by Hunter Biden, the president’s son, surprised Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday morning when he briefly appeared in the hearing room as they were about to vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for not showing up. to a private statement.
The arrival of the younger Biden, who repeatedly offered to testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry against President Biden but refused to be interviewed behind closed doors, caused chaos in the process as Democrats and Republicans argued over whether to allow him to be listened. .
The exchange pitted some of former President Donald J. Trump’s staunchest supporters against the son of his successor and chief political rival, underscoring the bitter polarization that is driving the impeachment inquiry.
Democrats on the panel urged controlling Republicans to allow Biden to testify right then and there, but GOP lawmakers insisted he submit to closed-door deposition as mandated by his subpoena.
As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., began speaking against the younger Biden, he and his entourage left the room within minutes of arriving, prompting Greene to label him a “coward.”
“Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can’t even face my words,” said Greene, who had shown naked photos of Biden during a previous committee hearing.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called her actions “shameful” and argued that Biden was justified in leaving while she spoke.
“She is the person who showed naked photos of Hunter Biden in this committee room,” he said.
The spectacle was the younger Biden’s latest attempt to undermine Republicans’ argument that he failed to comply with his subpoena by showing that he was available to testify publicly. He did not address the panel Wednesday, but previously said he does not want to be interviewed behind closed doors because he fears Republicans will selectively leak his testimony in an effort to misrepresent him.
Hunter Biden is under federal indictment and faces allegations of tax crimes related to his foreign business interests. Republicans are looking for evidence that his father was inappropriately involved in his foreign business dealings and are working to build a case to charge the president with bribery and corruption, but so far they have found no evidence of either. both.
At a Capitol news conference on the day Republicans hoped to depose him last month, Biden acknowledged his personal failings, described in scandalous detail in the indictment against him, but said they had nothing to do with his father and that his father he had no financial involvement in his business.
Republicans reacted angrily to Biden’s appearance, with one of them, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, saying he should be arrested and jailed on the spot.
“You are the epitome of white privilege, walking into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our faces, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed,” Mace told Biden as he sat in the audience. “What are you afraid of? “You don’t have balls.”
“If the lady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear him right now,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida.
Wednesday’s action by the Oversight Committee sends the contempt charge, which accuses Biden of violating its subpoena, to the House floor. If the House supports the charge, it would be up to the Justice Department to decide whether to pursue a criminal case against him.
“We will not give Hunter Biden special treatment because of his last name,” said Rep. James R. Comer, R-Ky., the committee’s chairman.
Outside the committee room, as Hunter Biden left the building, Abbe Lowell, his lawyer, accused Republicans of engaging in a “political crusade” that included targeted leaks. He said Biden has offered, at least six times, to testify in public.
“Republican presidents today are taking an unprecedented step to hold in contempt someone who has offered to publicly answer all of their appropriate questions,” Lowell told a crowd of reporters who had gathered around him and Biden. “The question is: ‘What are they afraid of?’”
Biden made only brief comments to reporters and at one point responded to a question about why he had put his father on speakerphone while speaking with business partners.
“Do you have a dad?” she asked. “He calls you? Do you answer the phone?
The younger Biden had appeared at the Capitol on Dec. 13 to offer to testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry, but insisted he would not show up for a private deposition that House Republicans had scheduled because of his refusals.
That offer did not meet the demands of the Republicans’ subpoena and they said they would not accept it.
“Let me say it as clearly as I can,” Hunter Biden said at the time. “My father was not financially involved in my business, neither as a practicing lawyer, nor as a member of the board of directors of Burisma, nor in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, nor in my investments at home or abroad and certainly not as an artist.
Democrats maintain that Comer should have accepted Biden’s offer to testify publicly, noting that he had previously offered to allow witnesses to testify on either occasion. a statement or a public hearing, “whatever they choose.”
They also argue that a contempt case has never been brought against a witness who repeatedly offered to give public testimony.
In the last Congress, when Democrats controlled the House, the chamber voted to refer four recalcitrant witnesses on contempt charges after they failed to cooperate with the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 2021. However, unlike Hunter Biden, none of those four witnesses (all Trump allies) had offered to testify publicly.
The federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., ultimately charged two of those witnesses, Stephen K. Bannon and Peter Navarro, who were convicted but are appealing their cases. Criminal contempt charges carry a maximum sentence of one year in prison, as well as a fine of up to $100,000.
The January 6 committee failed to refer for contempt all witnesses who defied its subpoenas. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, for example, was among Republican members of Congress who received a subpoena but did not cooperate with the investigation.
The Jan. 6 panel decided instead to refer Jordan and three other Republican congressmen to the Ethics Committee for investigation.
On Wednesday, Moskowitz said he would vote for the contempt subpoena against Hunter Biden if Republicans added the names of GOP congressmen who failed to comply with subpoenas during the last Congress.
