In the United States, an impeachment inquiry (also known as an impeachment investigation) is an investigation or inquiry which usually occurs before a potential impeachment vote.
In the United States, an impeachment inquiry (also known as an impeachment investigation) is an investigation or inquiry which usually occurs before a potential impeachment vote.
An impeachment inquiry is not a required step in United States federal impeachment, as the Constitution of the United States does not require the United States House of Representatives (which it empowers to impeach many federal officeholders) to exercise its powers of impeachment in any specific manner. [1] It is permissible for articles of impeachment to be adopted without any formal inquiry first occurring. [2] Nevertheless, impeachment inquiries have been used as a step in many federal impeachment efforts, with around 90 impeachment-related inquiries having been initiated by the House of Representatives since 1789. [3]
No individual had been impeached by the United States House of Representatives without a preceding inquiry stage [4] until the second impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2021.[ citation needed ] However, the impeachment inquiries into President Andrew Johnson had been launched prior to the act that ultimately triggered his impeachment, and Johnson was impeached within three days without any extended investigation into that act. [5] [6]
In modern practice, impeachment inquiries often are spurred by referrals by external investigative bodies, such as the Judicial Conference of the United States, an independent counsel, a grand jury or a state legislature. Since the 1980s, the Judicial Conference of the United States has referred findings to the House recommending a number of judges face impeachment, several times resulting in proceedings that led to impeachment. Though this it is not always the case the impeachments are spurred by such referrals. [7]
The United States House of Representatives has the sole authority to decide to launch impeachment proceedings (including inquiries) against impeachable federal government officials. [7] While anyone, including any member of the United States House of Representatives may suggest the launch of an impeachment proceeding it is, in practice, the choice of the speaker of the United States House of Representatives whether to allow the House to proceed towards an inquiry into the alleged wrongdoings. [7] [8] [9]
There is no House rule that specifies that a vote is required to launch an impeachment inquiry. [10] [11] [12] While the speaker may allow a House vote on whether to launch such an inquiry, it is argued by many legal and political experts that it is not legally required for a vote of the House take place in order for the House to launch what can effectively be considered an impeachment inquiry. This means that a speaker may themself declare the launch of what would be considered an impeachment inquiry without any need for an authorizing vote. This became a discussion point in when the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump was announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi without there first having been a vote on the matter. [10] [11] [13] [14] [15] At odds with the aforementioned consensus of experts is a January 2020 opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Trump administration-era U.S. Department of Justice, which formally declared that it considers impeachment inquiries by the House invalid unless a formal vote had been held to authorize them. This remains an opinion to which presidential administrations and Executive Branch agencies (such as the Department of Justice, FBI, and IRS) are bound to adhere. [16]
Existing House standing committees have subpoena and staffing authorities that may be sufficient for conducting what amounts to an impeachment inquiry, further negating the need for a House vote to hold a vote in order to launch what might functionally amount to an impeachment inquiry. [10] This is especially true in modern times, since the investigative powers of standing committees have increased over time. [1] However, through an authorizing resolution, it is still possible for the House to provide these committees with additional tools to aid investigations that are part impeachment inquiry, such as the power to compel responses to interrogatories. [1] An authorizing resolution may also provide clear authorization of use of deposition and subpoena powers for the purposes of the inquiry, and may also authorize disbursement of funds and hiring of staff specific to the inquiry. [4] An authorizing resolution passed by the House also helps make it explicit that the committee(s) investigating a potential impeachment have the imprimatur of House to be conducting an impeachment inquiry, and are indeed officially sanctioned by the members of the House to be conducting such an inquiry based upon the Constitutionally-provided investigative and impeachment powers of the House of Representatives. Authorizing resolutions also provide an opportunity for the House to formally outline the scope of an impeachment inquiry. [1]
The scope and structure of impeachment inquiries vary. Some inquiries function as completely independent investigations, while other inquiries use work from outside entities, using records provided to them by entities such as an independent counsel or the Judicial Conference of the United States. [7] It has become regular practice in recent decades for impeachment inquiries to use information provided from separate outside investigations. [17] Impeachment inquiries may build upon the work of earlier or ongoing investigations, conducted either by House committees or other investigators. [1] [9] [18] It is possible for any House resolution expressly authorizing an impeachment inquiry to state that an inquiry is already underway, allowing for committees to continue ongoing investigations (which would be formally brought under the scope of the impeachment inquiry) and allowing for the committees to, under the auspices of the impeachment inquiry, probe new areas of investigation using their existing tools and authorities for investigation. [1]
Since the United States Constitution does not outline details of how the impeachment process should be run in the House, procedural aspects of impeachment inquiries are subject merely to the internal rules of the House. [19] The manner in which the House of Representatives proceeds with an impeachment inquiry is at the discretion of the House itself, both textually and per historical practice. [1] The House has the option to have the investigation be conducted by the House Committee on the Judiciary, another standing committee, or to establish and empower a select committee (alternatively known as a "special committee") dedicated to overseeing the inquiry. [1] Alternatively, a subcommittee, such as a subcommittee of the judiciary, can be used. Generally, an impeachment inquiry is overseen by the House Committee on the Judiciary, [4] with the most frequent alternative being a select committee formed for the explicit purposes of conducting the inquiry. [9] An impeachment inquiry's investigation may, alternatively, involve multiple committees instead of just one. Even then, a single committee may be tasked with making the final decision on whether to recommend formal articles of impeachment. [20] [10] In modern practice, this committee has tended to be the Judiciary Committee. [17]
Impeachment inquiries are governed by the standing rules of the House (which governs all committee investigations), the terms of any authorizing resolution for the inquiry, and potentially any additional rules the committee(s) overseeing the inquiry might opt to adopt specifically for the inquiry. [17]
There are no rules imposing any mandates on the duration in which an impeachment inquiry might be conducted, meaning that an impeachment inquiry may last as briefly or long as the House chooses to allow. [12]
In some impeachment inquiries, legal counsel for the federal official that is the subject of the inquiry has been allowed to be involved. But there is no legal requirement that lawyers for the subject be given any accommodation for involvement, and in some instances there has been no such accommodation in impeachment inquiries. [10]
If a committee conducting an impeachment inquiry holds hearings as part of inquiry, these would typically be governed by the House and committee rules, as well as any specific rules outlined in any authorizing resolution for the inquiry. [17] Such hearings are generally public, but are allowed to be closed-door pursuant to regular House rules that permit closed-door hearings either due to the need to protect evidence or testimony that would imperil national security, the need to protect sensitive law enforcement information, or because a hearing might "defame, degrade, or incriminate the witness". [17] However, authorizing resolutions for the inquiry might alter the procedures for allowing closed-door hearings. [17] In practice, sometimes impeachment inquiries have had closed-door proceedings, and other times they have had open-door proceedings, while sometimes there has been a mix of both. [14] [21] [22]
A committee tasked with running an impeachment inquiry may, after its investigation has been conducted and evidence submitted from other investigations has been reviewed, hold a meeting to consider articles of impeachment. This is referred to as a "markup". [17] For any article of impeachment to advance from the committee to a full vote of the House, a simple majority vote of the committee is typically needed so that the committee can forward the article. The committee may forward multiple articles, with each one usually requiring a separate vote of the committee. [9]
An impeachment inquiry, as opposed to an investigation not given that designation, may possibly be seen by courts as having a greater legally-required "legislative purpose" to access certain privileged materials. [1] There is legal argument that impeachment inquiries may have a greater need for specific factual information than traditional congressional investigations. [1] Furthermore, there is legal argument that the importance that impeachment plays as a constitutional role means to address misconduct of federal officials and upholding the balance of the separation of powers means that impeachment investigations need to be provided the strongest deference when balanced against confidentiality interests of the executive branch of the United States government. [1] Federal courts, however, have ruled very little on how executive privilege relates to conventional congressional investigations or impeachment inquiries. [1] The Supreme Court of the United States has never addressed the application of executive privilege to materials being sought for an impeachment investigation. [1] There is some legal argument that courts have no role in adjudicating impeachment matters. [1]
Six presidents of the United States have formally faced impeachment inquiries: James Buchanan, [23] [24] Andrew Johnson, [25] Richard Nixon, [26] [27] Bill Clinton, [28] Donald Trump, prior to his first impeachment [29] (his second, which followed the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, was not preceded by an inquiry)., [30] and Joe Biden.
Unsuccessful House votes were also held against launching impeachment inquiries into an additional two presidents, Thomas Jefferson [31] and John Tyler. [32]
On January 25, 1809, Representative Josiah Quincy III (a member of the Federalist Party) introduced resolutions which would launch an impeachment inquiry into lame duck President Thomas Jefferson, alleged that his keeping of Benjamin Lincoln in the federal office of the Port of Boston's customs collector despite Lincoln's own protests that he was too old and too weak to continue with his job had been a "high misdemeanor" on Jefferson's part. The resolution received immediate bipartisan resistance, and was defeated by a vote of 117–1. [31] [33]
In June 1842, the House voted 100–80 to accept the report of a committee headed by former president John Quincy Adams, which implied that President John Tyler should be impeached due to his use of his veto. [34] On July 10, 1842, Representative John Botts, who opposed Tyler despite also being a member the same party Tyler had up until recently been a member of (the Whig Party), introduced a resolution that levied a number of charges regarding Tyler's use of his veto power, and would create a nine-member committee to run an impeachment inquiry. The resolution, however, was defeated in a 127–83 vote on January 10, 1843. [32] [35] [36]
In 1860, the House created the United States House Select Committee to Investigate Alleged Corruptions in Government (also known as the "Covode Committee" after its chairman, Representative John Covode), to run an impeachment inquiry investigating President James Buchanan on suspicion of bribery and other allegations. After about a year of hearings, the committee concluded that Buchanan's actions did not merit impeachment. [37]
On January 7, 1867, the House voted to approve a resolution by James Mitchell Ashley which launched the first impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson. [25] [38] This inquiry was run by the House Committee on the Judiciary. The inquiry initially ended in a June 3, 1867, vote by the committee to recommend against forwarding articles of impeachment to the full House. [25] however, on November 25, 1867, the House Committee on the Judiciary, which had not previously forwarded the result of its inquiry to the full House, reversed their previous decision, and voted 5–4 to recommend impeachment proceedings. In a December 7, 1867, vote, the full House rejected this report's recommendation by a 108–57 vote. [39] [40] [41]
On January 27, 1868, the House approved, in a 99–31 vote, [5] [42] a resolution by Rufus P. Spalding which ordered,
That the Committee on Reconstruction be authorized to inquire what combinations have been made or attempted to be made to obstruct the due execution of the laws, and to that end the committee have power to send for persons and papers and to examine witnesses on oath, and report to this House what action, if any, they may deem necessary, and that said committee have leave to report at any time. [5] [42]
This vote launched the second impeachment inquiry into Andrew Johnson, run through the United States House Select Committee on Reconstruction. [5] During this inquiry, on February 21, 1868, Johnson attempted to replace Edward M. Stanton with Lorenzo Thomas. That same day, Thaddeus Stevens submitted a resolution resolving that the evidence taken on impeachment by the previous impeachment inquiry run by the Committee on the Judiciary be referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, and that the committee "have leave to report at any time", which was approved by the House. [5] On February 22, 1868, Stevens presented from the Committee on Reconstruction a report opining that Johnson should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and an amended impeachment resolution. [5] [43] On February 24, 1868, the House voted to impeach Johnson. [44] [45] This was the first time that a president of the United States had been impeached. [46]
In a rare United States instance of an impeachment-related investigation being launched after an impeachment vote has already occurred, in the waning days of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, the House launched an investigation by the prosecutors of Johnson's trial into potential corruption related to the trial vote.
The next president to face a formal impeachment inquiry was Richard Nixon, more than nine decades after Johnson. Before the formal impeachment inquiry, Nixon faced related investigation into Watergate scandal and other actions in both houses of the United States Congress. The United States Senate had voted 77–0 on February 7, 1973, to form a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, and the resulting hearings were broadcast on television, running from May 17 through August 7, 1973. [26] [47] On October 3, 1973, the House Committee on the Judiciary held a committee vote in which they voted in a 20–17 party-line vote (with all Democrats voting yes and all Republicans voting no) to begin consideration of the possible impeachment of Nixon (a Republican), thus informally starting the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. [48] They began the investigation in earnest in December 1973, after the House completed the confirmation hearings on Gerald Ford's nomination to become vice president. [49] [50] [51]
On February 6, 1974, the House voted 410–4 to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to run a formal impeachment inquiry into Nixon. [50] [51] [52] The committee sent three articles of impeachment against the president to the House in late July 1974. [53] President Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, before the House could vote on the articles of impeachment.
In 1997, the United States of House of Representatives authorized the impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton. The Clinton inquiry followed an investigation by an independent counsel. [7] Run the by the House Committee on the Judiciary, the inquiry led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
On the evening of September 24, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that six committees of the House of Representatives would begin a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Pelosi accused Trump of betraying his oath of office, U.S. national security, and the integrity of the country's elections. [29] [54] [55] The six committees were Financial Services, the Judiciary, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means. [56]
On December 5, Speaker Pelosi authorized the Judiciary Committee to begin drafting articles of impeachment. [57] On December 10, 2019, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee announced they would levy two articles of impeachment, designated H. Res. 755: (1) abuse of power, and (2) obstruction of Congress, [58] [59] On February 5, 2020, the Senate acquitted Trump on both counts. The votes were 48–52 to convict on the first count and 47–53 to convict on the second count, both short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, therefore resulting in acquittal. The votes were sharply divided along party lines. [60]
On September 12, 2023, facing pressure from right-wing Republican members of Congress, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the launch of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over allegations relating to his son Hunter Biden's foreign business deals. [61] on December 13, 2023, the House held vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry. [62] [63] [64]
One vice president has faced an impeachment inquiry by personal request. Another had a personal request for one denied, and another had a vote to hold a formal impeachment inquiry be narrowly defeated.
In 1826, Vice President John C. Calhoun himself requested a House impeachment inquiry be launched into him regarding allegations that he had profited from a contract during his tenure as United States secretary of war. [65] [66] His request was granted, and a House select committee conducted an impeachment inquiry which, in only a matter of weeks, found Calhoun innocent of wrongdoing. [66]
In 1873, Vice President Schuyler Colfax's name surfaced during witness testimony in a House investigation of the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal. [67] Under this cloud of suspicion, on February 20, 1873 (less than a month before Colfax's term expired), Representative Fernando Wood introduced a resolution to investigate the vice president's conduct. [67] [68] The House voted 105 to 109 not to consider it. [68] James Noble Tyner, then, presented a second resolution which would refer the testimony to the House Committee on the Judiciary "with instructions to inquire whether anything in such testimony warrants articles of impeachment of any officer of the United States not a Member of this House, or makes it proper that further investigation should be ordered in this case." [68] This second resolution was agreed to without debate or division. [68] On February 24, Benjamin Butler submitted the committee's report. Debate was held briefly on February 24, before being postponed to February 26. It does not appear that debate was ever taken up again. [68] The main reasons why both either official impeachment inquiry or impeachment failed to arise in this instance believed to be that the controversy in question took place during Colfax's tenure as a representative (not as vice president), and because when the actions became known only a few weeks remained before Colfax's term expired. [69] [70]
On September 26, 1973, a request by Vice President Spiro Agnew that an impeachment inquiry into him be launched was denied by Speaker of the House Carl Albert. [65] [66] Agnew had requested such an inquiry to investigate charges that he had received bribes from construction companies during his tenure as the governor of Maryland. [65] [66] Angew cited the precedent in which Calhoun had requested and been granted an impeachment inquiry into himself in 1826. [65] [66] Agnew had hoped that a House investigation could serve as an alternate to a grand jury investigation and court litigation. [65] [66] Speaker Albert discussed Agnew's requested inquiry with House Democratic leaders and House Parliamentarian Lewis Deschler, before deciding against granting one to Angew. [65] Weeks later, on October 10, 1973, as part of a plea bargain relating to a charge of tax evasion, Vice President Agnew resigned. [65]
In June 2023, representative Andy Ogles filed articles of impeachment for Kamala Harris. [71] [72] [73]
Other notable examples include the impeachment inquiry into Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, which led to up to his impeachment. Another notable example is the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, which was only the second Cabinet impeachment in history.
In Oklahoma's early state history, impeachment inquiries against governors of Oklahoma by the Oklahoma House of Representatives were commonplace. [74]
On December 16, 2008, the Illinois House of Representatives launched an unprecedented impeachment inquiry into Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The inquiry was run by a bipartisan committee which the Illinois House of Representatives voted 113–0 to create and task with recommending whether Blagojevich should be impeached due to corruption charges. [75] On January 8, 2009, the committee recommended impeachment. [76] The following day, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 114–1 to impeach Blagojevich. [77] Afterwards, and the Illinois Senate voted 59–0 to remove Blagojevich from office on January 29, 2009. [78]
In July 2016, the Alabama House of Representatives Judiciary Committee named a special counsel to lead an impeachment inquiry into Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley related to allegations that Bentley was involved in an extramarital affair with a female political adviser. [79] [80] In April 2017, Bentley resigned from office. [81]
In 2021, an impeachment inquiry was run by the New York State Assembly's Judiciary Committee against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo regarding alleged sexual misconduct. By early August 2021, it was indicated that articles of impeachment were soon considered by the committee. [82] On August 10, 2021, Cuomo announced his intent to resign from office effective two weeks subsequent. [83]
In 2022, an impeachment inquiry was held by the South Dakota House Select Committee on Investigation as to whether South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg should be impeached over his involvement in a fatal 2020 car crash. On March 28, 2022, the House Select Committee on Investigation concluded the inquiry after several months with a recommendation against impeaching Ravnsborg. [84] [85] Nevertheless, a special legislative session was held for the full South Dakota House to determine whether to impeach Ravnsborg. [86] On April 12, 2022, Ravnsborg was impeached by the South Dakota House. [87] On June 21, 2022, the South Dakota Senate voted to convict Ravnsborg on two impeachment charges, removing him from office. [88]
Nancy Patricia Pelosi is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected as U.S. House Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. A member of the House since 1987, Pelosi currently represents California's 11th congressional district, which includes most of San Francisco. She is the dean of California's congressional delegation.
In the United States, impeachment is the process by which a legislature may bring charges against an officeholder for misconduct alleged to have been committed with a penalty of removal. Impeachment may also occur at the state level if the state or commonwealth has provisions for it under its constitution. Impeachment might also occur with tribal governments as well as at the local level of government.
During the presidency of George W. Bush, several American politicians sought to either investigate Bush for possible impeachable offenses, or to bring actual impeachment charges on the floor of the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The most significant of these efforts occurred on June 10, 2008, when Congressman Dennis Kucinich, along with co-sponsor Robert Wexler, introduced 35 articles of impeachment against Bush to the U.S. House of Representatives. The House voted 251 to 166 to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee on June 11, where no further action was taken on it. Bush's presidency ended on January 20, 2009, with the completion of his second term in office, rendering impeachment efforts moot.
Ralph Warren Norman Jr. is an American real estate developer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 5th congressional district since 2017. His district includes most of the South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area, along with outer portions of the Upstate and Midlands. A member of the Republican Party, Norman served as the South Carolina state representative for the 48th district from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2017.
Various people and groups assert that former U.S. president Donald Trump engaged in impeachable activity both before and during his presidency, and talk of impeachment began before he took office. Grounds asserted for impeachment have included possible violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting payments from foreign dignitaries; alleged collusion with Russia during the campaign for the 2016 United States presidential election; alleged obstruction of justice with respect to investigation of the collusion claim; and accusations of "Associating the Presidency with White Nationalism, Neo-Nazism and Hatred", which formed the basis of a resolution for impeachment brought on December 6, 2017.
Joseph Kendrick Cunningham is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 2019 to 2021. The district includes much of South Carolina's share of the Atlantic Coast, from Charleston to Hilton Head Island.
The inquiry process which preceded the first impeachment of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, was initiated by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on September 24, 2019, after a whistleblower alleged that Donald Trump may have abused the power of the presidency. Trump was accused of withholding military aid as a means of pressuring newly elected president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue investigations of Joe Biden and his son Hunter and to investigate a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. More than a week after Trump had put a hold on the previously approved aid, he made these requests in a July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president, which the whistleblower said was intended to help Trump's reelection bid.
The first impeachment of President Donald Trump occurred on December 18, 2019. On that date, the House of Representatives adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020, the Senate voted to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment.
The first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, began in the U.S. Senate on January 16, 2020, and concluded with his acquittal on February 5. After an inquiry between September and November 2019, President Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 18, 2019; the articles of impeachment charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It was the third impeachment trial of a U.S. president, preceded by those of Andrew Johnson and of Bill Clinton.
The 46th and incumbent U.S. president Joe Biden has seen multiple efforts by some members of the Republican Party to impeach him. An impeachment inquiry into Biden was launched in September 2023, without a vote, by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who designated three House committees led by James Comer, chairman of House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. A number of prominent Republican lawmakers, along with Donald Trump and some of his political allies, have indicated the motivation behind efforts to impeach Biden is also driven by resentment over Trump's previous two impeachments.
The impeachment inquiry against Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was initiated by a vote of the United States House of Representatives on October 8, 1998, roughly a month after the release of the Starr Report. The United States House of Representatives, led by Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, voted to authorize a broad impeachment inquiry against President Clinton. The inquiry was conducted by the House Committee on the Judiciary.
During his presidency, Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, saw multiple efforts during his presidency to impeach him, culminating in his formal impeachment on February 24, 1868, which was followed by a Senate impeachment trial in which he was acquitted.
The first impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson was launched by a vote of the United States House of Representatives on January 7, 1867, to investigate the potential impeachment of the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson. It was run by the House Committee on the Judiciary.
The second impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson was an impeachment inquiry against United States President Andrew Johnson. It followed a previous inquiry in 1867. The second inquiry, unlike the first, was run by the House Select Committee on Reconstruction. The second inquiry ran from its authorization on January 27, 1868, until the House Select Committee on Reconstruction reported to Congress on February 22, 1868.
This is a timeline of major events in second half of 2019 related to the investigations into the myriad links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies that are suspected of being inappropriate, relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8, and the transition, the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, and the first half of 2019, but precedes that of 2020 and 2021.
In the United States, federal impeachment is the process by which the House of Representatives charges the president, vice president, or another civil federal officer for alleged misconduct. The House can impeach an individual with a simple majority of the present members or other criteria adopted by the House according to Article One, Section 2, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution.
On September 12, 2023, Kevin McCarthy, the then-speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announced an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The inquiry was conducted by the House's Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, was named to lead the investigation.
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