House GOP Backs Down on Biden Impeachment Over Israel Weapons Hold

The attempt to impeach Joe Biden for his threats to stop arms shipments to Israel has appeared to be stalled.

Cory Mills, a Republican from Florida, submitted an article of impeachment to President Joe Biden earlier this month. The article stated that President Biden used his powers to obtain a “quid pro quo” with the government of Israel, by refusing to ship precision-guided weapons in an attempt at changing military policy.

The article of impeachment stated that “President Biden tried to pressure the Government of Israel into taking steps by requiring official United States Government actions of significant value to Israel.” After initial reports surfaced President Biden confirmed the information and said, “I’m not going to supply the weapons historically used to deal Rafah or the cities that deal with this problem.”

Although it appeared that the House Republicans would easily support this, since Biden’s arm-holding was condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, only five cosponsors have signed on to it since its introduction. Mills plans to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson to “strengthen” the language of the resolution. However, this hasn’t convinced the speaker to back the impeachment articles.

A report in the Washington Times stated that “Several House Republicans” said that the actions of the president did not meet the high standard for impeachment. Other Republicans argued that the GOP’s focus should be on the long-running investigation into Mr. Biden’s family business dealings.

Mills’ impeachment has not generated much interest, although it is based on the same law Democrats used to impeach Donald Trump in 2019 for breaking. He claimed that Mr. Biden had violated the Impoundment Control Act when he threatened to withhold weapons approved by Congress. This 1974 law, which was passed at the height of Watergate, limited a president’s power to block funds previously allocated by Congress.

Democrats in 2019 accused Mr. Trump of breaking this law when he said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he would withhold $319 million from funding approved unless Ukraine officials launched an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of Mr. Biden.

Mr. Mills acknowledged the similarities between the two impeachments and even used much of the language in the 2019 impeachment motion by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat.

Mills stated that “the brilliance” of his goal was to take the moral high road when Democrats created an unjust precedent. I agree with this. “But how long can we let them get away with it?” asked Mills.

The White House and Democrats claim that Biden’s threats of blocking arms shipments to Israel are different, even though Democrats impeached Trump for the same accusation. They claim that they were an exercise of his authority in his role as commander-in-chief.

Isn’t that funny?