You may be wondering why the House’s leading Democratic blowhards are conducting press conferences while Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition is going on, rather than, you know, conducting the deposition. This is, of course, the annoying Washington game of “we must get the spin out there before the GOP gets the transcript out there,” but it does highlight why the deposition is preferable to the nigh useless House committee public hearings.

Rather than being conducted by these characters, most of the questioning at depositions is conducted by competent investigators. Though each party has its own investigators, and the parties obviously have competing political objectives in their interrogations, those investigators typically know how to conduct a thorough, linear examination, using documentary exhibits and other evidence to limit the witness’s opportunity to lapse into self-serving soliloquies (as Hunter Biden is wont to do).

Moreover, the depositions feature one-hour rounds of questioning, which enable good examiners to develop lines of inquiry with the depth they merit. This compares favorably to the chaotic House hearings, where over 40 members are allowed five-minute rounds, during which they’re more apt to make speeches than ask questions — indeed, to “reclaim my time” if the witness even tries to get a word in edgewise.

Also, because the depositions are behind closed doors, they tend to be more professional and efficient than the committees’ public hearings. The latter are long on drama — or at least futile attempts to generate drama — and short on edifying exchanges.

That being the case, Jamie Raskin, AOC, Eric Swalwell, and the gang are not really needed inside the deposition room. They have time to do what they do best: step outside and clown it up in front of the cameras. That’s not to say there won’t be Republican spin, too, but James Comer has been good about getting important transcripts swiftly into the public domain. If you want to know what Hunter and the other witnesses really said, as opposed to what Raskin would have you think it all means, read the deposition transcript. We should have that in a few days.