Meanwhile, House Republicans are gearing up for showdown with Hunter Biden over testimony
From CNN's Paula Reid, Evan Perez and Annie Grayer
Hunter Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26. Mark Makela/Getty Images
Hunter Biden is in Washington, DC, on Wednesday – the same day that House Republicans subpoenaed him to appear for a closed-door deposition – setting up a potential showdown on Capitol Hill, according to multiple sources familiar with his plans.
It’s not yet clear if the president’s son is going to sit down and answer questions from lawmakers who want to interview him as part of their escalated impeachment inquiry.
While Hunter Biden, who lives in California, has already arrived in DC, there is still some internal debate among his advisors about exactly how he should handle the interview request, several sources tell CNN.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have told the House Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary committees that the he’s willing to testify on December 13 – but only if he can do so publicly. House Republicans are insisting they want to talk to him behind closed doors first.
House Republicans are prepared for Hunter Biden to appear for deposition as scheduled on Wednesday, a source familiar with the interview planning told CNN. Republicans have maintained that the president’s son must first appear for a deposition before proceeding with a public hearing, as the younger Biden’s legal team has demanded.
Cameras are set up to film the closed-door deposition, and lawyers have prepared hundreds of questions, but the committees have not heard anything from Biden’s legal team, the source added.
Since the subpoena, Hunter Biden has been charged with nine federal tax offenses in California. He also faces gun-related charges in Delaware. So far, Hunter’s lawyers have not pointed to his criminal exposure as a reason to avoid questions from the committee.
If Biden does not show up on Wednesday, House Republicans have said they will move forward with holding him in contempt for evading the terms of his subpoena. The committee chairmen would have to hold a separate meeting to pass it out of committee in order for it to receive a full House vote.
7 min ago
Where the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden stands
From CNN's Annie Grayer and Marshall Cohen
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Las Vegas on December 8. Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in September, the trio of committees leading the investigation have been trying to build momentum.
They have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members.
Now, the House is expected to vote on Wednesday to formalize the inquiry into the president — something Republican proponents of the vote say will fortify subpoenas and strengthen the inquiry's legal standing. GOP members of the House Rules Committee also argued the move was in response to stonewalling by the administration to hand over documents it requested.
But, even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden. There has only been one hearing related to the inquiry since its launch, where the expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged GOP investigators hadn’t yet presented enough evidence to prove the accusations they were leveling.
At every stage, House Democrats and the White House have refuted and sometimes even debunked the accusations leveled by Republicans, who have tried to connect Joe Biden to his son’s million-dollar overseas deals.
Some of the findings: The House Oversight panel — one of the committees leading the investigation — has focused on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and sought to make connections to his father. In the early stages of their investigation, they interviewed five people and issued nine bank subpoenas, but have ramped up to issue nine subpoenas for testimony in the last month. The Republican-led committee released a document last week showing payment from Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden when he was not in office — but they omitted evidence that the president’s son was repaying his father for a car.
There have also been two personal checks from the president’s brother, James Biden, to Joe Biden when he was not in office, that the committee released. However, available evidence suggests these were loan repayments.
Even though these payments are a far cry from the Republican accusations that the president profited from his family’s foreign business dealings, the existence of the checks has provided fuel to the president’s political opponents and the GOP far-right base.
7 min ago
House set to vote on formalizing impeachment inquiry into President Biden
From CNN's Annie Grayer
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks at the Capitol on November 29. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
House Republicans are expected to vote Wednesday on their resolution to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as their investigation reaches a critical juncture and right-wing pressure grows.
The vote comes as a potential showdown between House Republicans and Hunter Biden is also expected to come to a head on Wednesday, as the president’s son has been subpoenaed to appear for a closed-door deposition and is in Washington, DC. It is not yet clear if Hunter Biden is going to sit down and answer questions from lawmakers who want to interview him as part of their escalated impeachment inquiry.
Up until this point, House Republicans have not had enough votes to legitimize their ongoing inquiry with a full chamber vote. The probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president, which is why it hasn’t garnered the unified support of the full GOP conference.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched the inquiry in September, even though he had previously criticized Democrats for taking the same step in 2019 when they launched the first impeachment probe of then-President Donald Trump without taking a vote at the beginning.
Then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaks to the press at the Capitol on July 25. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
But House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are now confident they have enough support to pass the vote when it comes to the floor on Wednesday.
That is in part because when the White House told the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry, reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers started to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts. The Trump administration made a similar argument against House Democrats at the start of his 2019 impeachment.
The argument from Republican proponents of the effort, according to multiple GOP lawmakers and aides, is that a floor vote will strengthen their legal standing against the White House and fortify their subpoenas to secure key witness testimony.
“The inquiry will help us be more informed,” GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents a swing district in New York, told CNN.
The House Rules Committee previously voted to send a resolution to the floor, by a party-line vote of 9-4. Republicans on the committee argued the move was in response to stonewalling by the administration to hand over documents.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is in Washington, DC, on Wednesday — the same day that House Republicans subpoenaed him to appear for a closed-door deposition, multiple sources say.
Hunter Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26. Mark Makela/Getty Images
Hunter Biden is in Washington, DC, on Wednesday – the same day that House Republicans subpoenaed him to appear for a closed-door deposition – setting up a potential showdown on Capitol Hill, according to multiple sources familiar with his plans.
It’s not yet clear if the president’s son is going to sit down and answer questions from lawmakers who want to interview him as part of their escalated impeachment inquiry.
While Hunter Biden, who lives in California, has already arrived in DC, there is still some internal debate among his advisors about exactly how he should handle the interview request, several sources tell CNN.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have told the House Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary committees that the he’s willing to testify on December 13 – but only if he can do so publicly. House Republicans are insisting they want to talk to him behind closed doors first.
House Republicans are prepared for Hunter Biden to appear for deposition as scheduled on Wednesday, a source familiar with the interview planning told CNN. Republicans have maintained that the president’s son must first appear for a deposition before proceeding with a public hearing, as the younger Biden’s legal team has demanded.
Cameras are set up to film the closed-door deposition, and lawyers have prepared hundreds of questions, but the committees have not heard anything from Biden’s legal team, the source added.
Since the subpoena, Hunter Biden has been charged with nine federal tax offenses in California. He also faces gun-related charges in Delaware. So far, Hunter’s lawyers have not pointed to his criminal exposure as a reason to avoid questions from the committee.
If Biden does not show up on Wednesday, House Republicans have said they will move forward with holding him in contempt for evading the terms of his subpoena. The committee chairmen would have to hold a separate meeting to pass it out of committee in order for it to receive a full House vote.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Las Vegas on December 8. Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in September, the trio of committees leading the investigation have been trying to build momentum.
They have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members.
Now, the House is expected to vote on Wednesday to formalize the inquiry into the president — something Republican proponents of the vote say will fortify subpoenas and strengthen the inquiry's legal standing. GOP members of the House Rules Committee also argued the move was in response to stonewalling by the administration to hand over documents it requested.
But, even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden. There has only been one hearing related to the inquiry since its launch, where the expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged GOP investigators hadn’t yet presented enough evidence to prove the accusations they were leveling.
At every stage, House Democrats and the White House have refuted and sometimes even debunked the accusations leveled by Republicans, who have tried to connect Joe Biden to his son’s million-dollar overseas deals.
Some of the findings: The House Oversight panel — one of the committees leading the investigation — has focused on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and sought to make connections to his father. In the early stages of their investigation, they interviewed five people and issued nine bank subpoenas, but have ramped up to issue nine subpoenas for testimony in the last month. The Republican-led committee released a document last week showing payment from Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden when he was not in office — but they omitted evidence that the president’s son was repaying his father for a car.
There have also been two personal checks from the president’s brother, James Biden, to Joe Biden when he was not in office, that the committee released. However, available evidence suggests these were loan repayments.
Even though these payments are a far cry from the Republican accusations that the president profited from his family’s foreign business dealings, the existence of the checks has provided fuel to the president’s political opponents and the GOP far-right base.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks at the Capitol on November 29. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
House Republicans are expected to vote Wednesday on their resolution to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as their investigation reaches a critical juncture and right-wing pressure grows.
The vote comes as a potential showdown between House Republicans and Hunter Biden is also expected to come to a head on Wednesday, as the president’s son has been subpoenaed to appear for a closed-door deposition and is in Washington, DC. It is not yet clear if Hunter Biden is going to sit down and answer questions from lawmakers who want to interview him as part of their escalated impeachment inquiry.
Up until this point, House Republicans have not had enough votes to legitimize their ongoing inquiry with a full chamber vote. The probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president, which is why it hasn’t garnered the unified support of the full GOP conference.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched the inquiry in September, even though he had previously criticized Democrats for taking the same step in 2019 when they launched the first impeachment probe of then-President Donald Trump without taking a vote at the beginning.
Then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaks to the press at the Capitol on July 25. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
But House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are now confident they have enough support to pass the vote when it comes to the floor on Wednesday.
That is in part because when the White House told the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry, reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers started to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts. The Trump administration made a similar argument against House Democrats at the start of his 2019 impeachment.
The argument from Republican proponents of the effort, according to multiple GOP lawmakers and aides, is that a floor vote will strengthen their legal standing against the White House and fortify their subpoenas to secure key witness testimony.
“The inquiry will help us be more informed,” GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents a swing district in New York, told CNN.
