House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Republicans will hold a markup meeting on January 10 to consider a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying lawful subpoenas.
The House Oversight and Accountability and Judiciary Committees issued subpoenas to Hunter Biden to appear for a closed-door deposition at 9:30 a.m. on December 13, 2023.
On that day, Hunter Biden failed to appear for the deposition as required by the Committees’ subpoenas, but did appear on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol to make a public statement lambasting the “MAGA” Republicans who “impugned his character.”
Accompanied by his attorney Abbe Lowell and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Biden offered to testify publicly, rather than first appear for a closed-door deposition, as it is normally done.
He went on to complain that Republicans had “invaded” his privacy, “attacked” his family, “ridiculed” his “struggle with addiction,” “belittled” his “recovery,” and tried to “dehumanize” him “all to damage my father.” Biden ended his press conference without taking any questions from the media.
“Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition. Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,” the Oversight Republicans announced in a post on X.
🚨 CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS 🚨
Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition. Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law. @JudiciaryGOP will…
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 5, 2024
The House Judiciary Committee will also hold a markup on the matter.
“Our investigation has produced significant evidence suggesting President Biden knew of, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a statement Friday.
“We planned to question Hunter Biden about this record of evidence, but he blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas, choosing to read a prepared statement outside of the Capitol instead of appearing for testimony as required. Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution. We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name,” the lawmakers added.
Penalties for criminal contempt of Congress “include a fine of up to $100,000 and a jail term of one to 12 months, which requires prosecution by the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.”
Last week, House Republicans formally expanded their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden to examine whether he “corruptly sought to influence or obstruct” Congress by keeping Hunter from attending the closed-door interview.
In a letter to the White House Counsel, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said comments made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre necessitated the expansion.
During the White House press briefing on December 13, Jean-Pierre was asked whether Biden had watched Hunter’s press conference outside the U.S. Capitol earlier that day announcing his decision not to comply with the subpoena.
“When it comes to the president and the first lady, they are proud of him continuing to rebuild his life. They are proud of their son,” Jean-Pierre had responded. “The president was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say. And I think what you saw was from the heart, from his son,” she added.
Comer and Jordan said Jean-Pierre’s comments suggested that Joe Biden “had some amount of advanced knowledge that Mr. Biden would choose to defy two congressional subpoenas.”
“The fact that the President had advanced awareness that Mr. Biden would defy the Committees’ subpoenas raises a troubling new question that we must examine: whether the President corruptly sought to influence or obstruct the Committees’ proceeding by preventing, discouraging, or dissuading his son from complying with the Committees’ subpoenas,” the chairmen wrote in their letter to Assistant to the President and White House Counsel Edward Siskel.
“Such conduct could constitute an impeachable offense,” they declared.
OMG. they had to have a committee meeting to discuss whether to arrest him or not. BS chicken livered wannabes.