On Tuesday, Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) tweeted a statement regarding the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. In his tweet, Rep. Biggs called the inquiry a “sham” and accused House Democrats of attempting to overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election.
“The sham impeachment process continues as @SpeakerPelosi and @RepAdamSchiff attempt to undo the results of an election,” wrote Rep. Biggs. “The American people see through their charade.”
The impeachment inquiry was launched by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in September following reports that President Trump had pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden, his political rival in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. The White House has since released a summary of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked for “a favor” related to investigating Biden.
House Democrats have argued that this behavior is unacceptable and warrants investigation under potential abuse of power charges. However, Republicans like Rep. Biggs have dismissed these accusations as politically motivated attacks on the president.
This is not the first time that impeachment proceedings against a sitting president have been met with strong opposition from members of Congress. In fact, there have only been three instances in American history where presidents have faced serious impeachment inquiries: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998-99, and now Donald Trump.
In each case, party affiliation played a significant role in shaping public opinion about whether or not an impeachment inquiry was warranted. For example, during Clinton’s presidency, Republicans were much more likely to support an inquiry than Democrats were.
Similarly today, polls show that while Americans are divided on whether or not they believe President Trump should be impeached and removed from office (with roughly half supporting removal), partisanship plays an outsized role in determining opinions on this matter.
Republicans like Rep. Biggs argue that Democrats are using impeachment as a political tool to undermine the president and overturn the results of the 2016 election. They point to previous statements made by Democratic lawmakers indicating their desire to impeach Trump even before he took office.
For example, in 2017 Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said that she was “going to fight every day until he [Trump] is impeached.” And earlier this year, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) famously declared “we’re going to impeach the motherf*****.”
Democrats, on the other hand, argue that this inquiry is not about politics but about holding President Trump accountable for his actions. They point out that it is not normal for a president to ask a foreign leader for help investigating his political rival and that such behavior could be indicative of corruption or abuse of power.
Some have also pointed out historical precedents where presidents have been removed from office because of similar abuses of power – most notably Nixon’s resignation in 1974 following the Watergate scandal.
Regardless of one’s opinion on whether or not impeachment is warranted in this case, it is clear that this issue has become highly politicized and deeply divisive. The outcome remains uncertain as House Democrats continue their investigation and Republicans like Rep. Biggs voice their opposition.
What does seem clear though is that regardless of what happens next, the impact of this process will likely be felt for years to come – shaping public opinion about both President Trump specifically and American politics more broadly.