LISTEN HERE:
In June of 2023, prominent member of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., initiated articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden. However, a prevalent misconception circulating on social media professes that this equates to President Biden officially being impeached. This, however, does not necessarily align with the facts.
Recently, a novel claim emerged among digital circles: supposedly, by June 2023, President Biden was facing impeachment under the grounds of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’. A notion vaunted by a significant proportion of the population despite lacking corroborated evidence.
The AP was quick to rectify the growing misunderstanding, clearly stating that the claim of President Biden’s impeachment held no veracity.
Instead, it clarified that the established protocol had merely carried the impeachment articles, as introduced by Rep. Boebert, to the review panels of the House Judiciary Committee and House Homeland Security Committee.
Impeachment articles are unique to the House, and they exhibit the detailed charges against an incumbent. However, impeachment is only confirmed once these articles receive approval from the majority of the chamber’s members. Thus far, such a majority approval remains a matter of speculation.
In the context of prevailing social media debate, a fair number of individuals seem to misconstrue the nature of the House’s recent vote to transfer the impeachment articles to be reviewed by the committees. The misconception erroneously insinuates that President Biden has been conclusively impeached.
An incredible number of interactions, surpassing 93,000 ‘likes’ by the following Tuesday, were witnessed on a post exclaiming, ‘Biden is Impeached!!! Finally! For High Crimes and Misdemeanors.’.
This claim emerges despite the truth that the formulated impeachment articles, which scrutinize President Biden’s management of the U.S.-Mexico border situation, do not qualify as a formal impeachment.
To elucidate, submission of impeachment articles is merely a preliminary phase in the exhaustive process of impeachment.
These articles serve a constitutional function analogous to an indictment, laying out the allegations against an officeholder. It is only upon the House’s endorsement that an impeachment materializes, a development yet to materialize in this particular case.
Following an affirmation by the House, the elected official’s fate is decided by a Senate vote, where the decision to acquit or convict them is made. As of now, this stage remains untouched in relation to the ongoing matter.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also representing the Republican fold, arrived at a settlement with Rep. Boebert to forward her impeachment articles for examination by two House committees—the Judiciary and Homeland Security—following her resourceful application of a privileged resolution to prompt an urgent vote.
A parallel resolution was introduced by fellow Republican Rep. Chip Roy on June 21. Roy’s resolution referred Boebert’s impeachment articles for potential scrutiny by the same aforementioned congressional committees.
This resolution was treated much like any other legislative proposal, and subsequently, the House arrived at a 219-208 vote, in favour of the resolution, predictably divided along party lines.
This action, which took place the following day, does not bind the committees to any additional action concerning the impeachment articles brought forward by Rep. Boebert.
What needs to be noted is that no committee is obligated to further act upon Boebert’s impeachment articles. It remains solely within their discretionary power to decide the trajectory of the impeachment initiative.
The aforementioned revelations underscore AP’s unflinching commitment to demystify widespread misinformation. AP’s mission is anchored in the addition of factual context to potentially misleading content being propagated online.
AP’s robust efforts to rectify misleading information also extend to collaborative endeavours with outside companies and organizations, further solidifying its commitment to accurate reportage.
The earnest efforts to promote accurate knowledge, made by both individual efforts and collaborative initiatives, underscore the importance of fact-checking in today’s digital landscape. This serves as a formidable defence against the proliferation of unverified information globally.
Receive a FREE Gift for Subscribing to the Newsletter!
