Hunter Biden was immediately shut down by House Republicans this week.
This week, President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, agreed to testify in a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee.
According to a letter on Tuesday addressed to committee Chair James Comer, Biden agreed to testify before the committee on Dec. 13. His only condition was that the hearing was public.
In the letter, Biden’s attorneys quoted Comer’s own demand, issued in November, that given Biden’s “willingness to address this investigation publicly up to this point, we would expect him to be willing to testify before Congress.”
The letter added that open-door proceedings “would prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, or one-sided press statements.”
Despite agreeing to testify, Republicans immediately shot Biden down. In a statement about their response, Republicans pointed out that Hunter was trying to play by “his own rules.”
“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else,” Comer wrote in a statement. “That won’t stand with House Republicans.”
The statement continued: “Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on December 13. 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.”
Committee member Jim Jordan added more insight in a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He said that the committee was “glad that Hunter Biden has decided to cooperate and we look forward to hearing from him in a deposition on December 13 and subsequently at a public hearing.”
Unsurprisingly, Democrats weren’t happy with that response. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called Republicans out in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Let me get this straight,” he began. “After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions they pose?”
He continued, “What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it.”
The letter sent by Biden’s attorneys states that the GOP’s “empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources.” It also said, “It should come to an end.”
It went on to say, “Consequently, Mr. Biden will appear at such a public hearing on the date you noticed, December 13, or any date in December that we can arrange. From all the individuals you have requested depositions or interviews, all you will learn is that your accusations are baseless. However, the American people should see that for themselves.”
Republicans have been focused on Hunter Biden and his past in an effort to gain some leverage over President Biden. According to reports from Rolling Stone, three separate congressional committees are currently investigating the Hunter in the hopes of proving allegations of corruption against the president.
Back in September, Biden’s son was charged with three counts related to possessing a firearm while under the influence of narcotics. A plea deal related to the charges collapsed shortly after the indictment, and Hunter has since pleaded not guilty.
Following this, both the House Judiciary and House Ways and Means Committee alleged that the Biden administration improperly interfered with the IRS and Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden in an effort to secure him a favorable plea deal.
The Oversight Committee claims Biden used his father’s position as vice president in the Obama administration, and later his father’s role as president, to secure favorable financial deals for himself and his family. To this day, all of these allegations remain unproven.
The investigations into Hunter Biden have been ongoing for years. Recently, however, Biden and his legal team have switched tactics towards a more offensive approach.
Earlier this year, Biden pointed toward a series of lawsuits against those involved in Republicans’ efforts to prosecute him.
In his offensive efforts, Biden has pointed to the legal trouble of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the CEO of Overstock.com, and the IRS, which Biden alleges improperly handled his tax records.
Now, Hunter is pushing to testify publicly before the Oversight Committee. While his offer was denies, some Republicans are still excited about the opportunity to question him in front of a national audience.
“I welcome Hunter Biden finally agreeing to testify,” Rep. Jason Smith wrote on Tuesday. “It’s long overdue for him to come clean in front of the American people.”
Hunter and his father have been the subjects of allegations of corrupt activities concerning Ukraine since early 2019. The accusations concern Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine along with President Biden’s anti-corruption efforts there.
In 2020, The New York Post published an article about a laptop that previously belonged to Hunter Biden. The computer supposedly contained about 129,000 emails and other materials, but the Post provided no evidence of the authenticity of the device.
While these emails are a popular talking point for Republicans, other media outlets declined to publish the story because of that lack of chronology of the ownership.
Two years later, in March 2022, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that some of the emails found on the computer were authentic. Some have said that the laptop contents being exposed showed corruption by President Biden, but no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Hunter’s father has been found.
Biden’s tax affairs have been a point of contention, for which he has been under federal criminal investigation since late 2018. On July 26, 2023, Biden pled not guilty to tax charges for filing two years of his tax returns late.
On September 14, 2023, Biden was indicted by a special counsel in Delaware on three federal firearms-related charges.