Hunter Biden unexpectedly appeared with his attorneys at the House Oversight Committee\u2019s meeting Wednesday morning to consider the resolution that, if passed, would set up a full House vote on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.<\/p>\n
The House Oversight Committee met for a markup Wednesday at 10 a.m. to consider the resolution that recommends contempt proceedings against the first son after he refused to comply with a subpoena compelling him to appear for a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees.<\/p>\n
Biden and his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris came to Capitol Hill to sit in the audience as lawmakers on the panel considered whether to pass the resolution out of committee. Biden and his attorneys ultimately left before the vote on the resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the chaos that unfolded as Biden walked out, reporters peppered him with questions while an unidentified man shouted at him, \u2018Are you on crack today?\u2019<\/p>\n
The House Judiciary Committee is holding a similar markup on the measure recommending Biden be held in contempt of Congress. If the resolution advances out of committees Wednesday, sources said a full contempt of Congress vote on the House floor could take place in the coming days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Our investigation has produced significant evidence suggesting President Biden knew of, participated in and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name,\u2019 House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in his opening statement.<\/p>\n
\u2018We planned to question Hunter Biden about this record of evidence during our deposition, but he blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comer said, \u2018Hunter Biden\u2019s willful refusal to comply with the committees\u2019 subpoenas is a criminal act\u2019 that \u2018constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney\u2019s Office for prosecution as prescribed by law.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name,\u2019 Comer said. \u2018All Americans must be treated equally under the law. And that includes the Bidens.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden, ahead of his subpoenaed deposition, had offered to testify publicly. Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, rejected his request, stressing that the first son would not have special treatment and pointed to the dozens of other witnesses that have appeared, as compelled, for their interviews and depositions. Comer and Jordan vowed to release the transcript of Biden\u2019s deposition.<\/p>\n
The first son, though, defied the subpoena, ignored the offer and delivered a public statement outside the Capitol.<\/p>\n
Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., blasted the move, saying there \u2018is no precedent for the U.S. House of Representatives holding a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath and on a day of the committee\u2019s choosing. Chairman Comer repeatedly urged Hunter Biden to appear at a committee hearing, and Hunter Biden agreed.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the meeting Wednesday, lawmakers acknowledged Biden was in the audience, with Democratic lawmakers asking to have Biden take questions during the session \u2014\u00a0a request Republicans rejected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018My first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today? That\u2019s my first question,\u2019 Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said. \u2018Second question, you are the epitome of white privilege coming in to the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now. Go straight to jail,\u2019 Mace continued. \u2018Our nation is founded on the rule of law. The law applies equally to everyone, no matter what your last name.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
She added, \u2018It does not matter who you are, where you come from, or who your father is, or your last name. Yes, I\u2019m looking at you, Hunter Biden, as I\u2019m speaking to you. You are not above the law at all.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mace asked the first son: \u2018Why can\u2019t you show up for a congressional deposition? You\u2019re here for a political stunt. This is just a PR stunt to you. This is just a game that you are playing with the American people. You\u2019re playing with the truth.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., fired back, saying if the committee wants to hear from Biden, the panel should vote and \u2018hear from Hunter right now.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Who wants to hear from Hunter right now, today? Anyone? Come on,\u2019 Moskowitz said. \u2018Who wants to hear from Hunter? Yeah, no one. So I\u2019m a visual learner, and the visual is clear. Nobody over there wants to hear from the witness.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
After they left, Lowell\u00a0briefly addressed reporters.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hunter Biden is and was a private citizen. Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father,\u2019 Lowell said. \u2018And, despite their improper partisan motives, on six different occasions since February of 2023, we have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lowell claimed that their \u2018first five offers were ignored.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018And then in November, they issued a subpoena for a behind-closed-doors deposition, a tactic that the Republicans have repeatedly misused in their political crusade to selectively leak and mischaracterize what witnesses have said,\u2019 Lowell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lowell pointed to Comer\u2019s \u2018explicit offer that people like Hunter\u2026 had the option to attend a deposition or a public hearing, whichever they chose.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Hunter chose a hearing where Republicans could not distort manipulate, or misuse that testimony,\u2019 Lowell said, calling the move to consider a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress \u2018unprecedented\u2019 in light of his offer to \u2018publicly answer all their proper questions.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The question there is, what are they afraid of?\u2019 Lowell asked, before departing the Capitol.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, last month, Comer and Jordan expanded their investigation to probe whether\u00a0President Biden\u00a0was involved in his son\u2019s \u2018scheme\u2019 to defy his subpoena for deposition earlier this month \u2014 conduct, they say, \u2018could constitute an impeachable offense.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden, when making his public statement last month, said his \u2018father was not financially involved in my business.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018No evidence to support that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The House impeachment inquiry against President Biden was formalized by the full House last month. The inquiry is being led by Comer, Jordan and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.<\/p>\n\n
Hunter Biden unexpectedly appeared with his attorneys at the House Oversight Committee\u2019s meeting Wednesday morning to consider the resolution that, if passed, would set up a full House vote on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. The House <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}