U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that she supports an effort from one of her colleagues in the House to have President Joe Biden impeached.
Hageman said if she has an opportunity to vote on Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s latest push to impeach Biden, she’s a “yes” vote.
Hageman’s stance on impeaching Biden aligns with her position as a growing influence among hardline conservatives in the House and distances her from Speaker Kevin McCarthy and more centrist Republicans.
Forcing A Vote?
Boebert introduced articles of impeachment Tuesday against Biden through a privileged motion that will force a House floor vote in the coming days.
Unlike other impeachment efforts, Boebert said on Twitter that this one uses a procedural tactic that requires the House to hold a floor vote.
"I am bringing my articles of impeachment against Joe Biden to the House Floor in a privileged motion, meaning that every Member of Congress must vote on holding Joe Biden accountable," Boebert tweeted.
NBC News reports that House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said in an email to colleagues Tuesday night that the House is expected to take a procedural vote that would table Boebert’s motion and block her impeachment effort.
On Wednesday, McCarthy negotiated a deal with Boebert to send her impeachment resolution to the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees for review.
The House also will consider a vote to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, over his claims about former President Donald Trump's ties to Russia.
Biden And The Border
Boebert’s two articles of impeachment focus on Biden’s handling of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border.
The six-page impeachment resolution says Biden has abused his power and is derelict in his duty as president, consistently violating federal immigration law. She also says he has "purposefully and knowingly" released millions of immigrants into the U.S. without the ability or intention of bringing them to immigration court.
Hageman has offered similar criticisms of Biden’s handling of the border since taking office.
In May, she voted in favor of a bill that would permanently place fentanyl-related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, and another bill that would force Biden to enact a number of border security measures.
She said in a press release that “Biden has created the largest drug and human trafficking operation in United States history.”
“We must do everything possible to provide help to our communities that are suffering from record high drug trafficking occurring due to President Biden’s abject failure to keep America safe from the drug cartels freely operating along our southern border,” she said in another press release.
If At First You Don’t Succeed …
Boebert also attempted to impeach Biden in 2021.
In May, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, introduced impeachment articles against Biden in a resolution that didn’t require a floor vote. Republicans also have introduced impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which have not gone to the floor for a vote.
On Wednesday evening, McCarthy urged House Republicans to vote against Boebert’s measure during a closed-door meeting, according to CNN. McCarthy, as have a few other Republicans, have said publicly they don't support Boebert’s impeachment effort.
The move to impeach Biden came as a surprise to many Republicans like Wyoming U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who reportedly exclaimed, “Really?” when asked about movement on Boebert’s articles of impeachment, according to The Hill.
White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement that "extreme House Republicans are staging baseless political stunts that do nothing to help real people and only serve to get themselves attention.”
But even some Democrats have criticized Biden’s handling of the border.
Any effort to impeach Biden will face a near certain death when it gets to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it takes a two-thirds super majority to approve impeachment.
Impeachments
If Biden is impeached by the House, he will become the second consecutive president to have been impeached by this body, as Trump was impeached twice.
Trump was the first president since Bill Clinton to be impeached by the House. Like Trump, the articles of impeachment against Clinton failed to receive the required supermajority in the Senate.
Clinton was the first president to be impeached in the House since Andrew Johnson was found guilty on 11 articles of impeachment in 1868.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
