Impeachment Articles Filed Against Biden; Trump Trial Details Firming Up

A new Republican member of Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has filed articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden related to events in Ukraine during the Obama administration involving Biden’s son, Hunter. In the other pending impeachment action against former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has announced that she will deliver the official impeachment article, passed in the House, to the U.S. Senate on Monday, January 25.

Rep. Greene, in a press release announcing the filing of articles of impeachment against President Biden, said, “President Joe Biden is unfit to hold the office of the Presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama’s Vice President is lengthy and disturbing. President Biden has demonstrated that he will do whatever it takes to bail out his son, Hunter, and line his family’s pockets with cash from corrupt foreign energy companies.

“President Biden is even on tape admitting to a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian government threatening to withhold $1,000,000,000 in foreign aid if they did not do his bidding. President Biden residing in the White House is a threat to national security and he must be immediately impeached.”

Greene, whose Twitter account was locked temporarily several days ago for what the social media giant called “multiple violations of our civic integrity policy,” announced her action against Biden on Thursday from her unlocked account with a video tweet: “I just filed articles of impeachment on President Joe Biden. We’ll see how this goes.”

Democrats narrowly control the House, so it’s unclear whether Greene’s impeachment effort will get very far.

With regard to the Trump impeachment process, the details are becoming clearer, even though we don’t know a precise start date for the Senate trial to begin.

Both Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Friday that the Trump impeachment article, passed by the House on January 13 by a 232-197 vote, will be delivered to the Senate on Monday.

In a Senate floor speech, Schumer announced that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were in negotiations over the timing of the trial, but he did emphasize, “Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote whether to convict the president.”

When articles of impeachment are delivered to the Senate, the chamber’s rules dictate that senators take up the issue as a priority measure. But there also appears to be some desire, on both sides of the aisle, to delay taking up impeachment for a week or two. Democrats don’t want the process to interfere with confirmation of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees, and Republicans want to give Trump the time he needs to prepare a defense.

Trump has hired South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers to defend him at the Senate trial.

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