Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, will sit for a closed-door testimony before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees on Feb. 28, the committee chairmen said Thursday: after weeks of back and forth with the young Biden, who risked being held in contempt of Congress.
“(Hunter Biden’s) deposition will come after several interviews with Biden family members and associates. We look forward to Hunter Biden’s testimony,” said James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio , the presidents of surveillance and the judiciary. in a report.
Speaking to reporters later Thursday, Comer said, “He’s going to be able to come in now, sit down and answer questions in a substantive and orderly way.”
“We have a lot of questions,” Comer said.
Members of the three committees charged with conducting the impeachment inquiry — judicial, oversight and ways and means — will be able to attend and ask questions, he said.
The president’s son was subpoenaed for closed-door testimony late last year as part of the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into the president, but said he would only testify in a public forum and had previously blasted the investigation as “illegitimate.”
A source familiar with the deposition negotiations said Hunter Biden was concerned that any private comments made to lawmakers could be selectively released.
Instead of sitting down for a closed-door interview on Dec. 13, as his subpoena required, Hunter Biden held a defiant press conference just outside the U.S. Capitol.
“Republicans don’t want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, denounce their baseless investigation or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I’m here,” he said then declared.
He faced a contempt vote for his refusal and, had he been found in contempt, he could have been prosecuted by the Justice Department. But his agreement to testify will delay and potentially render moot the ongoing contempt vote.
Congressional Republicans said they were open to public testimony at an unspecified “future date” but “do not need and will not grant Mr. Biden’s request for special treatment regarding concerns the manner in which he testifies.
Hunter Biden attends the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s markup titled “Resolution Recommending that the House of Representatives Find Robert Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress,” January 10, 2024.
Tom Williams/CQ-Appel via Getty Images
Biden’s impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by now-deposed President Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to provide concrete evidence to support the claims of the Republican Party that Joe Biden participated in and took advantage of his son. and the family’s business dealings abroad.
The president has denied any wrongdoing.
A House Oversight Committee report recommending a contempt charge against Hunter Biden said his testimony was “necessary” to determine whether there are “sufficient grounds” for the president’s impeachment. Comer said Thursday that “we are very concerned that the president of the United States may be compromised.”
On January 10, Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at a contempt hearing held by the House Oversight Committee – a move that sparked outrage among Republicans.
“You are the embodiment of white privilege, walking into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our faces, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be impeached. What are you afraid of?” said South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, just after entering the room. She went on to say that the younger Biden should be arrested and go “straight to jail.”
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, accompanied him to the hearing and spoke to the press outside, although Hunter Biden ignored shouted questions.
“Hunter Biden was and still is a private citizen. Despite this, Republicans sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father,” Lowell said.
He accused Republicans of caring “little for the truth” and trying to “disdain someone who offered to publicly answer all their questions.”
In a letter sent Friday morning to Comer and Jordan, Lowell argued that the subpoenas and moves to find Hunter Biden in contempt suffered from “legal impropriety and invalidity.”
Comer pushed back against Hunter Biden’s resistance during Wednesday’s hearing.
“We will not give special treatment to Hunter Biden because of his last name. All Americans must be treated equally under the law, and that includes the Bidens,” he said.
Lucien Bruggeman of ABC News contributed to this report.
