China News Service, November 21 (Reporter Meng Xiangjun) As the results of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections are gradually announced, the Republican Party controls the House of Representatives "small win", and the Democratic Party loses the House of Representatives and keeps the Senate.

In the next two years, it is inevitable that the United States will usher in a "split Congress".

  In addition to the increased difficulty in governing, the challenges facing US President and Democrat Biden will also include Republicans' investigations and impeachment proposals against him.

However, two or three years ago, Biden's predecessor, Trump, a Republican, escaped impeachment by Democrats twice.

  Donkeys and elephants are fighting each other, making noise and chaos, and American politics has become a "circle", a vicious circle of "strange circles"!

Data map: US President Biden.

[Can't wait, the Republican Party "killed" and came back]

  Seeing that it can regain control of the House of Representatives, the US Republican Party can't wait to announce a "big plan" recently, which is to investigate Biden and his government officials.

  In terms of restricting spending, reviewing legislation, and setting the agenda, the Republican Party will also "unlock" new powers.

  The top Republicans have made a long list and vowed to "convict" Biden. The investigations include: Biden ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the impact of US border immigration policy, and the FBI's search of former President Trump. Phuhai Lake Manor and more.

  This is not over, the Republican Party also targeted the Biden family, saying that Biden's son Hunter and others "conspired to defraud the United States, wire fraud, violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering, tax evasion" and "other crimes" .

  One by one, one by one, after the investigation, the Republican Party intends to impeach the president.

On August 16, 2021 local time, when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan, US soldiers stood guard at Kabul Airport.

  This is not a new trick. As early as the second day after Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States in 2021, Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Green submitted an impeachment clause against him.

Green accused Biden of abusing his power by arranging his son Hunter to work in an energy company during his tenure as vice president of the United States.

  In fact, Green did not "kill halfway". Her reputation in the American political circle comes from the fact that she is a "experienced hand" in drafting the impeachment bill of Biden, and has drafted as many as five motions.

How much hatred and hatred does she have towards Biden?

  It turns out that Green has another identity, that is, one of Trump's closest supporters.

Before this midterm election, she pointed out that if she wins the election, the Republican Party will launch an investigation of Biden.

With Green himself re-elected to the House of Representatives, the rhetoric became reality.

[Impeaching the President of the United States, how many steps are there?

  Calling for the impeachment of the president at every turn, does the Republican Party have the right to do so?

  There really are.

  Since the founding of the country, the United States has designed its political system to check and balance the president to prevent him from abusing his power, that is, the political structure of the "separation of powers" among legislative, executive, and judicial.

On the one hand, the president is endowed with necessary executive powers, and on the other hand, he is also subject to various constraints. Impeachment is a special form of constraint.

Data map: All members of the U.S. House of Representatives are sworn in.

Photo by Wu Qingcai issued by China News Agency

  The U.S. Constitution stipulates that once the president is suspected of "treason, bribery or other serious crimes and misconduct", Congress can start the impeachment process.

In addition to the president, members of the government and judges are also subject to the impeachment regime.

  The U.S. Congress is composed of Republicans and Democrats, and one party's proposal to impeach the other party's president has become a means of partisanship in recent years.

  To impeach the president of the United States, there are generally three steps:

In the first step,

if the President of the United States is considered to have violated any of the above items, the House of Representatives can initiate an impeachment inquiry.

In the second step,

the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives votes on the impeachment bill, which can be passed by a simple majority.

After passing, the Senate must respond and take over the draft.

In the third step,

the Senate holds an impeachment trial. If two-thirds of the senators present agree to convict the president, the impeachment will take effect and the president will step down.

On December 18, 2019 local time, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass two articles of impeachment against then-President Trump, with Speaker Pelosi in the middle.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Sha Hanting

  So, according to this rule, can the Republican members who have locked the majority of seats in the House of Representatives initiate impeachment?

  Can.

  Can the impeachment bill pass the House of Representatives?

  Because a simple majority is enough, the draft is likely to pass.

  When it comes to the Senate, can the impeachment bill be successfully implemented?

  This step is key.

In this mid-term election, Biden's Democratic Party has locked in control of the Senate with a very small advantage, and it is basically evenly matched with the Republicans in seats, maintaining a 51:50 pattern for almost two years.

  If Biden is to be impeached to step down, two-thirds of the senators need to agree, which means that more than a dozen Democratic senators must "rebel" in order for the impeachment to pass.

  In other words, it is basically difficult to achieve the final step of the impeachment of Biden.

[Four presidents were impeached, the last one set a record]

  In fact, although four presidents have encountered impeachment crises in the history of the United States, so far no president has been directly impeached and stepped down.

Who are the US presidents who have been impeached?

The first one:

  17th President of the United States Andrew Johnson

  He caused dissatisfaction with his handling of the conflict between the North and the South after the American Civil War and was initiated for impeachment.

second:

  Nixon, 37th President of the United States

  He was exposed for arranging personnel to eavesdrop on political opponents' campaign strategy intelligence in the presidential election, which triggered the "Watergate Incident". He was also accused of installing a wiretapping system in the White House office and faced impeachment.

  Later, Nixon announced his resignation, becoming the first president in American history to resign.

He resigned on his own, rather than being directly impeached to step down.

the third:

  Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States

  He was successfully re-elected, but was impeached by Congress because of the revelation of his improper relationship with Secretary Monica Lewinsky.

Fourth place:

  Trump, the 45th President of the United States

  Trump set a record, becoming the only U.S. president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be impeached after leaving office.

  Then Trump, in December 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time initiated the impeachment of then-President Trump, accusing him of abusing power and obstructing congressional investigations in an attempt to put pressure on Ukraine to discredit political opponents.

  That political opponent is Biden.

  Because the Republicans were very close to the Democrats in the Senate, the Senate rejected impeachment in February of the following year.

Trump also attended the event, emphasizing that he was the victim of the "largest political witch hunt in American history."

On February 6, 2020 local time, the then U.S. President Trump gave a speech on the impeachment case. He held the "Washington Post" in his hand, and the headline on it read "Trump is not guilty".

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong

  The time has come to January 11, 2021. Trump, whose presidential term is about to expire, was impeached by the Democrats of the United States again.

This time the impeachment draft accuses Trump of "inciting supporters to rebel, seriously endangering the security of the United States and its government agencies, and interfering in the peaceful transition of power."

  Because just on January 6, Trump supporters who did not recognize the results of the 2020 US presidential election broke into the Capitol, causing riots and shocking the United States.

  At that time, there were only a few days before the end of Trump's term, and the time was too late.

But the Democrats insisted on trying to impeach Trump. On the one hand, they warned him not to continue to "act rashly", and on the other hand, they hoped to weaken his political influence and prevent him from making a comeback.

On June 23, 2022 local time, the US House of Representatives Select Committee held a hearing, focusing on how former President Trump put pressure on senior officials of the Justice Department in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Sha Hanting

  After Trump left office, the impeachment investigation against him continued, and he was also involved in many lawsuits and investigations.

But recently, Trump has made a high-profile announcement that he will participate in the 2024 US presidential election.

  The Republican Party intends to "return their own ways" to the Democratic Party, and Trump can be said to be looking forward to it.

The US "Rolling Stone" magazine recently revealed that Trump has repeatedly tried to learn from Republicans about the plan to impeach Biden, including how many Republicans support impeachment, how many times he intends to start the impeachment process, and the specific start date.

[Biden: Impeachment?

"Simply ridiculous"]

  Compared with Trump's "urgency", Biden appears more "calm".

  Before the midterm elections, Biden spoke at political rallies about his opponent's attempt to impeach him.

"I don't know what they're going to impeach me for," Biden said, drawing laughter from supporters.

But he added that he was not "joking".

  After the election, Biden talked about it again at the White House.

He said that he heard former President Trump ask the Republican Party "how many times do you want to impeach Biden", and this will make the American people think, "This is simply a ridiculous thing."

  He also pointed out that although the Democrats lost some seats in the House of Representatives, "the loss was less than the first midterm election of any president in the past 40 years." The "red tide" of the Republican Party predicted by the media and observers did not cover the United States.

US President Joe Biden.

  The "sense of relaxation" in Biden's words may reflect a question from the "New York Times", that is, although the Republican Party won the House of Representatives, can it really achieve rule?

  According to the analysis, the Republican Party may only have a weak single-digit seat advantage in the end, and there are ideological differences within the Republican Party. A small number of Republicans who won the election from swing constituencies may not want to intensify the conflict. In addition, the Democratic Party is following closely, researching solutions, and impeachment. The plans of Biden and his administration officials will be difficult.

  However, the Republicans have officially announced recently that they have opened an investigation into the Biden family.

  A new round of confrontation games on Capitol Hill kicked off.

(Finish)