Republican who voted twice against Israel aid wants to impeach Biden for threatening to hold it back

• Rep. Cory Mills wants to impeach Biden after he threatened to withhold some aid to Israel.
• But the Florida congressman voted against that very aid — twice.
• He also inaccurately conflates Biden’s move with the Ukraine quid pro quo that got Trump impeached.

Rep. Cory Mills wants to impeach President Joe Biden for withholding military aid to Israel that the Florida Republican voted against — twice.

While stressing that he would continue to supply defensive weapons to Israel, Biden said in a CNN interview earlier this week that the US would not supply further offensive weapons — including bombs and artillery shells — to the Jewish state if it proceeds with a full-scale invasion of Rafah, which could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. The US has already paused the transfer of thousands of other bombs.

Mills, a freshman lawmaker and former arms dealer, argued that Biden’s move amounted to a quid pro quo. “Joe Biden is pressuring Israel, our biggest ally in the Middle East, by pausing their funding that has already been approved in the House, if they don’t stop all operations with Hamas,” Mills told Fox News. “It’s a very clear message, ‘this for that.'”

Yet when the House voted to approve that very aid last month, Mills was among the 21 Republicans who voted against it, leading the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to halt fundraising to the Florida congressman.

Mills was among the 14 Republicans who voted against a clean standalone Israel aid bill in February. While otherwise staunchly pro-Israel, Mills has said that he is only supportive of a version of the Israel aid package that included billions in cuts to the Internal Revenue Service — a complete non-starter for Democrats, who control the Senate and White House.

He has also expressed opposition to providing aid to Gaza, and April’s package included more than $9 billion in humanitarian aid.

Like other Republicans, the Florida congressman is likening Biden’s moves to former President Donald Trump’s leveraging of military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating Hunter Biden, which spurred Trump’s first impeachment.

But the two cases are quite different.

Trump was impeached in part for engaging in a corrupt scheme to benefit himself politically, while Biden is withholding the aid out of concern about Israel’s conduct — something that President Ronald Reagan did in 1983.

Additionally, the Trump administration was found to have broken the law with his delay of Ukraine aid. Biden could find himself in the same position if he withholds the aid indefinitely, but as one expert told Business Insider, Biden isn’t required to send the aid immediately.