The political landscape in the nation’s capital was jolted Thursday morning as House Republicans took direct aim at President Joe Biden, blindsiding his administration with new articles of impeachment related to his recent comments on U.S. military aid to Israel. Led by Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) the GOP move comes in response to what lawmakers describe as a “quid pro quo” threat involving Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Mills accused Biden of strong-arming Israel into a precarious position by leveraging offensive aid against their military strategy in the Gaza Strip. “The House has no choice but to impeach President ‘Quid pro Joe’ Biden,” Mills told Fox News Digital. “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.”
Drawing a parallel to the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump over the withholding of Ukraine aid, Mills said that Biden is pressuring “our biggest ally in the Middle East.” He added, “Joe Biden is pressuring Israel 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.’”
Biden’s ultimatum surfaced in a CNN interview aired Wednesday night. He assured continued support for Israel’s defensive systems, like the Iron Dome, but warned that the U.S. would not supply offensive weapons should Israel escalate ground operations into Rafah. The densely populated city in southern Gaza is currently home to more than one million Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict.
“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” Biden said. “To deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.”
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The remarks drew sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers, who likened Biden’s actions to Trump’s Ukraine aid saga. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) called for an immediate impeachment inquiry, noting, “Given Democrats’ Trump-Ukraine precedent, President Biden’s decision to withhold lethal aid to our ally, Israel, for political gain is undoubtedly an impeachable offense. Clearly, the nefarious motive behind our commander-in-chief’s move to condition U.S. aid to Israel is to appease radical leftists and Hamas sympathizers ahead of the 2024 election. The House must immediately open an impeachment inquiry due to the president’s disastrous decision to play politics with national security.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) shared similar sentiments to the outlet. “The Democrats made their bed, and now they’re [lying] in it,” he stated. “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.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) stopped short of calling for impeachment but expressed his strong disapproval of Biden’s stance. “The president is essentially threatening an arms embargo on our closest ally in the Middle East that is fighting a terror army holding American citizens hostage,” Issa said. “Withholding critical munitions that Congress appropriated and Biden himself signed into law is wrong.”