Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced plans to file articles of impeachment against President Biden on Thursday, alleging he has violated his oath of office in not securing the country’s borders and protecting national security.
Greene said at a press conference this will be the “first set” of articles she introduces against Biden, whom she said has purposefully failed to fulfill his responsibilities of the presidency.
“It is with the highest amount of solemnity that I announce my intention to introduce articles of impeachment today on the head of this America-last executive branch, that has been working since Jan. 20, 2021, to systematically destroy this country, the president of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden,” Greene said.
Greene made a similar announcement two days ago regarding her plans to introduce articles of impeachment against FBI Director Christopher Wray and Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) listens to testimony during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing entitled, “Overdue Oversight of the Capital City: Part II” at the Capitol on Tuesday, May 16th, 2023. (Tierney L. Cross)
Greene said she has also introduced articles of impeachment against Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
The White House called Greene’s plan a “stunt,” noting Biden is focused on “preventing House Republicans’ default that would crash the economy.”
“Is there a bigger example of a shameless sideshow political stunt than a trolling impeachment attack by one of the most extreme MAGA members in Congress over ‘national security’ while she actively demands to defund the FBI and even said she ‘would’ve been armed’ and ‘would have won’ the January 6 insurrection, if only she’d been in charge of it?” said Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations.
Greene initially introduced articles of impeachment against Biden on the first day of his presidency. She also filed articles against Garland in August following the search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property for the classified and sensitive documents taken there. Neither advanced in the House.
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The Georgia Republican and ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Biden has refused to enforced immigration laws and secure the border, “deliberately” compromising U.S. national security. She said he has allowed migrants to “invade” the country while depriving border control agents of the resources and policies they need to perform their duties.
Greene said Biden has allowed fentanyl to “flood” into the country and kill Americans every day.
She also slammed the administration over its plan to direct Customs and Border Protection to release migrants into the U.S. without a set court date or way to track them. Under the plan, migrants need to check in with an app until they are given a court date to appear.
Greene said it amounts to “catch-and-release,” allowing the migrants to be released instead of being held in custody until their court date.
“His policies, directives and statements surrounding the southern border have violated our laws and destroyed our country,” she said. “Biden has blatantly violated his constitutional duty, and he is a direct threat to our national security.”
President Joe Biden gestures as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, May 17, 2023, as he heads to Hiroshima, Japan to attend the G-7. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)
Article II of the Constitution states that the president and other U.S. officials can be removed from office through impeachment and conviction on “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Greene said she wants to take time to gather cosponsors on her impeachment resolutions. She avoided directly answering a question on what exact charges she would file against Biden.
She said she discussed her plans to file the impeachment articles with other members of Republican leadership and said they did not ask her not to move forward.
She said she is introducing the articles because a majority the “base” of Republican voters and other Americans outside it agree with impeaching these officials, describing it as “the right thing to do.”
“There’s never any consequences for anyone in the federal government when regular American citizens face consequences all the time, and I’m introducing these articles because this is what people are demanding,” Greene said.
Mayorkas has faced intense criticism from many Republicans over the situation at the southern border, which experienced a record number of migrant crossings in recent months. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) called for Mayorkas’s impeachment last week.
Greene alleges Wray and Garland have turned the FBI and Justice Department into Biden’s “personal police force” to prosecute the administration’s political opponents. She claimed that those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection were mostly peaceful, but Garland has still pursued them. A bipartisan Senate report found last year that seven people died related to the attack on the Capitol that day.
Greene said Wray prioritizes his own party above performing his job, wrongly identifying the Republican Wray as a Democrat. He has been director of the FBI since August 2017 and was nominated by former President Trump.
She said she is filing impeachment articles against Graves, the U.S. attorney, over his prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants, which she said have continued while he has declined to prosecute 67 percent of people arrested by Washington, D.C., police last year.
“That affects people in our nation’s capital, just regular innocent people that live and work here. I think as our conference learns more and more on this, they’ll understand it,” she said.
Greene said employees are fired from their jobs if they are corrupt or are not adequately serving their employers. She said all five officials are corrupt and unfit to hold office, so they must be impeached.
Updated at 12:04 p.m.