This Tuesday, Republicans in the US Congress announced the opening of an investigation against President Joe Biden with the possibility of impeaching him.

Members of the House of Representatives are accusing the Democratic leader of “lying” to the American people about his son Hunter’s controversial business dealings abroad.

The process would not be successful, although the normal process will continue. Under the Constitution, a president can be impeached by Congress for treason, bribery, or other serious crimes and misdemeanors.

First, the House of Representatives votes by simple majority on the articles describing the charges against the president: this is called ‘impeachment’ in English.

In the event of impeachment, the Senate, the upper house of Congress, puts the president on trial.

At the end of the debates, the hundred senators vote on each article. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority, in which case impeachment is automatic and final.

Otherwise the president will be acquitted.

To date, no president in the history of the United States has ever been removed from office during an impeachment trial.

The US Senate is currently in the hands of the Democrats, which also makes Biden’s impeachment very unlikely.

After gaining the majority in the House of Representatives in early January, Republicans launched a series of parliamentary investigations into the Democratic leader’s entourage.

These lawmakers say they have “identified serious and credible allegations about President Biden’s conduct,” which is now the reason to open this impeachment inquiry, stated their leader, Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, had to make numerous compromises with the Trumpist wing of his party to come to power in January.

However, he risked “being replaced as Speaker of the House of Representatives” if he did not approve this long-requested investigation, he explained to the House. AFP political analyst Larry Sabato.

The Democrats, in turn, accuse that this procedure is being carried out for political purposes, while there is still just over a year until the presidential elections in the United States.

Republicans turned the House of Representatives into “an arm” of the Trump campaign, declaring President Biden’s team a candidate for re-election.

The Democrat could face his Republican rival Trump again in November 2024 – who has been impeached four times in recent months but is a favorite in the Republican primaries.