A House panel has rejected a proposal by President Biden’s son to testify at a public hearing instead of a closed-door deposition about his foreign business deals that witnesses say at least indirectly involved then-Vice President Biden.
In a letter Friday to Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer said the president’s son must first provide closed-door testimony at a deposition scheduled for Dec. 13 and could testify publicly later.
Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, rejected assertions by Mr. Lowell that the Oversight Committee had produced no evidence tying Hunter Biden’s business deals with official actions taken by Mr. Biden during his vice presidency.
The Oversight panel is leading an impeachment inquiry into whether Mr. Biden used the vice presidency to help his family secure business deals. The committee has privately deposed several witnesses, avoiding public hearings that often devolve into partisan sideshows.
Mr. Lowell, in a letter to Mr. Comer sent earlier this week seeking to avoid a deposition, said the committee’s inquiry into Hunter Biden has been fruitless, while the panel has ignored former President Donald Trump and his family’s lucrative businesses.
“Unlike members of the Trump family, Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business nor ever served in the White House or in any public office,” Mr. Lowell wrote. “Notwithstanding this stark difference, you have manipulated Hunter’s legitimate business dealings and his times of terrible addiction into a politically motivated basis for hearings to accuse his father of some wrongdoing.”
Mr. Comer, in the letter sent to Mr. Lowell on Friday, cited testimony from witnesses and IRS whistleblowers that tied the president to his son’s business deals with China, Russia, Ukraine and other countries.
Vice President Biden, according to former business associates, phoned in to or stopped by Hunter Biden’s business meetings. IRS whistleblowers uncovered a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden invoked his father to a Chinese business partner, threatening him to produce a $5 million loan. Some of that money went straight to Mr. Biden’s bank account, House investigators say.
“Your letter is merely an extension of your coordinated campaign to discredit the allegations against Mr. Biden, distort the truth, and attack the integrity of witnesses against Mr. Biden,” Mr. Comer wrote to Mr. Lowell.
The Oversight panel subpoenaed Hunter Biden last month, calling on the president’s son to provide a private deposition, not to sit for a public hearing. The panel also subpoenaed the president’s younger brother James Biden, who leveraged his powerful brother to secure loans and business deals.
House investigators have uncovered two large checks from James Biden to his brother, labeled loan repayments. The checks were written after James Biden received money for business deals.
On Wednesday, Mr. Comer released a 2018 email from bank investigators who flagged “unusual” and “erratic” wire transfers from a Chinese energy company into the bank account of Hunter Biden’s law firm that did not appear to be tied to any services rendered.
President Biden has repeatedly denied involvement in any family business deals or receiving any money from family businesses.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.