House Oversight chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress if the president’s son does not appear on Capitol Hill next week to testify.
Earlier Wednesday, Biden’s legal counsel Abbe Lowell reiterated Hunter’s willingness to appear before Congress in a public hearing, rather than behind closed doors, as Comer and his committee demanded.
“He is making this choice because the Committee has demonstrated time and again it uses closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort, the facts and misinform the American public – a hearing would ensure transparency and truth in these proceedings,” Lowell said in a statement.
Comer responded by pointing out that Biden is required to appear under the conditions set by the committee and is not free to determine in what setting he will testify.
“Contrary to the assertions in your letter, there is no ‘choice’ for Mr. Biden to make; the subpoenas compel him to appear for a deposition on December 13,” Comer wrote in response. “If Mr. Biden does not appear for his deposition on December 13, 2023, the Committees will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings,” the chairman wrote in a letter co-signed by House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R., Ohio).
Both the Oversight and House Judiciary Committees are contemplating an impeachment case against President Joe Biden based on allegations that he benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings during his time in the Obama White House.
In recent weeks, the committees revealed that then-vice-president Biden received a $200,000 personal check from his brother, James, after the latter received the identical amount from his now-bankrupt healthcare business, Americore. The White House has insisted the check was a “loan repayment” and does not reflect any nefarious dealings.
On Friday, Lowell accused House Republicans of using “closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public.”
“Your Committee has been working for almost a year — without success to tie our client’s business activities to his father,” Lowell continued in a statement. “Your empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources. It should come to an end.”
Comer and House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) responded by arguing that the evidence they’ve already revealed publicly is sufficient to conclude that Biden was involved in — and benefitted from — his son’s business dealings, despite his denials.
“Your recent letter makes several baseless and misleading assertions that we are compelled to clarify. It implies that the Committees have no valid legislative purpose for these subpoenas. Any such assertion is incorrect,” the two influential House Republicans wrote in a letter obtained by National Review on Friday afternoon. “You also suggest that there is no evidence to support a finding that Mr. Biden’s business dealings implicate the official actions of his father. This is contrary to the facts already established through the investigation the president’s son would be willing to testify publicly before Congress.”
In early November, House Republicans subpoenaed Hunter as part of the broader impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Tensions have been simmering as House Republicans eagerly awaited Biden’s appearance on Capitol Hill.