|
A 291-page report by three House committees alleged that Biden
profited from an influence-peddling scheme to enrich himself and
members of his family through foreign business dealings
beginning in 2014, when Biden was vice president.
"The committees present this information to the House of
Representatives for its evaluation and consideration of
appropriate next steps," the report said.
It was not clear if Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would
schedule a vote to impeach Biden in the weeks leading up to the
Nov. 5 election, in which Republican Donald Trump is locked in a
tight battle with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Even if the Republican-controlled House were to pass such a
measure, it would be unlikely to remove Biden from office, given
that he would need to be convicted by a Senate controlled 51-49
by his own Democratic Party. Biden, who withdrew his own
reelection bid last month, is due to leave office when his
successor is sworn in on Jan. 20.
A similar House impeachment against Biden's top border official,
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was put to a
swift end by the Senate in April.
The House investigators claim that Biden used his influence to
benefit the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, with
partners from Ukraine, China, Russia and other countries.
Hunter Biden has been convicted on charges that he lied about
his illegal drug use to buy a gun and is awaiting trial on
charges of tax evasion, including an allegation that he accepted
payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to influence
U.S. government agencies in connection with a criminal probe in
Romania.
The impeachment inquiry, which lawmakers formally authorized
last December and has been carried out by the House Oversight,
Judiciary and Ways & Means Committees, has been criticized by
members of both parties for failing to produce hard evidence of
wrongdoing by Biden.
Democrats have disparaged the effort as retribution for Trump,
who was impeached twice by a Democratic-controlled House and
acquitted each time by the Senate. The first impeachment alleged
that Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to
help smear Joe Biden in return for U.S. aid.
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
