Republicans want no part of it.

Speaker McCarthy has the most impossible job in Washington, DC. He knows that it’s politically perilous to move forward on impeachment, but he wants to keep the gavel in his hand. It’s a no-win position for the Speaker and the House Republican Conference. I’m just not convinced they know that.