Joe Biden ready to join impeachment calls

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Tuesday is expected to back impeachment of President Trump if the White House does not comply with document requests from House Democrats, according to multiple reports.

Mr. Biden will declare that Congress has “no choice” but to impeach Mr. Trump if he defies their demands, the Biden campaign told reporters.

Mr. Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, will join the growing chorus of impeachment calls in a 2 p.m. speech in his home state of Delaware.

He is also at the center of the allegations that gave new momentum to House Democrats’ push for impeachment.

A whistleblower accused Mr. Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian president to open a corruption investigation targeting Mr. Biden and his son Hunter, who served on a board of a Ukraine gas company.

During a visit to Kiev as vice president in 2016, Mr. Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if the country’s leader did not fire Ukraine’s chief prosecutor for failing to investigate corruption.

The prosecutor also was allegedly looking into the Ukraine gas company where Hunter Biden collected paychecks, including as much as $3 million in wire transfers, according to reports.

Mr. Biden has said he did nothing wrong and that he and his son did not discuss foreign business deals.

Mr. Trump has acknowledged discussing the Bidens in the July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Trump administration was withholding U.S. aid from Ukraine at that time.

Mr. Trump said Tuesday he temporarily withheld military aid from the Ukraine because he wanted other countries to contribute their fair share, denying he used it as leverage to pressure an investigation of Mr. Biden.

“As far as withholding funds, they were paid,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the United Nations. “They were fully paid. I want other countries to put up money. People called me and said ‘let it go,’ and I let it go.”