Hunter Biden willing to testify on Capitol Hill in December, his lawyers say
By Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez and Annie Grayer, CNN
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have told the House Oversight Committee that the president’s son is willing to testify on December 13 in their inquiry into his actions — but only if he can do so publicly, according to a letter Hunter Biden’s legal team sent to the committee that CNN obtained.
“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door. If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings,” Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote in the letter.
An offer to testify at a public hearing doesn’t guarantee it will happen. Federal courts have upheld the authority of House committees to subpoena private people and entities. House Republicans might find it hard to turn down an opportunity to grill Hunter Biden in front of a national audience -– but it would be deviation from how they’ve handled their oversight probes.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer rejected the idea that a public hearing should replace his scheduled deposition but agreed that the president’s son should have the opportunity to testify publicly at some point.
“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans. Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on December 13,” Comer said in a statement to CNN. “We expect full cooperation with our subpoena for a deposition but also agree that Hunter Biden should have opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.”
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who also issued Hunter Biden a subpoena, said on X, “We are 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.”
Earlier this month, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Hunter and James Biden, President Joe Biden’s son and brother, setting up a highly anticipated showdown as House Republicans continue to search for whether the president committed an impeachable offense in connection to his family’s foreign business dealings – a high bar they have yet to meet.
As the back and forth between Hunter Biden’s attorneys and House Republicans plays out, the president’s brother appears to be engaging with the panel over his subpoena.
“We have been in contact with the Oversight Committee staff about their requests,” counsel for James Biden, Paul J. Fishman, said in a statement to CNN.
The subpoenas were the first time the panel has directly subpoenaed members of the Biden family and come as House Republicans on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees are focusing on a list of high-profile interviews they want to conduct before wrapping up their impeachment inquiry into the president.
The top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, criticized his Republican colleagues for insisting Hunter Biden appear for a deposition before a public hearing.
“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,” Raskin said in a statement to CNN. “Chairman Comer’s insistence that Hunter Biden’s interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again. What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth.”
The Oversight Committee also subpoenaed an assistant US attorney working on Hunter Biden’s criminal case after whistleblowers with the Internal Revenue Service alleged political interference in the case. One high-ranking IRS official along with the special counsel investigating Hunter, David Weiss, have disputed claims by the whistleblowers in congressional testimony.
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has vehemently criticized the Republican-led investigation into Hunter, calling it a “political stunt” riddled with “discredited conspiracies about the Biden family.” The letter bashed House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry, which revolves around ties connections between the president and Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
Republicans’ allegations of “corruption” by the Bidens are still uncorroborated and they have essentially fallen flat in their efforts to connect Joe Biden to the money his son made in China and elsewhere.
“Here we are, eleven months into your so-called investigation, and every objective review of your ‘revelations’ — including by some of your colleagues — has declared your exploration as one turning up only dry holes,” Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote.
“Your Committee has been working for almost a year—without success—to tie our client’s business activities to his father,” Lowell wrote in his letter Tuesday in response to the subpoena, adding that, instead of Hunter, the committee should investigate former President Donald Trump and his family’s business.
Comer, the Republican who issued the subpoena, previously said Hunter Biden’s testimony was needed to determine the extent that “Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Paula Reid, Zachary Cohen, Holmes Lybrand and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
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