Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., is preparing articles of impeachment against President Biden over his threat to halt U.S. military aid to Israel, the first-term lawmaker said Thursday.
Mills accused Biden of forcing Israel into a “quid pro quo” situation — Mills called Biden “Quid Pro Joe” — by leveraging U.S. foreign aid to appease pro-Palestinian voters.
In a bipartisan effort, Congress approved the Israeli military aid package and it was signed into law late last month. Now, Biden is defying the law he himself signed, critics argue.
The situation has drawn comparisons to the Democrats’ first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in December 2019 over his handling of Ukraine aid.
Trump was impeached by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives for alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he was heard on a phone call discussing withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into then-candidate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
In other words, Trump was impeached for threatening to withhold U.S. foreign military aid in exchange for political gain — just like Biden is doing with Israel. And Democrats agreed almost unanimously that it is an impeachable offense just a few short years ago.
Part II: The yellow highlighted area was verbatim of Rep. Nadler’s impeachment articles accusing and impeaching President Trump for “Quid Pro Quo”. I have submitted to House counsel and will pursue action tomorrow morning using the Dems’s own language, but Biden’s actual abuse of… pic.twitter.com/bYHrMUG1qr
— Cory Mills (@CoryMillsFL) May 9, 2024
“The House has no choice but to impeach President ‘Quid pro Joe’ Biden,” Mills said in a statement. “As Vice President, Biden was caught threatening to withhold funding and aid to Ukraine unless they fired the attorney general investigating Burisma, a company financially benefiting his son Hunter, not to mention the 10% share for ‘the big guy’ himself.”
Mills continued, “Now, Joe Biden is pressuring Israel, our biggest ally in the Middle East, by pausing their funding that has already been approved in the House, if they don’t stop all operations with Hamas. It’s a very clear message, ‘this for that.’ These are the same accusations made against President Trump, which resulted in his impeachment by Democrats. The same must happen for Joe Biden, which is why we’re drawing up articles of impeachment now.”
Biden made the high-stakes ultimatum to Israel’s government in a CNN interview that aired Wednesday night as it prepares for a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is the last stronghold of the radical Islamic terror group Hamas.
The city is the next step in the ground campaign inside the Gaza Strip, which Israel has conducted its mission to eradicate the terrorist group Hamas after the group’s unprovoked attack on Oct. 7th.
Biden’s remarks prompted a flurry of backlash from Republicans and many moderate Democrats. Several other GOP lawmakers have voiced support for impeaching Biden over the decision, arguing there are clear parallels to Trump’s impeachment.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., called on the House to open an immediate impeachment inquiry, arguing that Biden was motivated by political reasons.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News, “The Democrats made their bed, and now they’re [lying] in it. This is just the latest on a long list of reasons to impeach Biden, including the deadline withdrawal in Afghanistan and allowing more than 9 million illegal immigrants to invade our southern border.”
It’s highly unlikely for the push to reach the level of a Senate trial, with the House’s current ongoing impeachment inquiry into Biden still investigation a mountain of accusations of improper behavior and bribery.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., was the first member of Congress to call for impeachment, posting on X early on Thursday morning, “The House has no choice but to impeach Biden based on the Trump-Ukraine precedent of withholding foreign aid to help with reelection. Only with Biden, it’s true.”
The White House referred to remarks made by White House national security communications adviser John Kirby, who stated that the Biden administration does not support a major ground operation in Rafah and has proposed alternative methods:
We propose alternative methods of defeating Hamas that do not involve a major ground operation in Rafah. Those conversations with the Israeli government are ongoing. The president said yesterday that if Israel in fact proceeds with a major ground operation in Rafah, he will not provide certain categories of weapons to support such an operation. The Israeli government has understood this for some time now.
As tensions continue to rise in Washington, the calls for Biden’s impeachment are likely to intensify.
But it is unlikely Democrats will join Republicans over the same issue that caused them to push forward Trump’s impeachment nearly four years ago.