Leading House Republicans sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Hunter Biden and James Biden, alleging they made false statements about "key aspects"  of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden even as the president's son is currently standing trial in federal court in Delaware.

The letter from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith was delivered to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel David Weiss, whose investigation into Hunter Biden led to the court case.

It alleges the president's son and brother made false statements "in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate Joe Biden from the duly authorized impeachment inquiry."  

The Republican-led committees are investigating whether the president played a part in "international influence peddling schemes" that generated millions of dollars for the Biden family, the letter, dated Wednesday, says. 

Abbe Lowell, the lawyer for Hunter Biden, said Republicans move is " nothing more than a desperate attempt by Republicans to twist Hunter's testimony so they can distract from their failed impeachment inquiry and interfere with his trial," NBC News reported. 

In a similar vein, James Biden's lawyer, Paul Fishman, called it a "baseless partisan action" intended to "distract from and retaliate for Donald Trump's recent criminal conviction."

A jury in Manhattan criminal court last Thursday found the former president guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of an attempt to pay off a former porn star to quiet her accusations she had a sexual affair with him in 2006.