House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News Digital that he will release the transcript of Hunter Biden\u2019s deposition later this month and will schedule a public hearing for the president\u2019s son after he testifies behind closed doors as part of the \u2018most transparent major congressional investigation in history.\u2019<\/p>\n
Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Hunter Biden for a deposition earlier this month. The deposition is set for Dec. 13.<\/p>\n
But Hunter Biden\u2019s attorney Abbe Lowell has, instead, offered the president\u2019s son for a public hearing, where he can answer questions and offer his testimony directly before the American people.<\/p>\n
Democrats have blasted Comer and House Republicans amid their impeachment inquiry against President Biden for not taking Lowell up on the offer, saying their denial proves that the case against the first son is weak.<\/p>\n
But Comer dismissed those claims in an interview with Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
\u2018Democrats always create a false narrative ahead of potential peril,\u2019 Comer told Fox News Digital, using Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop as an example of Democrats peddling the inaccurate narrative that the laptop was a product of Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have always planned on deposing the key witness in this entire investigation \u2014 that\u2019s the president\u2019s son,\u2019 Comer said.<\/p>\n
Comer told Fox News Digital that his committee has \u2018accumulated tens of thousands of pages of documents.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We have hundreds of questions that we have to ask Hunter Biden,\u2019 Comer said, noting that a public hearing is not an efficient setting to get answers to all questions. \u2018If you have a public hearing, we may get to 35, 40 questions with five minutes each way. In a deposition, we can easily get 400-plus questions in.\u2019<\/p>\n
Comer stressed that the deposition of Hunter Biden \u2018will be transparent.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We will release the transcripts,\u2019 he said. \u2018We always do unless they contain classified information.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comer said that \u2018This has been the most transparent major congressional investigation in history.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comer said that each time the committee investigators find new evidence, they \u2018present it\u2019 to the public.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have done four bank memorandums,\u2019 he said. \u2018We have had countless press conferences.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We want Hunter Biden to have a public hearing \u2014 but he will be deposed first,\u2019 Comer continued. \u2018That is how every investigation in history \u2014 whether a congressional investigation or a criminal investigation by law enforcement agencies \u2014 they always begin with a deposition.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comer slammed his Democratic colleagues for a double standard.<\/p>\n
\u2018We will have the public hearing, but the Democrats are trying to create a narrative that depositions are bad,\u2019 he said. \u2018All they did were depositions in the January 6 investigation, and when they did hold the public hearings, they showed films of the depositions they did.\u2019<\/p>\n
The top Democrat on the Oversight Committee called Comer\u2019s denial of Hunter Biden\u2019s request for a public hearing an \u2018epic humiliation\u2019 and said their hesitancy to let the president\u2019s son give public testimony is \u2018a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Let me get this straight,\u2019 Raskin said. \u2018After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose?\u2019<\/p>\n
But former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who served as the House Oversight Committee chairman and led several high-profile investigations, including the congressional probe of Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private email server, said it is \u2018normal and customary for a serious investigation to do a transcribed interview or deposition before a public hearing.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The good news is, they get to do both,\u2019 Chaffetz, a Fox News contributor, told Fox News Digital. \u2018A deposition is a different format \u2014 the content is complex and deep, and we did that routinely, and it is the proper way to do an investigation.\u2019<\/p>\n
Chaffetz added that the Bidens \u2018don\u2019t get to dictate how the House of Representatives does their investigations.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chaffetz explained that in a deposition, questions are asked by professional staff \u2014 not lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can get a better, more thorough investigation done during the deposition, which should be the goal of everybody,\u2019 Chaffetz said.<\/p>\n
Chaffetz told Fox News Digital he thinks Hunter Biden\u2019s team knows a public hearing \u2018is much easier than doing a transcribed interview.\u2019<\/p>\n