House Republicans on Monday formally made the case for impeaching President Biden, releasing a lengthy report accusing him of corruption and seeking to allow his family to profit off his office in connection with foreign business deals by his son Hunter, who has been charged with felony tax crimes. In the 291-page document, released as Democrats gather in Chicago for their party convention, Republicans call Biden’s conduct “egregious” and say he should be impeached for abuse of power and obstruction, says the New York Times. The report contains no proof that Biden, as vice president, engaged in any corrupt quid pro quo to benefit his son’s business partners, and Republicans admit they have no evidence that he ordered any interference into a Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden. “An abuse of power may also be present even if, as some claim, the Biden family was only selling the ‘illusion’ of influence and access,” the report says, adding: “It is not necessary for the House of Representatives to show that the dealings involved a quid pro quo to rise to the level of an impeachable offense.” The Bidens and several business associates have denied that Biden was involved in his son’s businesses, despite the efforts of some business partners to cut him into deals after he left the vice presidency.
“I did not involve my father in my business, not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions, domestic or international, not as a board member and not as an artist, never,” Hunter Biden told congressional committees in February. Still, Republicans assert that they do not need to prove that Biden personally profited from his son’s business deals, accepted a bribe or otherwise committed a crime because, they argue, Democrats lowered the threshold for impeachment with their pursuit of President Trump. “In 2019, House Democrats asserted that impeachable offenses need not rise to the level of criminal conduct,” the report states, adding: “The House may therefore impeach President Biden for noncriminal conduct that significantly impairs the political system or betrays the public trust.” Like the impeachment investigation itself, the report — prepared by the Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees — appears to be orchestrated for maximum political impact. It comes as Democrats are set to nominate Vice President Harris for president, and seeks to tie her to what it presents as Biden’s misdeeds, using the phrase “the Biden-Harris administration” 21 times. The document is the product of 30 interviews — including with Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James — more than 30 subpoenas and millions of pages of documents.
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