Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, is seen making a surprise appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s marking and meeting to vote on whether to hold Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a request to testify on the House floor last . moon, on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, on January 10, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Hunter Biden’s lawyer told Republican House committee chairs on Friday that he would comply with subpoenas seeking his deposition if they issued new ones — reversing his previous demand that such testimony be given in a public hearing.
The surprise offer came two days after two House committees passed resolutions urging President Joe Biden’s son to be found in contempt of Congress for defying a previous subpoena.
Hunter Biden appeared at a hearing of one of those panels before the vote and silently stared down GOP lawmakers who want to oust him over an investigation into possible impeachment of President Biden.
A full House vote on the contempt resolutions was expected next week. But Hunter Biden’s new impeachment bid could change that.
If Biden is found in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department would consider prosecuting him for failing to comply with previous subpoenas.
In a letter Friday, Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told two House Republican caucus chairmen that those previous subpoenas were legally invalid.
But: “If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a properly authorized impeachment investigation, Mr. Biden will comply with a hearing or deposition,” Lowell wrote to Oversight Committee Chairmen James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio. judicial panel.
“On behalf of Mr. Biden, we will accept such a subpoena.
Lowell’s offer came at the end of an eight-page letter criticizing the chairman for accepting the contempt order despite Biden’s insistence that he be willing to testify in public.
“You proceeded with the contempt proceeding, falsely asserting that Mr. Biden requested ‘special treatment,’ despite Mr. Comer’s repeated and public statements about the witnesses and Mr. Biden’s ability to testify at a deposition or hearing of his choosing,” Lowell wrote. .
Comer and Jordan’s committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Lowell’s letter.
Lowell argued that the public hearing would prevent Republicans from taking Biden’s testimony in private only to later misrepresent or mischaracterize what he said in statements to the media or elsewhere.
The attorney told Comer and Jordan that he was writing the letter to “put you on notice … that your subpoenas were and are legally void and cannot form a legal basis for proceeding with your misdirected and impermissible contempt order.”
The prosecution’s investigation centers on allegations that Joe Biden’s family members, with the involvement of the Democratic president, corruptly abused his political position and power for personal financial gain.
The Bidens and the White House have rejected any suggestion of “influence play” and denied wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden is currently facing criminal charges in two federal courts.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to nine criminal counts related to failing to pay income taxes on time. The judge in that case tentatively scheduled the trial to begin on June 20.
Biden previously pleaded not guilty in federal court in Delaware to charges related to possession of a weapon while a drug user.