Rules on impeachment inquiries that were set during the Trump administration may wind up helping Joe Biden, following Tuesday’s announcement that he will be formally investigated according to a recent analysis by Politico.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made this announcement but didn’t bother to take a House vote, which goes against a declaration made by the DOJ during the Trump administration — that a formal vote must be taken before an inquiry can begin, Mediaite reports.

This ruling was made in Jan. 2020, as Nancy Pelosi, who was House Speaker at the time, said she intended to investigate Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Politico reporters Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write:

“In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them.”

“That opinion — issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — came in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump without initially holding a vote for it. Not only is it still on the books, it is binding on the current administration as it responds to Tuesday’s announcement by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, again without a vote.”

Did McCarthy think he was special or something? Or perhaps he forgot about this ruling. Either way, he should be embarrassed.

The Justice Department, FBI, and the IRS must comply with the OLC’s opinion, and the agencies are prevented from officially launching an inquiry without a vote.

Cheney and Gerstein write:

“Biden, as the president, would have more flexibility about whether to heed the OLC opinion. But he could simply choose to follow Trump’s precedent. He also may have grounds to assert executive privilege that could similarly tie up GOP investigators — claims Trump also lodged to jam his own inquiry.”

It’s difficult to think of two presidents who are more diametrically opposed to each other than Biden and Trump, and yet Biden may benefit from Trump’s transgressions.

Trump’s first impeachment came in December 2019, but he wound up being acquitted. He was impeached for a second time after the 2021 Capitol attack but was acquitted again by the largely Republican Senate.

And Trump apparently spoke with congressional Republican leadership Tuesday, according to CNN, to discuss their strategy for the impeachment inquiry into Biden.

Of course, as we found out from Trump, and former President Bill Clinton before him, this won’t force Biden to step down unless he is criminally indicted and convicted.

I think this, right here, is the only time Trump and Biden will have anything in common with each other.