House probe turns up heat after Hunter Biden refuses closed-door deposition

House Republicans initiated contempt of Congress charges against President Biden’s son Hunter Biden after he defied a subpoena to answer questions about his father’s involvement in his foreign business deals.

House investigators believe their subpoena seeking Hunter Biden’s testimony and other evidence in their probe of the president was strengthened by the House vote Wednesday to formally endorse an impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden.

“I think that sent a message loud and clear to the White House. We expect you to comply with our information requests and our subpoenas,” said Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, after the party-line vote. 

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, said the House would take up the contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden “as quickly as we can.” 

It’s unlikely to happen this year. The House is scheduled at the end of this week to adjourn until Jan. 9.

House Republicans are determined to question Hunter Biden behind closed doors, where, with the help of committee lawyers, they can drill down on the details of his business deals and the extent of Mr. Biden’s involvement. 

The president’s son has offered his testimony at a public hearing. Lawmakers rejected his offer.

Flouting their demands for a deposition Wednesday, he staged a press conference on the doorstep of the Capitol where he condemned the House impeachment inquiry into his father and blamed “the unrelenting Trump attack machine” for exposing his personal life, financial problems and struggles with drug addiction. 

Republicans were unsympathetic. After he skipped the 9:30 a.m. deposition, Mr. Jordan and Mr. Comer quickly announced plans to hold him in contempt.

“We will not provide special treatment because his last name is Biden,” they said. 

Republicans also tuned into Hunter Biden’s press conference on the front lawn of the Capitol and their ears perked with his comments qualifying Mr. Biden’s longstanding claim that he did not play a role in his family’s business deals. 

“There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” Hunter Biden said. 

Republicans say his statement represents “another change in the story,” and is a seismic shift in defining Mr. Biden’s initial claim that he had no knowledge or involvement at all in his family’s business deals.

“That is a huge change,” said Mr. Jordan.

The revision by the president’s son follows the release of bank records and witness testimony that show Mr. Biden, while serving as vice president, phoned in or stopped by his son’s business meetings with foreign partners and, after leaving office, he accepted checks linked to lucrative deals in China.

The president’s son framed the inquiry as a political attack centered on destroying his father. He accused the GOP of invading his privacy and attacking his wife, children, family and friends.

“They have ridiculed my struggle with addiction, belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass and damage my father, who has devoted his entire public life to service,” Hunter Biden said.

House investigators have been conducting an informal impeachment probe of the president for three months. 

It has yielded bank records and witness testimony that, Republicans believe, show Mr. Biden’s involvement in the lucrative deals cut by his son and other relatives and business associates.

Hunter Biden could have shown up for the deposition and declined to answer questions under his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination.

Last week, the president’s son was charged in a California federal court with tax evasion and filing false tax returns between 2016 and 2020.

The nine counts against him come with a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison and he could face additional charges. Special counsel David Weiss, who has overseen the case, said the investigation remains open.