Former Vice President Joe Biden will call for impeachment against President Donald Trump if he fails to comply with investigations by House Democrats, according to a campaign aide.
The core allegation spurring Democrats’ renewed calls for impeachment involves Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Democrats were made aware of a whistleblower complaint last week that indicated the president had made inappropriate remarks to a world leader on a phone call in late July.
Trump later admitted that he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden’s pressure on the country to fire a top prosecutor that was looking into his son’s Ukrainian business ties. Democrats alleged that Trump withheld hundreds of millions in aid from Ukraine until they agreed to start the investigation, something the president has denied. (REPORT: Trump Ordered A Freeze On $400 Million In Military Aid To Ukraine Before Call Flagged By Whistleblower)
Biden is set to urge Trump during a Tuesday press conference to comply with investigations into the matter, or else Congress would have no choice but to impeach him.
“He’s going to make the point that Trump’s latest abuses are on top of all of his prior abuses,” an aide with the Biden campaign explained to Politico. “He’s going to call on Trump to comply with all of Congress’ outstanding, lawful requests for information — in the Ukraine matter, and in the other investigations. And if Trump does not comply, Congress has no choice but to impeach.”
DES MOINES, IA – SEPTEMBER 21: Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the Democratic Polk County Steak Fry on September 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. Seventeen presidential candidates attended the Polk County Steak Fry. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Biden previously told reporters on Saturday that the president’s actions appeared to be an “overwhelming abuse of power.”
“The House should investigate this,” Biden said. “This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power to get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from the United States and ask about me and imply things if that’s what happened.”
The New York Times published a report earlier this year renewing scrutiny into Hunter Biden’s business ties to Ukraine, noting that a Ukrainian gas company gave Biden a seat on its board while it was facing an investigation for corruption.
Former VP Biden bragged in January 2018 about ousting the prosecutor responsible for the investigation in exchange for a $1 billion loan to Ukraine. However, Ukraine recently reopened the investigation into the gas company.