Texas congressman Louie Gohmert says Republicans ready to impeach Joe Biden if he wins the election

A Republican congressman said on Monday that Congress is ready to impeach Joe Biden if he wins the presidency in 2020.

Louie Gohmert, the Texas congressman who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, gave a five-minute speech during the impeachment hearings on Monday, which he denounced as a ‘kangaroo court.’

‘It’s not about due process, this is about a kangaroo system, and let me tell you, those that think you’ve done something special here, you have set the bar so low, I’m afraid it’s irreparable,’ Gohmert said.

The committee held a nine-hour hearing – the final public hearing – before Democrats are expected to draft articles of impeachment against President Trump later this week.

Trump is accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine while demanding that its government announce investigations against Biden and his son, Hunter, over links to a Ukrainian gas firm. 

Joe Biden

House Rep. Louie Gohmert (left), a Republican from Texas, said on Monday that his party is ready to impeach Joe Biden (right) if he wins the election in 2020 and becomes president

A vote in the full House is expected sometime next week.

Democrats say Trump abused the power of his office when he withheld aid from Ukraine while demanding that its government investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, over links to a Ukrainian gas company.

He then said that Republicans in the House are ready to impeach Biden if he becomes president.

‘We’ve had people already mention the next president, Joe Biden, he may be the next president,’ Gohmert said.

‘Well, we’ve already got the forms, all we have to do is eliminate Donald Trump’s name and put Joe Biden’s name in there, because he’s on video.

‘He and his son. He basically has admitted to the crime that’s being hoisted on the president improperly.’

Gohmert appears to be referring to a video that has been making the rounds on the internet of Biden discussing his dealings with Ukraine when he was Barack Obama’s vice president.

The video, which was posted on YouTube in September under the heading ‘Joe Biden Confesses to Bribery,’ shows Biden making an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in January 2018.

He talks about how the Obama administration threatened to withhold $1billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine if the government in Kyiv didn’t fire Viktor Shokin, a prosecutor who was considered ineffective in fighting corruption.

Trump and his supporters allege that Biden wanted Ukraine to fire Shokin because Shokin was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that named the then-vice president’s son, Hunter Biden, to its board.

But the effort to oust Shokin was led by the Obama administration in conjunction with European allies who demanded that Ukraine do more to combat corruption.

Gohmert says Biden was on video 'admitting to the crime' of bribing Ukraine. He is referring to a clip of the former vice president during his appearance before a Washington, DC, think tank in January 2018

Gohmert says Biden was on video ‘admitting to the crime’ of bribing Ukraine. He is referring to a clip of the former vice president during his appearance before a Washington, DC, think tank in January 2018

In the video, Biden describes how he told the Ukrainian leadership in 2016 that Kyiv would not receive $1billion in loan guarantees unless it fired a prosecutor. Trump allies say the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a gas firm that named Hunter Biden to its board

In the video, Biden describes how he told the Ukrainian leadership in 2016 that Kyiv would not receive $1billion in loan guarantees unless it fired a prosecutor. Trump allies say the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a gas firm that named Hunter Biden to its board

Hunter Biden was named to the board of Burisma in April 2014 – two months after British authorities asked Ukraine for information as part of an investigation into Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of the gas firm.

Zlochevsky, who was minister of environmental protection under former President Viktor Yanukovych, was linked to allegations of money laundering.

In his remarks from January of last year, Biden says he told the Ukrainian president in 2016, Petro Poroshenko, that Washington would hold up the loan guarantee as long as the government in Kyiv didn’t act against the prosecutor.

‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars,’ Biden said.

‘I said, “You’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.”

‘Well, son of a b****,’ Biden says.

Viktor Shokin was ousted as Ukraine's prosecutor in 2016, accused of stalling corruption probes into officials including the owner of Burisma, one of the country's largest gas companies

Viktor Shokin was ousted as Ukraine’s prosecutor in 2016, accused of stalling corruption probes into officials including the owner of Burisma, one of the country’s largest gas companies

Hunter Biden took a position on the board of Burisma, one of Ukraine's largest gas companies in 2014, after the corruption investigation had started, and left a year after it was closed

Hunter Biden took a position on the board of Burisma, one of Ukraine’s largest gas companies in 2014, after the corruption investigation had started, and left a year after it was closed 

He then added: ‘[Shokin] got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.’

Gohmert said during his speech that the impeachment inquiry had been unfair to Trump because Democrats didn’t call ‘fact witnesses.’

‘I’m scared for my country,’ Gohmert said.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this. This is supposed to be the Congress!

‘I came up here from a court where we had order and we had rules and I’ve seen nothing of the kind in here today, and it’s outrageous that we’re trying to remove a president with a kangaroo court like this.’ 

Senior House Democrats will reportedly hold a news conference on Tuesday morning to announce that they are drafting two articles of impeachment against President Trump that will be voted on by the full chamber next week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and other committee heads, including Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee, on Monday night after a nine-house hearing on Capitol Hill, according to The Washington Post.  

A vote on two articles of impeachment against Trump – one for abuse of power and the other for obstruction of justice – will come next week. 

Other reports caution that the exact number of articles that are being drawn up is still being debated.

A vote on two articles of impeachment against President Trump – one for abuse of power and the other for obstruction of justice – could come later this week. The president is seen above at the White House on Monday

Jerrold Nadler

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (left), a Democrat from New York, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) on Monday night. The meeting included other Democratic leaders of House committees

Multiple Democratic sources told Politico on Monday that Nadler’s committee is expected to mark up the articles of impeachment against Trump on Thursday.

‘There will be some announcements tomorrow morning,’ House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, said on Monday as he left the meeting with Pelosi and other committee chairs.

The Judiciary panel could vote this week on whether to send articles of impeachment to the full Democratic-led House.

If the House approves the articles, as expected, the Republican-controlled Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to remove the president from office. 

A conviction is considered unlikely. 

Aside from abuse of power and obstruction of justice, Pelosi is also reported to be considering a third article of impeachment for obstruction of Congress.

The House speaker has yet to decide if the articles of impeachment will deal solely with the Ukraine scandal or will include aspects of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

At an event on Monday night hosted by The Wall Street Journal, Pelosi was asked about potential articles of impeachment. 

‘You think I’m going to tell you the articles of impeachment?’ Pelsoi replied.

‘We’re in a place where our members, our leadership of our committees of jurisdiction have now gotten the last input’ about Trump’s actions, she said.  

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