After snubbing a formal subpoena from House lawmakers Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, gave an embarrassing performance at a press conference justifying his decision.
House Republicans, Hunter claimed in front of the Capitol, “belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass my father, who has devoted his entire life to public service.”
“For six years, I have been a target of the unrelenting Trump attack team,” Biden said. “‘Where’s Hunter?’ Well, here’s my answer. I am here.”
The president’s son delivered the speech in Washington to demand lawmakers allow him a public hearing in lieu of a closed-door deposition. Allowing Hunter Biden to dictate the conditions of his congressional subpoena, however, would not only break House protocol established by committees but would also give Biden treatment not afforded to Donald Trump Jr. in 2017. As part of the Democrats’ deep state operation to indict former President Donald Trump as a Russian agent, House lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee grilled Trump Jr. for hours in a closed-door deposition.
Now, Hunter is demanding House Republicans break from Democrats’ precedent and forgo a private deposition. Lawmakers have made clear, however, that Hunter Biden would not be given special treatment.
“We expect full cooperation with our subpoena for a deposition but also agree that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date,” said GOP House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky in November.
House Democrats, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to levy contempt charges against individuals refusing to participate in the House Select Committee on Jan. 6’s illegitimate witch hunt investigation.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Hunter said, “My father was not financially involved in my business,” less than a week after federal prosecutors unveiled nine new tax-related charges against the younger Biden. There is, Biden said, “no evidence to support that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen.”
House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio highlighted the “huge change” in Hunter Biden’s phrasing as a matter of great significance.
“First, it was no involvement. Then no one ever, never talked to anyone, and then we find out about the dinners, the meetings, the phone calls, everything else,” Jordan said. “Now, it’s okay, he wasn’t involved in the business financially.”
“I think that is important,” Jordan added. “It’s one of the reasons we want to talk to Hunter Biden.”
When campaigning in 2019 and 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden routinely distanced himself from his son’s overseas business ventures with claims he “never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period.”
Hunter’s public testimony contradicts reports indicating President Biden interacted with his son’s clients countless times. House Republicans also discovered the Biden family raked in upwards of $20 million from foreign oligarchs and funneled the money through a series of nearly two dozen shell companies.
[READ: Let’s Be Clear: This Is About Joe Biden, Not Hunter Biden]
House Republicans are now debating whether to formalize a presidential impeachment inquiry to probe Biden family influence peddling. According to Politico, Colorado Congressman Ken Buck remains the lone Republican holdout to formalize the proceedings this week.
