Former U.S. vice president Joe Biden says he will back an impeachment motion against President Donald Trump if the White House refuses to comply with congressional demands for information about his interactions with Ukraine’s president.
“He’s going to make the point that Trump’s latest abuses are on top of all of his prior abuses,” a Biden campaign spokesman told HuffPost. “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.”
While he has largely been silent on the potential Trump impeachment, Biden may now join the fray of politicians wanting to remove the president from office.
The issue at hand is whether Trump illegally tried to have Biden investigated by Ukrainian authorities.
Trump’s personal lawyer has for months been fronting allegations that Biden, as vice president, pressured Ukraine to fire the country’s chief prosecutor to prevent the prosecutor from investigating a Ukrainian gas company with ties to his son Hunter Biden.
There are also allegations that Trump withheld congressionally approved military aid from Ukraine in order to pressure Kyiv to investigate the Bidens.
Biden’s joinder of the impeachment movement comes as the House of Representatives’ Democratic leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is holding a closed-door meeting with House members to consider Trump’s impeachment.
Under the U.S. constitution, the House can impeach a sitting president for “high crimes and misdemeanours.” This however would still go through Senate, which would debate whether to remove the president from office or not.
(Additional information from HuffPost)
