Republicans in the US House of Representatives released a report on Monday alleging that Democratic President Joe Biden committed impeachable offenses, but it was unclear whether they would push for a vote following an investigation that the White House has long dismissed as politically motivated.
The 291-page report prepared by three House committees alleges that Biden profited from an influence-peddling scheme to enrich himself and members of his family through foreign business deals that began in 2014, when Biden was vice president.
“The committees present this information to the House of Representatives for evaluation and consideration of appropriate next steps,” the report says.
It was unclear whether Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would schedule a vote to impeach Biden in the weeks before the Nov. 5 election, in which Republican Donald Trump is locked in a tight contest with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Even if the Republican-controlled House passes such a measure, it would be impossible to remove Biden from office because he would have to be convicted by the Senate, controlled by his own Democratic Party, 51-49. Biden, who withdrew his own re-election bid last month, is due to leave office after his successor is sworn in on Jan. 20.
A similar impeachment against Biden’s top border official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was swiftly dismissed by the Senate in April.
House investigators claim Biden used his influence to benefit his son Hunter Biden’s business deals with partners in Ukraine, China, Russia and other countries.
Hunter Biden has been accused of lying about illegal drug use to buy guns and is on trial on tax evasion charges, including allegations that he accepted payments from a Romanian businessman who tried to influence U.S. government agencies in connection with a criminal investigation in Romania.
The impeachment inquiry, which lawmakers formally authorized last December and is conducted by the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees, has been criticized by members of both parties for failing to produce concrete evidence of wrongdoing by Biden.
Democrats have denounced the effort as retribution for Trump, who was impeached twice by the Democratic-controlled House and acquitted by the Senate each time. The first impeachment alleged that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to help discredit Joe Biden in exchange for US aid.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
