GOP Lawmakers File Impeachment Articles Against Biden
GOP Lawmakers File Impeachment Articles Against Biden

By Isabel Van Brugen

Four House Republicans have filed articles impeachment against President Joe Biden over his handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the influx of people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rep. Bob Gibbs of Ohio, who is leading the effort to impeach the president, alongside Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Brian Babin and Randy Weber of Texas, said in statement on Wednesday that he had filed three articles of impeachment against Biden for “clear violations” of his constitutional duties as president.

“I filed articles of impeachment against @POTUS based on what I believe to be clear violations of his duties,” he said on Twitter.

Gibbs said that “dynamics in Congress” are “preventing this from being debated.”

“But I could not stand by while Biden commits flagrant & deliberate violations of his oath of office,” he said.

Democrats control the House of Representatives with a 220–212 majority while holding a slim one-vote majority in the upper chamber with the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“His willful negligence of the border crisis is a failure to maintain and defend American sovereignty. Biden’s attempts to extend a federal eviction moratorium despite the Supreme Court’s warning and his own admission that he has no power to do so is a blatant and intentional action that violates the separation of powers,” Gibbs wrote of the impeachment filing.

The Republican lawmaker described the execution of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last month following the Taliban takeover of Kabul as a “disaster.”

“By pulling military personnel out before the evacuation of American civilians, President Biden shamefully left our own citizens in danger. Additionally, his failure to secure billions in military hardware before our departure amounts to aiding and abetting the enemy while he also violated our allies’ trust,” he added.

Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH) calls on the Senate pass the budget that cleared the House last April during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 4, 2011. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Impeachment, as outlined by the founders of the United States in the Constitution, requires a simple majority in the House. The Senate then has the “sole power to try all impeachments,” with a supermajority needed for conviction.

Three presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021, have been impeached but not convicted.

A sitting president can be impeached for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” according to the U.S. Senate’s website.

Gibbs told the Washington Examiner that he felt it unlikely his impeachment drive would succeed in the current Congress.

“Obviously, it’s not going to go anywhere with Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi,” he said, but the effort “shows that there are some Republicans that think that this president needs to be impeached, he needs to be removed from office one way or another.”

Gibbs in his statement also raised concern over the Biden administration’s recently announced COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses, which will require firms with 100 or more employees to impose vaccine requirements or face fines of up to $13,600 per violation.

White House officials have said the order will be implemented through an emergency temporary standard, or ETS, issued by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency has said it is still developing the rule.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

The impeachment drive comes after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the top Senate Republican, said on Sept. 1 that Biden is not going to be removed from office with a Democratic House and a narrowly Democratic Senate.

“That’s not going to happen,” McConnell said, when questioned on whether Biden’s conduct regarding Afghanistan has been impeachable.

Gibbs had in August, following the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, wrote to his colleagues in Congress asking for their support in debating articles of impeachment “to uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

“Many of us were witnesses to the politically motivated impeachment proceedings of the previous four years. As conservatives and Republicans, I believe we understand impeachment is a serious constitutional mechanism, meant to be used only in the rarest and most grave circumstances,” he said. “Sadly, we saw our Democrat colleagues debase it and use it as a talking point for electoral gain. We must strenuously avoid such trivial treatment of our duty.

“President Biden continues to disregard his constitutional duties and boundaries … I urge you all to remember our duty to the Constitution and American people to hold this administration accountable,” he said.

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