Why is Kamala Harris being hit with threats of impeachment?

The Republican Party has launched its first grenade at Kamala Harris after she became the Democrats’ de facto presidential candidate.

House Republican lawmaker Andy Ogles filed articles of impeachment against the 59-year-old on Tuesday accusing her of “high crimes and misdemeanours.”

Ogles is arguing that during her term as vice president, Harris “has demonstrated extraordinary incompetence in the execution of her duties and responsibilities.”

The two impeachment articles accuse the former prosecutor of breaching public trust and of wilfully refusing to uphold US immigration law.

First article of impeachment

In the latter, Ogles claims Harris has exhibited a “stark refusal to uphold the existing immigration laws” and a “palpable indifference to people of the United States suffering as a result of the ongoing southern border crisis.”

The article targets the VP’s handling of America’s southern border crisis in her role as "border czar,” which saw her tasked with leading diplomacy to curb illegal migration from Central and South America.

The filing also lists some crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants in the country, including the death of student Laken Riley, as well as recent border crossing statistics.

“In all of this, Kamala Devi Harris willfully and systematically refused to uphold the immigration laws, failed to control the border to the detriment of national security, compromised public safety, and violated the rule of law, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States,” the article reads.

The second filing accuses Harris of "knowingly [misleading] the people of the US" over the state of Biden's health(Getty Images)

Second article of impeachment

The second article claims that Harris covered up the state of Joe Biden’s mental and physical health, and calls on her to invoke the 25th Amendment (which clarifies that the VP becomes president if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office) against him.

“Kamala Devi Harris has knowingly misled the people of the United States and the Congress of the United States, principally to obfuscate the physical and cognitive well-being of the President of the United States, Joe Biden,” the filing reads.

A number of Republicans have called for Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment in recent weeks and effectively declare him unfit to continue as president.

However, the vice president has stood loyally by her leader. Then, on Sunday, he announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race and backed her to take on the mantle come November.

Meanwhile, the 81-year-old incumbent has made clear his determination to get “as much done as he possibly can” in his final six months in America’s top job, telling staffers on Monday that he’s “still going to be fully engaged.”

So do the articles of impeachment stand any chance of toppling Harris?

The short answer is, it’s hugely unlikely.

It’s worth noting that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached in the House on similar claims over immigration policy in February. But the articles were duly dismissed by the Senate.

Still, as The New Republicnotes, the purpose of these bills appears more performative than anything else.

The aim is to stir up the Republican base and make Harris look weaker, particularly as her popularity continues to grow as she launches her presidential campaign in earnest.

Put simply, Republicans are trying to find a Harris attack line that people can hold onto. And in so doing, they hope to shift the attention back to their own leader: Donald Trump.

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