While Republicans are more willing to call for President Joe Biden’s impeachment than ever before, Donald Trump is the only Republican voice that is absent.
He’s at least been publically absent.
While he hasn’t been advocating for the reinvasion in Afghanistan or fundraising for Biden’s troop withdrawal, Trump has been answering phone calls from members who want to win support from the U.S. House to take his place. In recent weeks, Trump has talked to multiple GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss their progress–or lack thereof–on moving to impeach Biden over the tumultuous, violent withdrawal from the Afghanistan War, according to two Republican sources with knowledge of the situation.
According to one source, most conversations were initiated by legislators themselves. They are trying to recruit Trump to support various legislative efforts to embarrass Biden. These include impeaching him or his staff members and invoking the 25th Amendment.
Yet, Trump is a bit reticent to sign off on these efforts.
The twice-impeached former president has been prolific in calling for Biden to “RESIGN,” and has repeatedly fundraised off those demands. Trump is not yet ready to support an impeachment drive on Hill. He has also been reluctant to acknowledge that GOP allies have spoken to him about it.
When Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington was reached for comment Tuesday night. She stated that this is completely false and that the ex-president had privately discussed the possibility of a Biden impeachment.
However, the sources informed that Trump had privately supported some of these efforts to remove Biden while he was mostly silent on impeachment.
Republican lawmakers are moving forward with their efforts to remove Biden, or signal to conservative voters that they intend to do so.
On Tuesday, members of the House Freedom Caucus held a press conference outside the Capitol to push for a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley should resign over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“We call upon, most somberly, the resignation of this president, Joe Biden,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said Tuesday.
Rep. Clay Higgins, R-LA, sponsored the resolution. He stated that calling for resignation was “the proper step prior to pursue impeachable offenses which ha[ve] occurred.” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R–CO) stated that Republicans should “know that they will face their own primaries and that no amount of precious cash will be able save them from the uprising by the American people who demand that we do something right now.”
Andy Harris (R -MD) and Ralph Norman, (R -SC), are Freedom Caucus members who have also written articles of impeachment for Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding his role in Afghanistan withdrawal. Biggs has previously offered articles to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about undocumented migrants crossing the border.
The Freedom Caucus reportedly discussed formally backing an impeachment resolution for Biden last week, but failed to reach the four-fifths majority needed to take an official position on the matter.
None of these legislative initiatives threaten Biden or his officials at the moment. They are simply meant to convey that Biden has failed voters and make Democratic attempts at impeaching and removing Trump appear as partisan than the new GOP efforts.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)–known to Trump as “My Kevin”–has been reluctant to explicitly back any of these efforts. When asked about this at a press conference Tuesday, McCarthy simply stressed the need for “accountability,” dodging on the question of supporting impeachment–particularly if Republicans reclaim control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.
For his part, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, seems to be even more open to any impeachment effort or even a completely meaningless call for Biden’s resignation.
