House Republicans released a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after the younger Biden failed to appear for a scheduled deposition last month, defying a congressional subpoena.
The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to consider the resolution at a markup on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Hunter Biden appeared outside the Capitol on December 13 and said he would only testify before the House Oversight Committee if he could do so in a public hearing. The committee had previously issued a subpoena to the younger Biden compelling him to participate in a deposition. He was scheduled to give a closed-door testimony that day.
“What are they afraid of? I’m here, I’m ready,” Hunter Biden said outside of the Capitol.
He said he was given the option to participate in depositions or committee hearings. “Well, I’ve chosen. I’m here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions,” he said.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” the younger Biden told reporters.
Now, House Republicans say Hunter “violated federal law, and must be held in contempt of Congress.”
“Mr. Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas—while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters—is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions. Accordingly, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability recommends that Congress find Robert Hunter Biden in contempt for his failure to comply with the Committee subpoena issued to him,” a report accompanying the resolution reads.
The report says Hunter’s testimony is a “critical component” of the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
“The Oversight and Accountability Committee, with the other investigating committees, has accumulated significant evidence suggesting that President Biden knew of, participated in, and profited from foreign business interests engaged in by his son, about which the Committees intended to question Mr. Biden during his deposition. Mr. Biden’s decision to defy the Committees’ subpoenas and deliver prepared remarks prevents the Committee from carrying out its Constitutional oversight function and its impeachment inquiry,” the report adds.
Last month, lawmakers said comments from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggest President Biden may have obstructed congressional proceedings.
“The president was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say, and I think what you saw was from the heart from his son,” Jean-Pierre told reporters the day Hunter refused to appear for his deposition.
The press secretary’s comments suggest “President Biden was aware in advance that his son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas,” Comer and Jordan wrote in a letter to the Executive Office of the President.
“In light of Ms. Jean-Pierre’s statement, we are compelled to examine the involvement of the President in his son’s scheme to defy the Committees’ subpoenas,” the lawmakers wrote. “The Committees have accumulated substantial evidence that Hunter Biden’s business endeavors have improperly included his father, and the President has made false claims about his knowledge and involvement in these schemes.”
The letter asks the White House to turn over all relevant documents “sent or received by employees of the Executive Office of the President regarding the deposition of Hunter Biden” and “sent or received by employees of the Executive Office of the President regarding President Biden’s statement about his family’s business associates on December 6, 2023″ by January 10.
The House Oversight Committee has said financial records show the Biden family created a complex web of more than 20 shell companies “in a concerted effort to hide payments from foreign adversaries.” The family, its business associates, and their companies raked in more than $24 million from foreign nationals over a period of five years. That includes millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan.
The committee has released bank records that purportedly show a complicated series of money transfers that ultimately resulted in President Biden receiving $40,000 that originated with a Chinese company affiliated with CEFC China Energy.
Biden received a $40,000 personal check from an account shared by his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden, in September 2017 — money that was marked as a “loan repayment.” The alleged repayment was sent after funds were filtered from Northern International Capital, a Chinese company affiliated with CEFC, through several accounts related to Hunter Biden and eventually down to the personal account shared by James and Sara Biden.
The committee says the series of payments establish a direct benefit Biden received from his family’s business dealings, despite Biden’s claims that he has not been involved.
Former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer testified that then-vice president Biden joined at least 20 phone calls and in-person meetings with Hunter’s foreign business associates during their time working together. He explained that access to the vice president served as the selling point of the Biden “brand” that allowed him and Hunter several lucrative financial opportunities, including joining the board of Burisma.
At the time, Burisma’s founder and CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, was being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, whom the elder Biden later bragged about having fired.
Then-vice president Joe Biden’s office exchanged 19,335 emails with Hunter Biden’s investment firm Rosemont Seneca, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed earlier this year.