Newly-elected U.S. Representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), on Wednesday said she plans on filing articles of impeachment against President-elect Joe Biden on his first full day in office next week.
During an appearance on Newsmax Wednesday evening, Greene, a vocal supporter of President Trump, said that she is planning on introducing a measure to impeach Biden on Jan. 21, one day after his inauguration.
“I would like to announce on behalf of the American people, we have to make sure our leaders are held accountable, we cannot have a President of the United States who is willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments, foreign Chinese energy companies, Ukrainian energy companies, so on January 21, I will be filing articles of impeachment on Joe Biden,” Greene told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly.
Greene did not specify what the articles might charge Biden.
On January 21st, I’m filing Articles of Impeachment on President-elect @JoeBiden.
75 million Americans are fed up with inaction.
It’s time to take a stand.
I’m proud to be the voice of Republican voters who have been ignored. #ImpeachBiden#QuidProJoe #BidenCrimeFamily pic.twitter.com/E83s1iOoVF— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) January 14, 2021
But Greene in the interview cited an argument advanced by several Trump allies in the final months of his reelection campaign, that while vice president, Biden threatened to withhold a loan to Ukraine if then-prosecutor general Viktor Shokin was not replaced.
Shokin at the time was investigating the founder of Burisma Holdings, a natural gas giant in Ukraine, of which Biden’s son Hunter Biden had served as a member of the board since 2014.
The U.S. threatened to withhold roughly $1 billion in loan guarantees if Shokin was not replaced as prosecutor general, a message Joe Biden delivered to officials in Kyiv while serving as vice president and recounted during a 2018 Council on Foreign Relations conference.
Taylor Greene shared a clip from the 2018 conference on Wednesday, writing “Quid Pro Joe, in his own words…” and “Americans will not tolerate this.”
Quid Pro Joe, in his own words…
Americans will not tolerate this.#QuidProJoe#BidenCrimeFamily#ImpeachBiden pic.twitter.com/wAOITlEk1N— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) January 14, 2021
While Biden did leverage aid in order to persuade Ukraine to oust Shokin in March 2016, it came amid larger criticism that Shokin was not pursuing allegations of corruption among the country’s politicians.
The former vice president has denied acting with his son’s business interests in mind, and there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by either of the Bidens. There is no evidence that Hunter Biden’s work influenced U.S. policy.
In her Newsmax interview Wednesday, which aired hours after the House voted to impeach Trump for a second time, the Greene said she plans on filing the articles of impeachment to show Americans that “there are Republicans in Congress that are willing to stand up and fight for them.”
“I’m a big believer of having people in office who are actually willing to do the job, and I can’t imagine people in this country being so fearful of a future of a Biden presidency that they may be willing to commit violence like they did in the Capitol here in Washington, D.C. We cannot have that, I do not condone that violence,” the congresswoman said.
Trump was impeached in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress for pressuring Ukraine’s then-newly elected president to investigate the dealings of the Biden family in a phone call. He was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate last February.
Last week’s deadly pro-Trump riot on the Capitol came after Trump urged his supporters at a rally earlier in the day to march toward Congress in opposition to lawmakers’ official Electoral College count of Biden’s 2020 presidential win, repeating his unsubstantiated claims that the election was “stolen.”
Greene’s pledge to move to impeach Biden came the same day the House voted in favor of an article of impeachment against Trump, which charged him with inciting the violent mob on the Capitol. Ten House Republicans sided with Democrats in the 232-197 vote.
