House GOP releases Hunter Biden contempt resolution

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday released the text of a resolution to hold Hunter Biden, the president’s son, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to appear for a closed-door deposition as part of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

The brief resolution directs the Speaker to refer the contempt report “to an appropriate United States attorney, to the end that Mr. Biden be proceeded against in the manner and form provided by law,” and it calls on the Speaker to “otherwise take all appropriate action to enforce the subpoena.”

The Oversight and House Judiciary panels are scheduled to hold markups Wednesday morning to consider the contempt resolution, which Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) had promised to move forward on after Hunter Biden did not appear for a Dec. 13 deposition.

Hunter Biden had offered to appear in a public hearing, with his legal counsel arguing House Republicans would misrepresent closed-door testimony and pointing to a previous statement from Comer saying witnesses could come in “depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose.”

But Republicans said a public format, with rounds of questioning cycling between members on the panel, was insufficient alone for the investigation, offering a public hearing at a later date and to release the transcript of the deposition. The Republican leaders noted that initial closed-door testimony is standard for such inquiries.

“In no uncertain terms, Mr. Biden has no valid reason for failing to comply with the Committees’ duly authorized subpoenas. Conversely, the Committees’ need for Mr. Biden’s testimony is well-established pursuant to Congress’s constitutionally prescribed legislative and impeachment functions. By flagrantly defying the Committees’ subpoenas, Mr. Biden has violated federal law,” the accompanying report to the contempt resolution said.

On the day of the deposition, Hunter Biden appeared outside the Senate side of the Capitol with his legal counsel and delivered a statement to the press, taking no questions.

“There’s no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business, because it did not happen,” he said in that statement. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, hit Republicans for pursuing the contempt resolution. 

“Instead of taking yes for an answer, Chairman Comer has now obstructed his own hapless investigation by denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the Committee’s questions in front of the American people and the world,” Raskin said in a statement last week. “Chairman Comer does not want Hunter Biden to testify in public, just as he has refused to publicly release over a dozen interview transcripts, because he wants to keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.  However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden.”

The House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden has centered in large part on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, as well as the Department of Justice’s handling of a tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden.

The president and his son have denied President Biden was involved in any wrongdoing.

The committee report said its subpoena was also issued as part of its efforts to conduct legislative oversight beyond the impeachment inquiry, saying that testimony “is necessary to inform the need for and shape of potential legislative reforms, including criminal law reforms, to address influence-peddling by Presidential and Vice-Presidential family members.”

Biden attorney Abbe Lowell issued a statement last week accusing the House GOP of playing “politics by seeking an unprecedented contempt motion against someone who has from the first request offered to answer all their proper questions.  What are they afraid of?”

The accompanying report to the Oversight contempt resolution took issue with Lowell’s arguments.

“Mr. Lowell has not contested the legitimacy of these stated purposes but rather has taken issue with how the Committees have chosen to conduct their investigation, which is a matter for the Committees to decide, not Mr. Lowell or Mr. Biden,” the report said.