If the House flips in 2022, Republicans will likely consider "multiple grounds" for impeaching for President Biden, Sen. Ted. Cruz (R-Texas) predicted on the latest episode of his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Cruz argued that while he regrets that impeachment proceedings have become routine, Democrats bear the blame for turning impeachment into a political weapon, The Washington Times reports.
"I do think there's a chance of [impeachment] … whether it's justified or not," Cruz said in response to a question from co-host Michael Knowles. "The Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him … Democrats decided [impeachment] is just another tool in the partisan war chest."
The House has passed articles of impeachment three times in the past 30 years, once against President Clinton while under Republican control and twice against President Trump. The Democrat-controlled House first impeached Trump in 2019 for withholding aid to Ukraine in an attempt to solicit damaging information about then-candidate Joe Biden. He was impeached a second time in 2021 for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Cruz voted against convicting Trump both times.
In the 209 years following the adoption of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789, the House impeached only one president — Andrew Johnson. All four presidential impeachments have resulted in acquittal by the Senate.
Some Republicans are already chomping at the bit to impeach Biden. The day after Biden took office, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed articles of impeachment claiming that Biden had abused his power while vice president in order to "bail out his son, Hunter, and line his family's pockets with cash from corrupt foreign energy companies." Hunter Biden served on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings from 2014 until 2019.
Greene has since filed additional articles of impeachment against Biden for extending the COVID-19 eviction moratorium, failing to control illegal immigration, and for "dereliction of duty" in the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
None of these articles have been voted on by the House Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) also said before the Afghanistan withdrawal that Biden should be impeached if any American citizens were left behind, Business Insider reported.