House Republicans could face a roadblock from the Department of Justice in their expansive investigation into first son Hunter Biden before the investigation is complete.
The DOJ is also believed to be investigating Biden and whether he committed any crimes. If the department indicts Biden, it would cripple the House investigation by allowing witnesses to plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating themselves.
Republicans commenced their investigation Wednesday with a public hearing on Twitter's decision to bury a New York Post story on Biden's laptop.
The House Oversight Committee heard testimonies from former Twitter Deputy General Counsel James Baker, former Global Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, and Vijaya Gadde, the platform's former chief legal officer. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has admitted suppressing the story was a mistake.
GOP lawmakers are investigating potential conflicts of interest in the Biden family. They're also looking at Biden's business dealings and the sale of his artwork.
As the investigation opened, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) suggested the DOJ should avoid indicting the first son until the congressional investigation is complete, according to Politico.
“If they indict Hunter Biden, there’s still a lot of stuff out there. And say we can’t touch anything [Hunter related], it freezes up all the evidence — there’s still a lot of stuff out there,” Comer told the outlet.
Comer reportedly admitted that criminal charges against Biden would harm the congressional investigation by allowing witnesses to plead the Fifth Amendment. But, if witnesses did invoke the amendment, Republicans would shift their focus to another member of the Biden clan, Comer said.
Comer estimated that the investigation into Biden would only take a "matter" of months, but he did not give any more details on a possible timeline.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) questioned why Republicans or the DOJ would even open an investigation. He said it would be opened under "false pretenses."
“Why not, in some cases, say … ‘We know DOJ is investigating, and we’re gonna wait to hear the results before we do.’ We did that with the Mueller report,” Connolly told Politico.
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Biden has since gone on the offensive. His lawyers requested that Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and 11 others place a litigation hold on potential evidence for future lawsuits related to the alleged theft of personal information found on Biden's laptop. Letters requesting the hold were sent out Wednesday, according to NBC News.