Aug. 19 (UPI) — House Republicans accused President Joe Biden of impeachable offenses in a new report released Monday.
GOP leaders from the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees accused Biden of abuse of power and obstruction in the 291-page report, that comes as the Democratic National Convention was set to kick off in Chicago.
The accusations of abuse of power largely targeted Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and brother James Biden for influence peddling in their personal businesses.
“The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the committees is egregious,” the GOP report said.” President Joe Biden conspired to commit influence peddling and grift.
“In doing so, he abused his office and, by repeatedly lying about his abuse of office, has defrauded the United States.”
The report, however, failed to tie the president directly with a criminal act, likely leaving the Republicans dozens of votes short in their own party of successfully impeaching Biden.
The White House, which has repeatedly denied that Biden took part in any impeachable conduct, characterized the investigation as a poor use of time and resources.
“After wasting nearly two years and millions of taxpayer dollars, House Republicans have finally given up on their wild goose chase,” White House spokesperson Sharon Yang said. “This failed stunt will only be remembered for how it became an embarrassment that their own members distanced themselves from as they only managed to turn up evidence that refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories.”
In leaning on the Biden family for its impeachment charges, the Republicans focused on business and loan deals they charged Hunter Biden and James Biden would not have received if Joe Biden was not in office.
However, some of Hunter and James Biden’s business associates repeatedly said that Joe Biden was never involved in any business deals with them, which the Bidens have also argued.
The report said the Biden family allegedly took in $27 million from foreign business ventures. While Joe Biden was not formally a part of those, the GOP charged that he supposedly had knowledge of them and his presence made an impact in making the deals happen.
“The Biden family’s receipt of millions of dollars required Joe Biden’s knowing participation in this conspiracy, including while he served as vice president,” the report said.
The GOP blamed Biden specifically for alleged obstruction by the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel David Weiss. The report included audio tapes of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur over the handling of classified documents even though transcripts were made available.