Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Tuesday that the looming impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden for conduct during his time as vice president could potentially bar him from seeking a second term in 2024.
"Impeachment, of course, in this case, has to do with impeaching him now for when he was vice president," Napolitano said during an appearance on "American Agenda." "We know somebody can be impeached after they don't hold the job any longer. [Former President] Donald Trump's second impeachment was after he had left the White House.
"What purpose would be served? Well, from the Republican perspective, two purposes. One, the revelation of evidence of very tawdry behavior on the part of then-Vice President Biden. Even if it's criminal, he's fortunate. It's more than five years, so the statute of limitations has expired, but he can be impeached."
"He can't be removed from office as president, but the second penalty for impeachment, if he's convicted in the Senate — a big if, of course — is invalidation from seeking federal office," he continued. "So, if he is impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate, he would be barred from running for reelection.
"What a perfect storm! The incumbent Democrat has an impeachment pending, the likely Republican nominee has four indictments pending and the American public is saying, We're going to go through this again?"
Commenting on Trump's legal team seeking the recusal of the judge in the election subversion case in Washington, Napolitano said, "I don't blame them for making the argument."
"It allows them to get out ahead of the curve and articulate all of their complaints about the judge," he said. "However, recusal motions are made to the judge whose recusal you want, so they're asking her to recuse herself by finding that she is somehow biased against him.
"The chances of her doing that are none and none. You can appeal that decision to the appellate court, but the appellate courts just rarely, rarely, rarely get involved in a decision like that."
"So, basically they're just going through the motion, but part of their strategy is to bury her," he continued. "I don't mean literally, but I mean, inundate her with motions, forcing her to make a lot of decisions in the hope that, if he's convicted, some of those decisions will be found to be wrong. Then they have an appealable event."
Napolitano also said that "the Jan. 6 case is the biggest threat to him, but the most dangerous case, the one most likely to end up in incarceration upon conviction, is Mar-a-Lago."
"Why do I say that?" he asked. "I don't know if he's going to be convicted, a lot of his own employees are going to testify against him, but nobody — take it to the bank — nobody has been convicted under that espionage statute since 1947 and has not gone to jail."
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