The companies of Hunter Biden, son of the American president Joe Bidencould hamper the US president’s possible bid for re-election as he launches proceedings today to seek his ‘impeachment’.

Does Joe Biden deserve to be impeached? The Republicans think so and will open an investigation this Thursday for alleged ‘corruption’ against the American president, which the Democrats consider mad.

Conservatives, who have held a majority in the House of Representatives since January, accuse the Democratic leader of “lying” to the American people about his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings abroad.

This investigation has virtually no chance of success, but it could become a headache for the White House before the 2024 presidential elections in which Biden is running and in which he could have his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, as a rival.

The head of the House of Representatives investigative committee, James Comer, claims to have found “an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that President Joe Biden abused his public office to financially benefit his family.”

“Based on the evidence, Congress has an obligation to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden’s corruption,” he justified in a statement.

The first parliamentary hearing on this investigation is scheduled for 10am (2pm GMT).

“Nonsense,” says White House spokesman Ian Sams, accusing Republicans of holding the hearing Thursday to distract from the crisis the country is heading into due to Congress’s inability to pass a budget .

Hunter’s case

The president’s youngest son, a 53-year-old former businessman, has become the Republicans’ main target.

Members of Congress accuse him of making shady business deals in Ukraine and China while Joe Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president (2009-2017), misusing his father’s name and contacts.

The 80-year-old president has always publicly supported his son, who has a history of addiction and is currently embroiled in legal troubles, accused of illegal possession of a firearm.

“I wake up every day (…) without focusing on the impeachment. I have a job to do. “I deal with the issues that affect the American people every day,” he said in September.

The Constitution of the United States provides that Congress can do that impeach the president for treason, corruption and other serious crimes.

The procedure takes place in two phases.

After conducting an investigation, the House of Representatives votes by simple majority on the articles of impeachment detailing the facts that impeach the president: this is known in English as a political trial or ‘impeachment’.

In the event of impeachment, the Senate, the upper house of Congress, tries the president. If it were to reach this stage, there is a good chance that Biden would be acquitted, because his party has a majority in this Chamber.

The Trumpist wing of the Republican party has been calling for months to initiate impeachment proceedings against Biden.

Previous political processes

No president has been impeached in the history of the United States.

Several have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021, but they were acquitted.

Richard Nixon preferred to resign in 1974 to avoid possible impeachment by Congress due to the Watergate scandal. (JO)