The closed-door deposition comes as a federal indictment casts doubt over a crucial witness’ claims.
After months of negotiations and contempt threats, President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, will finally testify before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Feb. 28.
The deposition, scheduled for 10 a.m., is part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry of President Biden to determine if he and his family members sold access to his office and political influence while he was vice president.
The deposition will take place behind closed doors, despite the younger Biden’s prior insistence that it be conducted publicly. That detail, among others, was hammered out in negotiations over the past month after House Republicans halted efforts to hold Mr. Biden in contempt of Congress.
An impeachment inquiry aide told The Epoch Times that Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) intends to release Mr. Biden’s testimony “as expeditiously as possible” in keeping with his commitment to transparency.
Per House rules, the transcript will first require review by Mr. Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and the approval of the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. If the latter does not give his approval, the committee will vote on the document’s release.
Contempt Resolution Sidelined
The initial subpoenas the committees issued Mr. Biden in November compelled him to testify privately in a Dec. 13 deposition. When that date arrived, he defied the orders and held a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps instead, decrying the impeachment probe as “illegitimate.”
A month later, he sent the House Oversight Committee into an uproar when he abruptly walked into a Jan. 10 meeting where members were finalizing a resolution to hold him in contempt. He sat for a few minutes, watching silently as infuriated Republicans raked him over the coals before he got up and left.
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At the time the subpoenas were issued, the House had yet to hold a formal vote on the impeachment inquiry—a fact Mr. Lowell cited in defense of his client’s noncompliance.
“On November 8 and 9, 2023, history repeated itself. You noticed an impeachment deposition a month before an impeachment inquiry vote was held to authorize such a deposition,” he wrote.
However, in light of the House’s Dec. 14 vote authorizing the inquiry, he added that Mr. Biden would comply with “a new proper subpoena” for a hearing or deposition.
The contempt resolution was ultimately approved by both the Oversight and Judiciary committees. But as it was poised to head to the House floor on Jan. 16, committee leaders pushed pause “to give the attorneys additional time to reach an agreement.”
The deposition date was announced on Feb. 23.
Impeachment Impacts
Mr. Biden will be testifying at a crucial juncture in the investigation into his father as the credibility of a key witness has been called into question.
One of the biggest discoveries of the probe was the claim that President Biden and his son each received $5 million in bribes from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings to get the prosecutor who was investigating the company fired.
The allegations first surfaced last year after a whistleblower revealed the existence of an FBI informant’s report detailing the scheme to Congress.
“It is an undeniable fact that Republicans’ allegations against President Biden have always been a tissue of lies built on conspiracy theories, and I formally call on Speaker Johnson, Chairman Comer, and House Republicans to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry,” he said in a Feb. 15 statement.
But House investigators say that the evidence they’ve compiled is damning, with or without Mr. Smirnov’s claims.
The congressman also highlighted the testimony of Mr. Biden’s former business associates, who contradicted President Biden’s claims that he had no involvement in his family members’ business affairs. The younger Biden’s own WhatsApp messages also told another story—especially one exchange in which he told a Chinese businessman, “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment has not been fulfilled.”
Mr. Comer likewise told The Epoch Times in a statement that House investigators had collected enough evidence to establish that President Biden was the brand his family sold to enrich themselves.
“Joe Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from these schemes. Joe Biden attended dinners, spoke on speakerphone, showed up to meetings, and had coffee with his son’s foreign business associates. In fact, we’ve documented how Joe Biden has met with nearly all of his son’s foreign business associates as they were collectively funneling millions to the Bidens,” he said.
“Our committees have the opportunity to depose Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, about this record of evidence. This deposition is not the conclusion of the impeachment inquiry. There are more subpoenas and witness interviews to come. We will continue to follow the facts to inform legislative reforms to federal ethics laws and determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted.”
The deposition comes as the president’s son is fending off two federal indictments on alleged tax offenses—three felonies and six misdemeanors—and three alleged felony firearms offenses.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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