Tapper mocks Comer for claim about Hunter Biden indictment

CNN anchor Jake Tapper mocked House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) for a claim he made about Hunter Biden’s recent indictment Friday.

“[M]y concern is that [Special Counsel David Weiss] may have indicted Hunter Biden to protect from him having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday,” Comer said to Tapper. 

Tapper then responded sarcastically.

“Yes, the classic rubric. He indicted him to protect him. I got it,” he said.

Hunter was recently charged with new tax crimes on Thursday in California. The charges include three felony tax charges and six misdemeanor charges.

“Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns,” prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night press release.

Hunter and his uncle James were subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee last month. The committee is seeking depositions from Biden family members as its impeachment inquiry goes on. 

The House Oversight Committee tried to get a closed-door deposition set for next week, but the younger Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell noted in a letter his concerns about how Republicans could “manipulate” the situation and proposed a public hearing in response to the aforementioned subpoena. 

“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door,” Lowell wrote in a letter to Comer at the end of last month. “If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings.”