House invites Hunter Biden to testify alongside former business pals

House Republican lawmakers have invited President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, to testify in public this month alongside three former business associates who said his father played a role in securing lucrative foreign business deals.

A House panel leading an impeachment inquiry into the president set a March 20 date for the hearing and invited Hunter Biden as well as Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis. The latter three all worked alongside the president’s son and the president’s brother, James Biden, in securing deals with nationals from China, Ukraine, Russia and other countries dating back to Mr. Biden’s time as vice president. The deals helped the Biden family and associates rake in more than $20 million, according to bank records obtained by House investigators.

Republicans say they believe Hunter Biden will show up, but his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, suggested the president’s son will not testify publicly after he was compelled to answer questions under subpoena at a closed-door deposition with lawmakers a week ago.

Public testimony from Hunter Biden would likely clash with the three business associates who told lawmakers in separate depositions that the Biden “brand,” namely Joe Biden, was the reason they were able to cash in on the lucrative foreign deals.

All three described instances where Mr. Biden either made appearances at Hunter Biden’s business meetings at swanky Washington restaurants or phoned in to his meetings and talked to his son’s prospective business partners on speakerphone.

Mr. Bobulinski testified the energy company CEFC, which is linked to the Chinese Communist Party, began working with Mr. Biden’s son beginning in 2015 through the end of Mr. Biden’s second term as vice president in 2017. According to GOP lawmakers, CEFC paid Hunter Biden $5 million in 2017 and 2018. Archer, who faces prison time on a securities fraud conviction, said Mr. Biden spoke on the phone to officials at a Ukraine energy company that was paying his son a $1 million annual salary. Galanis, who is serving an 11-year prison term for securities fraud, told House lawmakers in a jailhouse statement obtained by The Washington Times that Mr. Biden participated in a May 4, 2014, call with Yelena Baturina, a wealthy Russian real estate investor seeking a financial foothold in the U.S. A few days later, Ms. Baturina agreed to pump $20 million into one of Hunter Biden’s business projects, Galanis said.

Hunter Biden denied his father was involved in any of his business deals and said his father’s frequent calls and appearances were due to their close relationship and a desire to stay in touch. Mr. Lowell said Republicans “have produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father, period.”

GOP lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee said the March 20 hearing will “examine inconsistencies among the witnesses’ testimonies in order to get the truth for the American people.”