Republicans Botch Biden’s Impeachment

• The GOP-led House Oversight Committee finally released its report on President Biden’s alleged financial corruption

• The report likely will not translate into meaningful legislation or policy change

• This continues a trend of House Republicans failing to capitalize on damning committee findings

The story

After years of Republican investigations into President Joe Biden’s alleged financial corruption, the House Oversight Committee concluded that he engaged in “impeachable conduct” — accusing him of "abusing his office" and "defrauding the United States to enrich his family.”

The nearly 300-page report alleges that the Biden family and associates received over $27 million from foreign interests since 2014, implying that these payments would buy access to Joe Biden. The payments were made by businessmen and oligarchs from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Romania, funneled through shell companies designed to hide their origins.

Additionally, the House Oversight report accuses the Biden family of exploiting Joe Biden’s vice presidency to secure over $8 million in unpaid loans from Democrat benefactors.

Republicans cited testimony they obtained indicating that Biden took part in the conspiracy by attending dinners with foreign business partners and engaging in phone calls with his son Hunter Biden’s business contacts.

The allegations stemmed from evidence found on Hunter’s laptop in 2020. Among the most striking revelations was that the family funneled money from a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) asset to Joe Biden as part of a deal Hunter made. Unlike other stories, this is proven — not just alleged.

However, while Republicans have for years been exposing alleged corruption of the Biden family, it is unlikely that these findings will result in any consequences. House Republicans are far short of having enough support to impeach the president, and the prospect of Biden’s removal by the Senate appears even more distant.

This isn't the first time a Republican committee made damning allegations against its opponents, with minimal tangible results. In December 2023, the House Oversight Committee reported on Biden’s FBI weaponizing law enforcement against conservative Catholics. It also reported that the CIA colluded with Biden’s 2020 campaign to downplay Hunter’s laptop as “Russian misinformation.”

In fact, dozens of GOP-led reports on government corruption have failed to translate into change, reflecting a longstanding pattern of Republicans failing to pass legislation or take action to address wrongdoings. By contrast, Democrats impeached former President Donald Trump twice during his term, even though their allegations relied heavily on outright hoaxes.

GOP leadership dropping the ball

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is a top House Republican who typically flouts accomplishments originating from House committees. Jordan celebrated the Oversight Committee’s impeachment case against President Biden, saying that “Democrats can no longer stretch the truth to cover for President Biden.”

But with just over two months until the election and Biden out of the race, the report has lost its political relevance.

House Oversight Committee Chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) all but admitted the report had no immediate political value, instead choosing to focus on tarnishing the president’s “legacy.”

Leaders like Jordan, Comer, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have no use for impeaching Biden now, even if they had the necessary votes — simply because the effort took too long.

The only hard action from GOP leadership in response to serious allegations of corruption came from a bipartisan bill introduced by Comer and Democrat Rep. Katie Porter (CA). The bill mandates that presidents and vice presidents, along with immediate family members, disclose conflicts of interest, foreign payments, expensive gifts, loan transactions, and tax returns — for two years before, during, and after their terms in office.

The legislation has been sitting in committee since May.

An underwhelming term

It may appear that Republican leadership’s inability to pass meaningful legislation to address Democrat malfeasance is due to a divided Congress. Although Republicans control the House, Democrats maintain a slight majority in the Senate. Congress is divided, and political partisanship runs deep, so little legislation is likely to make it through both chambers.

Despite the divide, Republicans occasionally manage to pass meaningful legislation. Back in 2023, House Republicans passed the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act in a party-line vote, to prevent federal officials from pushing for censorship. The bill was introduced in response to federal bureaucrats’ efforts to coerce Big Tech to censor viewpoints on social media.

This is one of few occasions where a House Oversight Committee report resulted in the House of Representatives stepping up to pass legislation — just one instance in two years since Republicans controlled the House when a meaningful bill passed. The bill was never subsequently addressed in the Senate.

House Republicans have trouble passing even simple spending bills — most recently failing to pass legislative funding for fiscal year 2025, which resulted in the Democrat-controlled Senate taking charge. The GOP-sponsored bill that was nixed included “unnecessary, harmful, and discriminatory policies,” according to Democrats. In that spending bill, Republicans sought to slash DEI programs and plastic waste programs — evidently a nonstarter for Democrats.

House leadership is tasked with finding workarounds to pass such bills. But Republicans continue to face challenges in leading their slim majority, struggling to pass even routine legislation.

Democrats have called out Republicans for their embarrassing performance this term, citing that the House GOP has had the most rule votes go down in American history. They had to remove a member of their own party and deal with several resignations, and have passed approximately 50 bills, while most House terms average 400.

Issues within the Republican caucus go far beyond just maintaining a slim majority. Key Republican organizations like the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee have repeatedly fallen short in securing victories in the 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022 elections.

Why it matters

After years of Republicans spotlighting Joe and Hunter Biden’s alleged corruption, House Oversight Committee results arrived months too late to provide any added value. Now that President Biden is less relevant, the “impeachment inquiry” that GOP leadership had been drumming up will almost certainly not lead to impeachment.

And with Kamala Harris now representing the Democrat Party, the political calculus has changed, rendering the report even less consequential.

Even if Republicans secure a larger House majority in November, and possibly the Senate, they will still face the challenge of unifying around key policy priorities. The GOP’s leadership problem could continue hindering its ability to fulfill conservative interests.