With no direct evidence, House Republicans accuse Biden of impeachable conduct

House Republicans on Monday released a long-awaited report from their impeachment probe into President Joe Biden’s activities as vice president, accusing him of obstructing federal and congressional investigations and improperly leveraging his power to benefit his family.

Despite a trio of House committees finding Biden engaged in “impeachable offenses,” Republicans did not recommend further action just three months away from an election in which Biden is no longer running. And the report failed to unearth any new evidence that the president, during his time as vice president, directly acted to benefit his family’s business dealings.

The 291-page report was released by the House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees on the day Democrats commenced their nominating convention in Chicago.

In a statement released Monday morning, House Republicans sought to tie the report to the “Biden-Harris administration.” Investigators also repeatedly included the vice president’s name throughout the report when referring to the Biden administration.

“As Democrats celebrate Joe Biden and crown Kamala Harris as his heir apparent this week, Americans should remember the reality of the Biden-Harris Administration: crime, chaos, and corruption,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in a statement.

Democrats unanimously last year voted against authorizing the impeachment inquiry into Biden, decrying a process they argued was designed to avenge the two impeachments of former president Donald Trump.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking minority-party member of the Oversight Committee, blasted the report on Monday as “old lies and propaganda” designed for “political purposes” that “does not contain evidence or even articulation of a single impeachable offense.”

The report caps a 19-month probe into Biden’s ties to the business dealings of his son Hunter and those of his brother James Biden while he was vice president. Hunter Biden, who appeared before congressional investigators for a seven-hour deposition in February, has repeatedly denied that his father benefited financially from his business ventures.

“All I know is this: My father was never involved in any of my business, ever,” he testified this year. “Never received a cent from anybody or never benefited in any way. Never took any actions on behalf in any way. And I can absolutely, 100 percent state, that is not just in my case but in every family member’s case.”

Republicans accused Joe Biden of participating “in a conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family” and failing to “fully cooperate” with the House GOP’s inquiry. But the evidence cited in the report largely detailed the efforts of Hunter and James Biden to sell the “Biden brand” and trade off the president’s name in efforts to enhance their influence.

The report comes as House Republicans and the party are scrambling to refocus their attacks from a lame-duck president to his vice president, Kamala Harris, after Biden last month ended his bid for reelection and endorsed Harris to succeed him. Before the turn of events, House Republicans lacked the votes to impeach Biden after their investigation did not produce sufficient evidence showing that the president was a direct participant in or beneficiary of his family’s business dealings - or that he interfered with the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.

In their report, however, Republicans argued that they “need not show that the president directly ordered his subordinates to obstruct an investigation; in certain circumstances the president may be impeached for the action of subordinate officials,” referring to the Justice Department’s investigation into his son.

Republicans also argued that “criminal conduct is not needed under the constitutional standard for impeachment” and that Biden can be impeached for “prior conduct that significantly impairs the political system or betrays the public trust.”

“In 2019, House Democrats asserted that impeachable offenses need not rise to the level of criminal conduct, noting that Congress reached the same conclusion during the impeachments of President Nixon and President Clinton,” the report states.

The report, which draws on more than 30 transcribed interviews and depositions - as well as millions of pages of documents and bank records - alleges extensive efforts by Hunter Biden and his business associates to leverage their proximity to power to solicit lucrative business deals with foreign individuals or entities. The report found that from 2014 to the present, Biden family members and associates made over $27 million from foreign sources, including Russian, Romanian, Chinese and Ukrainian individuals and companies. The report also notes that Hunter and James Biden received $8 million in loans from various benefactors.

Hunter Biden has repeatedly denied his father’s involvement in his business activities, though some of his close associates have placed the president in proximity to those involved with some of their deals - undermining Joe Biden’s claims that he was unaware of Hunter’s activities. The report rehashes a number of Biden phone calls and appearances at dinners as vice president in the course of Hunter’s business dealings. But none of the allegations ultimately meet the GOP’s claims that his son’s business activities fueled an influence-peddling operation that enriched the president directly.

The report also focuses on Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents and the federal investigation into his son as two central examples of Biden’s “unprecedented and baseless obstruction of the Committees’ investigative efforts.” Hunter Biden was found guilty of felony gun charges in federal court in June and he will be on trial in September on nine federal tax charges - probes started during the Trump administration that Republicans have accused Justice Department officials of deliberately delaying.

“Evidence shows that Department officials slow-walked the investigation, informed defense counsel of future investigative actions, prevented line investigators from taking otherwise ordinary investigative steps, and allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the most serious felony charges,” the report states, relying on allegations made by IRS whistleblowers last year regarding the criminal investigations into the president’s son.