The first President to be impeached was Andrew Johnson, our 17th President, who was elevated to that office upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson had been a Senator from Tennessee when the Civil War broke out, but remained loyal to the Union. President Lincoln had spoken of reconciliation with the South, but when Johnson proposed conciliatory Reconstruction policies, such as pardoning Confederate leaders, he was targeted by “Radical Republicans” in Congress.

With the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, and Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry having declared a one-week recess, Representatives traveled home for what the House euphemistically calls “district work periods.” The good news is that work on the Biden “impeachment inquiry” will continue.

More than a century passed between the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and the impeachment of President Richard Nixon in 1974. While Johnson survived the challenge to his Presidency, Nixon did not. Richard Milhous Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, only days before being impeached by the House, thereby avoiding both impeachment while in office and a looming trial in the Senate.

Due to the fact that the House of Representatives has been without a Speaker since October 3, 2023, there has been a complete stoppage of business on the House floor. Fortunately, some of the Committees working on impeachment have been moving along — albeit slowly.

IN FOCUS – If the House of Representatives actually were to impeach Joe Biden, and the matter proceeded to trial in the Senate, it would be the fourth impeachment trial to be held in the brief span of 24 years

Among the many resolutions of impeachment that have been filed against President Biden is one authored by Congressman Andrew Ogles (R-TN):  H.Res. 493.  That resolution charges that Biden has “obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice” and “weaponized the Executive Office of the President” to cover the influence-peddling schemes of himself and Hunter Biden.