House Republicans’ allegations that President Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business transactions were refuted by Hunter Biden and his legal team on Wednesday during a much-anticipated, lengthy closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said during the deposition that Republicans centered some of their questions on his addiction, something the first family has publicly addressed.
“It appears that the Republican members were more interested in discussing my client’s addiction than in posing any questions related to their impeachment investigation,” Lowell told reporters, noting that Biden’s over six hours of testimony had yielded no proof to back up the Republicans’ allegations.
Hunter Biden Testifies in Impeachment Inquiry Deposition?
The GOP-controlled House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees, which have been in charge of the president’s impeachment investigation, took the deposition.
Sources familiar with the deposition state that at several points the deposition turned “heated,” and there were some “kerfuffles” between Republicans and Democrats over interrupts during lines of questions.
In his prepared opening speech, Biden stated, “I am here today to provide the Committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business.” Not as an artist, not as a board member, not in my domestic or foreign investments or transactions, and not even while I was a practicing lawyer. Never.”
Biden also lambasted the Republican-led investigation in his opening remarks, calling it a “baseless and destructive political charade” that was founded on “MAGA-motivated conspiracies.”
“For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” he stated. “You have engaged in sensationalism, insinuation, and distortion while disregarding the overwhelming and persuasive facts that are there in front of you. There isn’t any proof to back up the irrational and MAGA-driven theories you have about my father.”
Biden Legal Team to Present Resumé as Exhibit in Deposition
According to a copy acquired by NBC News, Biden’s attorneys were expected to introduce his resume as an exhibit into the record following his opening statement. According to a person close to his legal team, they planned to use the exhibit to demonstrate Biden’s suitability for the work he was performing during the time frame that Republicans were concentrating on.
Sources familiar with the deposition state that China was the main topic of discussion throughout the first hour of Republican questions.
Following the deposition, Biden and a few of his business colleagues made “contradictory statements that I think need further review,” according to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky. The interview “proved several bits of our evidence,” Comer said afterward.
Democrats in the House who were present during the interview said that Biden’s responses suggested the president wasn’t interested in his company.
Following the deposition, Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, stated that although he thought a public hearing would be “a waste of everybody’s time,” he would not be against it.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., stated following the deposition that he thought Biden “exhausted the Republicans” more so than the Republicans exhausted him.
Hunter Biden’s deposition transcript will be made available “quickly,” according to a Republican Oversight Committee source with knowledge of the arrangements, and his attorneys will have a chance to study it beforehand. Along with legislative or other suggestions and potential referrals for criminal charges, the source stated that the investigation will result in a report “sometime in the next few months.”
Hunter Biden was initially served with a subpoena by Republicans in early November, but he decided—through legal counsel—to ignore it for many months. He claimed he did not trust Republicans in a private environment, thus he would only speak in a public session.
