Former president Donald Trump has made his thoughts well known on a possible impeachment of President Joe Biden.
What’s been less well known, certainly compared to the past few days, has been his involvement with House Republicans – the 222-member strong group who will ultimately decide whether to impeach the President. Any charges will almost certainly relate to the President financially benefiting from his son’s foreign business dealings during his vice presidency under Barack Obama.
Trump has repeatedly called for impeachment against the President, even threatening GOP lawmakers to “get out” if they refused to comply with his demands for what he sees as justice.
Trump’s Public Comments
At a rally in March, the former president told supporters: “They persecuted us and yet Joe Biden is a stone-cold criminal, caught dead to right, and nothing happens to him. Forget the family. Nothing happens to him.”
Later in the year during a Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, Trump slammed prosecutors for charging him with storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home when Biden’s Delaware residence was also found to have top secret material. “It is a dual system of government,” Trump said. “You talk about law and order. You can’t have law and order in a country where you have such corruption.”
After Trump’s second indictment, he’d began ramping up efforts to pile pressure on the President, stating he would appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Mr. Biden and his family. Come July, Trump was publicly in favor of a Biden impeachment, writing, “So, they impeach me over a ‘perfect’ phone call, and they don’t impeach Biden for being the most corrupt president in the history of the United States???” in all capital letters on Truth Social.
Private Conversations
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the formal launch of an impeachment inquiry. Such a move provides lawmakers with greater legal authority to investigate the president, allowing them to issue subpoenas for documents or testimony that can be more easily enforced in court.
Prior to the announcement, Trump met with longtime ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. “I did brief him on the strategy that I want to see laid out with impeachment,” Greene said in a brief phone interview with the New York Times. She also said that she told the former president that she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden.”
Trump has also been meeting weekly with Representative Elise Stefanik, a senior Republican who was the first member of the GOP House leadership to back Trump’s cries for impeachment. The two met in the aftermath of Speaker McCarthy’s announcement, reportedly to discuss inquiry strategy.
Despite not holding a position of office, Trump maintains influence in Republican circles, both publicly and privately. His growing support within the party suggests his influence will only increase in the coming months.
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist based in Canada. He has written for the Western Standard, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo, and has covered notable events including the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
