Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear Wednesday for a much-anticipated deposition at the Capitol as part of the impeachment inquiry against his father, President Biden.
The eldest son is expected to field questions from lawmakers and congressional investigators behind closed doors before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees.
The deposition is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Hunter Biden’s expected testimony comes after his uncle and President Biden’s brother, James Biden, testified last week as part of the impeachment inquiry. James Biden testified that President Biden had “no involvement whatsoever and no direct or indirect financial interest” in his business.
Biden meets with Hunter, chairman of Chinese energy company with whom he did business in 2017, former employee testifies
President Biden’s son Hunter Biden leaves a House Oversight Committee meeting at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 10, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
House Republicans are hearing testimony from many of the eldest son’s former business associates, including Tony Bobulinski, who testified before a committee earlier this month that Joe Biden was involved in the family’s businesses. He also testified that he met with him personally.
House Democrats and the White House have criticized the investigation as baseless, while Republicans say they have only scratched the surface of their investigation into the Biden family’s businesses.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement Tuesday, “The House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees are committed to ensuring that Joe Biden “We unearthed records that show evidence that it was a ‘brand’ that was sold.” . “Joe Biden was aware of, participated in, and benefited from these plans. Joe Biden attended dinners, spoke on speakerphone, appeared at meetings, and spoke to his son’s foreign business associates. and drank coffee.
“In fact, we have documented how Joe Biden met with nearly all of his son’s foreign business associates who collectively funneled millions of dollars to the Biden family. The committee has an opportunity to remove Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry. President Joe Biden, regarding this deposition. This deposition is not the conclusion of the impeachment inquiry. More to come. There will be subpoenas and interviews of witnesses.”
The committee added that it would continue its investigation to “determine whether the articles of impeachment are warranted.”
Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) attends a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on “Inappropriate Litigation: Oversight of Third-Party Litigation Funding” in the Rayburn Building on September 13, 2023. . (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
Days before Bobulinski’s testimony, another former business associate, Rob Walker, testified that Joe Biden met with the chairman of CEFC, a Chinese energy company with which his brother and son did business.
In response to Walker’s testimony, the House Oversight Committee announced, “We can confirm that Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign person who funneled money to his son.”
Also last week, Congressional investigators heard testimony from Hunter’s former business associate, Jason Galanis, who is serving a 14-year sentence. In a rare transcript of an interview from an Alabama prison, Galanis spoke about a joint venture formed by Hunter Biden and his business associates with ties to the Chinese Communist Party after Joe Biden resigned as vice president. He testified that he is said to be considering joining the board of directors.
He argued that Joe Biden’s involvement would bring “political access in the United States and around the world.”
Tony Bobulinski testifies that he allowed Joe Biden’s family to sell access to a ‘dangerous enemy’
Hunter Biden was first subpoenaed for a private deposition in November. A deposition was scheduled for Dec. 13, but his eldest son resisted the subpoena. Instead of appearing for his testimony, he held a press conference at the Capitol and defended himself and his father, saying the president was “not financially involved in my business.”
Prior to the subpoenaed deposition, Hunter Biden had offered to testify publicly.
Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pointed out that the eldest son received no special treatment, and dozens of other witnesses appeared in court for forced interviews and depositions. and refused his request. Comer and Jordan promised to release Hunter Biden’s deposition.
President Biden’s son Hunter Biden speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dec. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
But after he defied the subpoena, the committees passed a resolution in January holding the eldest son in contempt of Congress for defying the subpoena. Before these resolutions were considered by the House Rules Committee and the full chamber, Hunter Biden’s lawyers offered to discuss scheduling a new affidavit for his eldest son, a move House Republicans said It was something I was working on with great enthusiasm.
Hunter Biden’s deposition scheduled for next month on suspicion of contempt of Congress
The president’s son’s affidavit comes after a years-long congressional investigation into the president’s business dealings, which began in the Senate in September 2019. The investigation was led by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Hunter Biden’s business dealings and foreign relations came under intense scrutiny in the fall of 2019, when former President Trump was first impeached.
In a July 2019 phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President Trump discussed the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine, specifically Hunter Biden’s business with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. He was impeached after pushing to open an investigation into Joe Biden’s efforts to secure a meeting with the former president. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin has been fired.
Flashback: Grassley, Johnson share Hunter Biden’s China-linked bank records with U.S. attorney leading criminal investigation
At the time of the call, Hunter Biden had been under covert federal investigation since 2018, stemming from suspicious foreign transactions.
Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Trump’s request was seen as a quid pro quo by Democrats, as millions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Ukraine had been frozen. Democrats also claimed that Trump was interfering in the 2020 presidential election, including by asking foreign leaders to investigate Democratic political opponents.
Republicans were investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings, particularly those involving Burisma Holdings. House Republicans, who were in the minority at the time, requested multiple times to subpoena Hunter Biden to provide testimony and documents related to Trump’s impeachment and his business dealings, which were central to the proceedings.
Flashback: Republican-led committee releases interim report on Hunter Biden, Burisma investigation
Biden acknowledged that while he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin. At the time, Mr. Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and Mr. Hunter held a high-paying position on the board that paid him thousands of dollars a month. The vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion in then-critical U.S. aid if Mr. Shokin was not fired.
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden disembark from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, February 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semanski)
“I said, ‘You’re not going to get a billion yen.’ … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving the country in six hours. If you don’t fire the prosecutor, you won’t get the money.’ ”’ Biden recalled telling then-Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. Biden recalled the conversation at a Council on Foreign Relations event. in 2018.
“Well, B’s son, he got fired,” Biden said during the event. “And they had solid people in place at the time.”
Biden supporters claim that when Biden was vice president, he pushed for Shokin’s dismissal out of concerns about reducing corruption in the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, and that his dismissal was in line with the policy positions of the United States and the international community at the time. It is claimed that it was.
Flashback: Hunter Biden ‘tax troubles’ under federal investigation.Connection with Chinese funds has emerged, sources say
Currently, as part of the impeachment inquiry, Republicans are investigating whether Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business dealings.
The federal investigation into Hunter Biden, which began in 2018, also came under intense scrutiny last year after two IRS whistleblowers alleged that politics influenced prosecutorial decisions throughout the years-long investigation.
President Biden enters a store with his son Hunter Biden on November 24, 2023 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. (Reuters/Tom Brenner)
These allegations led to a congressional investigation and ultimately an impeachment inquiry. They also pressured Attorney General Merrick Garland to grant special prosecutor powers to David Weiss, then U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware.
Weiss says she was ‘not given’ special counsel powers in Hunter Biden investigation despite requests: Record
Special Counsel Weiss indicted the eldest son on federal firearms charges in Delaware last year. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to these charges. His lawyer is trying to have the case dismissed.
Last year, Weiss also indicted Biden on nine federal tax charges, including three felonies and six misdemeanors, resulting in $1.4 million in unpaid taxes.
Weiss indicted Hunter Biden in December, accusing the president’s son of a “four-year scheme” in which he paid no federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 and simultaneously filed false tax returns. insisted.
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Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
His lawyers are also asking for the case to be dismissed.
