Judging Freedom - BREAKING - Pres Biden Impeachment Inquiry Begins

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

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Thank you. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, September 12th, 2023. Welcome to a very special breaking news short segment edition of Judging Freedom. It's 12 noon here on the east coast of the United States. Just about 45 minutes ago, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, made the following announcement. Today, I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That's exactly what we want to know, the answers. I believe the president

would want to answer these questions and allegations as well. Well, why this is breaking news is because McCarthy had resisted this, and with his resistance, it wouldn't get off the ground. But now with a group of about 40 or 44 mainly conservative and some libertarian Republican members of the House threatening to depose him from his speakership, he has given in and decided to move forward on the impeachment. Now, what will this impeachment cover? The allegations against Joe Biden that have been published in the media have to do with his behavior as vice president. Can he be impeached today for something he did as vice president? Well, the short answer is yes and no. So he can be impeached today for what he did as vice president,

but he can't be removed from the presidency unless the behavior he engaged in and for which he was impeached occurred while he was president. So what is the purpose of the impeachment? Well, there's several purposes. One, of course, from the Republican perspective is to show what they say is Joe Biden's illegal criminal behavior while he was vice president of the United States, which would cause the Democrats to have second thoughts about nominating him to run for president and give him second thoughts about whether or not he should run for president. If, on the other hand, the House votes to impeach for his behavior as vice president and the Senate convicts, he cannot be removed from the presidency, but he can be barred from seeking re-election because there are two potential penalties that impeachment can impose. One is

removal from office if you hold the office at the time of the impeachment for which you were impeached, and two, is barring you from seeking any federal office in the future. Now, since he's obviously no longer vice president, there's no office from which to remove him. Stated differently, he cannot be removed from the presidency by impeachment because of behavior he engaged in, no matter what it was, while he was vice president. But the second punishment from impeachment can imply, again, assuming he's convicted, which is unlikely, it would require a two-thirds vote by the Senate. And that penalty is to bar the impeached official from ever seeking public office in the future. Look, nobody knows where this is going to go. I read this stuff as you do. The allegations against him

are horrific. They are of bribery. And bribery, of course, is one of the classic bases for impeachment. When Trump was impeached over whatever he said to Vladimir Zelensky over Ukraine, the allegations were it was a form of bribery, it was a quid pro quo, he wanted an investigation of Joe Biden in return for a few hundred million dollars worth of military equipment. This is a different kind of bribery. This is the sort of bribery that you see in the movies and read about in textbooks and in law school and in casebooks. This is the receipt of funds indirectly through a family member in return for a governmental favor.

I don't know that this happened, but the Republicans claim that it did happen involving Joe Biden while he was the vice president of the United States. Donald Trump, of course, was impeached twice. The first time he was in office, and had he been convicted, the Senate could have voted to remove him from office. The second time he was impeached, it was after he left office. So of course, there was no office from which to remove him. But if convicted, the Senate could have voted to bar him from seeking federal office again. So that's where we stand on this. What a mess for all of this to be happening right as we approach the election season. His likely opponent is facing four criminal prosecutions, none of which, there's Chris,

none of which alone would bar him from seeking the presidency. And now Joe Biden is more likely than not seeking impeachment. More as we get this, more as it develops. I don't usually do breaking news, but this is hot and it's wild. And I thought you'd

like the explanation from me about what the potential punishment could be. Again, it cannot be removal from the presidency, but it can be a bar from seeking re-election as president of the United States. More as we get it this afternoon. We have this afternoon, Tony Schaefer at 2.30, Larry Johnson at 3.30. I'll be on Newsmax at 3 o'clock. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thanks for watching.