Republicans Talk New Grounds of Impeachment for Biden

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Republicans Talk New Grounds of Impeachment for Biden


Republican lawmakers are looking to bring new articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden after the White House threatened to withhold some aid to Israel.

Over seven months into the war between Israel and Hamas, Biden has begun to shift his approach to the conflict while escalating his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president took one of his strongest stances against Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during an interview with CNN on Wednesday, saying that he would withhold sending bombs and artillery to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) if the weapons might be used in an assault on the city of Rafah.

Republicans Talk New Grounds of Biden Impeachment
President Joe Biden on Wednesday waves as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. Republicans are looking to bring new articles of impeachment against Biden.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Some Republicans have accused Biden of withholding the additional weapons shipment to help his reelection chances in November. The Democrat has faced immense pressure from the left-leaning members of his party and key parts of the Democratic electorate to change his approach to the Israel-Hamas war.

Florida GOP Congressman Cory Mills announced on Thursday that he had begun drafting the impeachment articles, which accuse Biden of abusing his “powers” to solicit a “‘quid pro quo’ with the foreign government of Israel.” The draft, which was partially shared to X, formerly Twitter, copies large parts of Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler‘s impeachment articles against former President Donald Trump, who was impeached in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

“The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton said in a post to X Thursday morning. “Only with Biden, it’s true.”

House GOP lawmakers have led a months-long impeachment inquiry into the president over accusations that Biden was involved in a bribery scheme while serving as vice president under the Obama administration. The investigation has yet to point out any specific crime or directly link Biden to foreign business dealings conducted by his son, Hunter Biden. Democrats have repeatedly dismissed the impeachment threat.

Fox Business host Stuart Varney pressed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Friday, questioning if Biden’s decision to withhold weapons shipments to Israel constitutes “a high crime and misdemeanor,” the threshold for bringing articles of impeachment against a president.

“Well, if you look at where we are, Stuart, I mean, President Biden is failing on so many different fronts,” Scalise said during the appearance on Fox Business Friday morning.

“What he’s done to Israel, walking away from our strongest ally in the Middle East, is disgraceful,” Scalise continued. “You’ve got Democrats even admitting that. Right now our main objective is to get Israel the support they need, to show that we stand with our ally Israel, even if Joe Biden’s walking away because he is now trying to appease the pro-Hamas wing of his party.”

“But is it a high crime and misdemeanor to walk away from a big ally?” Varney pushed back. “Where’s the crime?”

Scalise dodged the question, responding, “Well, what we want to do is get President Biden to actually go and deliver that aid.”

Newsweek has reached out to Scalise and Mills’ offices via email for comment.

A White House official previously dismissed Republicans’ calls for impeachment, telling Newsweek in an email Friday that the aid packages being withheld from Israel are not included in the supplemental spending package passed by Congress last month.

“Trump failed to spend dollars appropriated by Congress that he was legally required to spend,” the spokesperson added. “This is about a purchase made by a foreign government and our decision whether to deliver that purchase right now, which could enable an operation we’ve publicly and privately objected to.”