Hunter Biden sat silently in a congressional hearing room Wednesday while a panel investigating his father for corruption considered a vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to provide closed-door testimony to investigators about his father’s involvement in his lucrative business schemes.
“You have no balls,” Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican, told Mr. Biden as he sat stone-faced in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee room.
Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said Hunter Biden broke the law by defying two congressional subpoenas to provide testimony.
“We will not provide special treatment to Hunter Biden because of his last name,” Mr. Comer said. “All Americans must be treated equally under the law, including the Bidens.”
The panel vote sends the contempt resolution to the House floor and if it passes in the GOP-led House, it will be referred to the Justice Department.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to appear Dec. 13 for a deposition in front of the Oversight Committee but he blew off the interview and instead staged a press conference on the lawn of the Capitol, where he denounced the GOP-led inquiry.
The top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said the contempt vote was not warranted. Hunter Biden, he argued, offered to appear at a public hearing and GOP lawmakers initially agreed to it.
He agreed to appear precisely at a public hearing, under oath, to answer the committee’s question on Dec. 13. “They pulled a bait-and-switch. They changed the terms of their request.”
The panel broke down in back-and-forth arguments over Hunter Biden’s presence at the hearing and the rules on the panel.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you came from or who your father is or your last name,” Ms. Mace said. “Hunter Biden broke the law. He did so deliberately, he did so flagrantly.”
Ms. Mace said Hunter Biden came to the hearing “for a political stunt” and “should be hauled off to jail right now for defying Congress.”
The president’s son fled the hearing room when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, began berating him.
As he exited, Ms. Greene said he was afraid to face “strong women” and “what a coward.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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