Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) filed a four impeachment articles (pdf) against President Joe Biden on Friday, accusing him of abusing his power to facilitate bribes, fraud, and other criminal activity.
The first article alleges President Biden abused his power while he served as vice president from 2009 to 2017. Mr. Steube contends that then-Vice President Biden assisted his brother James Biden and son Hunter Biden in advancing their business interests by joining phone calls, meeting with his family members’ business partners, “and knowingly allowing his family members to promise access to him and actions by him in furtherance of these schemes.” Mr. Steube alleged this continued while President Biden was out of office, and that his family members “sold promised access to a future Biden Presidential Administration.”
It comes after Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, testified that President Biden indeed spoke on business calls and attended dinner meetings with his son’s business partners and that Hunter Biden was presenting the “Biden Brand” to business partners.
Democratic lawmakers have contended Hunter Biden was not providing his business partners with meaningful access to his father, but only the “illusion of access.”
The second impeachment article alleges members of the Biden campaign improperly colluded with Department of Justice officials to undermine tax crime investigations against Hunter Biden. IRS whistleblowers have indeed alleged they felt DOJ officials and other IRS officials had taken improper actions that showed “preferential treatment” to Hunter Biden.
Mr. Steube’s impeachment articles state that this pattern of preferential DOJ action began after President Biden became the presumptive Democratic 2020 presidential nominee. He further alleges that DOJ officials tipped off the Biden presidential transition team to a plan by IRS and FBI agents to approach Hunter Biden for an unannounced interview in or around Dec. 8, 2020, and as a result, Hunter Biden’s lawyers became involved and the investigative step fell through. The next day, Hunter Biden announced that he had learned, for the first time, that he was under investigation for tax charges.
The third impeachment article alleges James Biden defrauded investors by leading them to believe they’d have access to President Biden in a future presidential administration.
In a November report (pdf), Republicans on the House Oversight Committee described allegations by a witness to one of James Biden’s business ventures, the now-bankrupt Americore Health, LLC. The witness said James Biden “promised access to a future Biden Administration and ‘the highest levels of government’—long before Joe Biden announced his candidacy—and that his brother Joe Biden had been made aware of the business, which would be made profitable when it could become part of the Biden platform.”
The same witness involved in Americore Health also claimed that when James Biden spoke with business partners, he would often claim that President Biden was in the room with him and that he had been explaining the business deal to President Biden. Mr. Steube alleged that President Biden was commingling his finances with other members of his family at around the time his brother was attracting investors to Americore Health and “likely financially benefited from this scheme.”
The fourth and final impeachment article alleges President Biden is financially involved in Hunter Biden’s illegal drug use and prostitution, because the father and son commingled their finances at a time when thousands of dollars went toward these illicit activities.
“In May 2018, Hunter Biden wired a prostitute $25,000,” the article reads. “He received a text from an ex-Secret Service agent who he and his father had hired for private security asking about the transaction. The agent alerted Hunter that he was getting calls ‘from DC’ about the transaction and that there was ‘a link’ to his father’s account.”
Republicans Divided on Impeachment
In June, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) filed her own impeachment resolution against President Biden, alleging he has abused his power by “purposefully and knowingly releasing more than 2,000,000 illegal aliens into the interior of the United States without the intention or ability to ensure that they appear in immigration court to face asylum or deportation proceedings.”
Many Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Ms. Boebert’s impeachment case. Rather than putting her resolution to a direct vote, House Republicans sidestepped the issue by sending it to the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees for further evaluation.
This week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed reservations about impeachment in general. He said the two Democrat-led impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have incentivized the Republican side to counter with their own impeachment efforts.
The Republican Senate leader said “impeachment ought to be rare, rather than common,” but added: “I’m not surprised that having been treated the way they were, House Republicans last Congress began to open up the possibility of doing it again. And I think this is not good for the country to have repeated impeachment problems.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), on the other hand, has shown growing support for impeaching President Biden over allegations of influence peddling with his family. In a July 24 interview with Fox News, Mr. McCarthy praised Republican investigative efforts into the Biden family, stating, “We would know none of this if Republicans had not taken the majority.”
“This is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress with the strongest power to obtain the knowledge and information needed for oversight,” Mr. McCarthy added.
Some Republicans are urging investigative efforts to continue before beginning the impeachment process.
In an interview with NBC News this week, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a swing-district Republican, said, “I don’t think it’s there at the moment, but these committees are doing their job.”
Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), another swing-district Republican, told NBC News he felt the investigations have raised “serious questions of impropriety” and welcomed continued investigations.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who represents a Democrat-leaning district, told NBC News that he feels the process of impeachment is becoming a vote of no confidence, adding, “I don’t want to see our country go down that path.”
White House spokesman Ian Sams pushed back on Republicans’ impeachment talk this week, accusing Mr. McCarthy of lying to advance such efforts.
“Instead of pursuing this shameless and baseless impeachment stunt, House Republicans and Speaker McCarthy should join the president to work on continuing to bring down inflation and lower costs, create jobs, and grow the economy,” Mr. Sams said in a widely circulated press statement. “That is, after all, what the American people sent their leaders to Washington to do.”
NTD News has contacted the White House for comment.
