Congressional Republicans have accused Joe Biden of “egregious” conduct for which he should be impeached – despite providing no evidence that the US president committed a crime – in a 291-page report whose impact has been significantly blunted by his withdrawal from the presidential race.
In what was supposed to be a central theme of the GOP’s drive to derail Biden’s re-election effort, the report alleges that he was the architect and beneficiary of a lucrative influence-peddling scheme fronted by his son, Hunter, and brother, James.
The culmination of a months-long impeachment inquiry conducted by three Republican-led House of Representatives committees – the oversight, judiciary and ways and means panels – the report was timed to coincide with the opening of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, but it is now Kamala Harris, the vice-president, at the top of the ticket, not Biden.
“Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetise his office of public trust to enrich his family,” the report states. “President Biden’s participation in this conspiracy to enrich his family constitutes impeachable conduct.”
It added: “The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the Committees is egregious. 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 to enrich his family.”
However, the report failed to provide evidence that Biden committed a crime and appeared to fall short of the constitutional definition of “high crimes and misdemeanours” required to impeach a sitting president.
The document’s authors implicitly acknowledged those shortcomings but justified them by alluding to the grounds on which the Democrats impeached Donald Trump in 2019 after the then president – and current Republican nominee – was accused of trying to pressure the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, into seeking incriminating evidence on the Biden family in exchange for military aid.
“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 states.
“In 2019, House Democrats asserted that impeachable offences need not rise to the level of criminal conduct. The House may therefore impeach President Biden for noncriminal conduct that significantly impairs the political system or betrays the public trust.”
The inquiry’s leaders now have to decide whether to force the matter to a floor vote knowing that Biden has become a lame duck president and that they may not have sufficient votes to win, given the lowered political stakes.
Biden stood aside as the Democratic presidential nominee on 21 July after a poor debate performance undermined his party’s confidence in his ability to win the presidential election, meaning there is now limited political value in impeaching him.
Meanwhile, some Republican members of Congress are reluctant to press ahead while they seek to hold on to the party’s narrow House majority, privately admitting that the evidence against Biden is thin.
The inquiry was launched amid pressure from GOP hardliners last September by the then House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who was subsequently toppled by an internal Republican revolt and has since resigned from Congress. It was supported by McCarthy’s successor as speaker, Mike Johnson.
Even if Biden were impeached in a House vote, it would be unlikely to result in his removal from office, which requires a two-thirds in vote in favour after a Senate trial. The Democrats currently control the Senate with a majority of one.
