Op-ed by Elad Hakim | Photo: Alamy
According to Rep. James Comer, the FBI has agreed to allow the House Oversight Committee to view documents related to an alleged bribery scheme involving Joe Biden.
In a recent statement, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., stated:
“After weeks of refusing to even admit the FD-1023 record exists, the FBI has caved and is now allowing all members of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to review this unclassified record that memorializes a confidential human source’s conversations with a foreign national who claimed to have bribed then-Vice President Joe Biden.”
If the information turns out to be accurate and Biden was involved in such conduct, the Republican-controlled House must impeach him.
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution states: “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
To remove a president, a majority of the House first needs to approve articles of impeachment. Once this occurs, a trial is held in the Senate and two-thirds of the Senate must vote to convict the president to remove him from office.
Impeachment is the only available recourse against Biden at the present time, as a sitting president cannot be prosecuted for any alleged crimes. However, he can be impeached, removed from office, and subsequently charged, if appropriate.
While the breakdown in Congress makes conviction and removal unlikely, the House should still impeach Biden if he was involved in such conduct. By doing so, the entire country could witness a trial of this matter.
More importantly, the votes for or against impeachment, conviction, and removal would be on the record, and those opposing the ultimate political “remedy” against such wrongdoing could have a tough time explaining why they voted against impeachment, conviction, and removal of someone under such circumstances to the American people.
It is inconceivable that President Trump continues to face one or more politicized investigations and prosecutions by various left-wing prosecutors and/or those looking to “get back” at Trump while others, who are not named Trump or who have a “D” next to their name, go unscathed.
In Federalist #65, Alexander Hamilton made the following comments regarding impeachment:
“The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself. The prosecution of them, for this reason, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. In many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.”
If the information about Biden turns out to be true, House Republicans should immediately prepare articles of impeachment.
Unlike the various impeachment efforts against Trump, each of which resulted in his exoneration, Republicans and Democrats should all support this effort should the facts in this specific case compel such drastic action.
Mr. Hakim is an attorney and columnist. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, American Thinker, and other online publications. He is also a regular guest on OANN’s Tipping Point, and has appeared on Newsmax, The Jenna Ellis Show, Steadfast and Loyal Podcast with Allen West, The Dave Weinbaum Show, and Real America’s Voice. The views expressed herein are the author’s own and do not constitute legal advice.
