President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden makes a statement to the press outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, saying he will testify publicly to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Kevin Dickey | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Hunter Biden on Wednesday declined an invitation to testify publicly next week as part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abe Lowell, said in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky that he and Hunter Biden were working together because of a scheduling conflict with one of Hunter’s ongoing criminal cases. None of his clients were able to attend.
But that’s the “least important issue,” said Lowell, who blasted the planned public hearings as a desperate move by Republicans whose impeachment inquiry into the Democratic incumbent has come under increasing scrutiny.
“The media event you blatantly orchestrated was not a proper procedure but a clear attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game,” Lowell wrote.
Cuomo responded late Wednesday that the oversight panel “has called Hunter Biden’s bluff” and that the hearing would proceed as planned.
“Hunter Biden has said for months that he wants a public hearing, but now business partners with whom he has worked for many years have requested a public hearing, which he has declined,” Cuomo said in a statement to NBC News. Attend.”
On February 28, Hunter Biden gave closed-door testimony with Republican investigators. In that hour-long interview, he strongly refuted the allegations at the heart of the impeachment inquiry that his father was involved in his business dealings.
On March 6, Cuomo invited Hunter Biden to testify again on March 20, this time at a public hearing titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office.”
Three of Biden’s former business associates, Devin Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, have also been called to testify.
Weeks ago, federal authorities arrested and charged former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov with lying to the government about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.Before he was indicted, Republican impeachment investigators described Smirnoff’s accusations as Important section their case.
“I think even you will realize that your baseless impeachment proceedings are dead,” Lowell wrote in Wednesday’s letter, as “you realize that your investigation is based on a convicted liar and a A conspiracy spun by an accused Russian spy.”
Lowell wrote: “As Mr. Biden has said multiple times, his father was never involved in, or had any financial benefit from, Mr. Biden’s businesses, and the committee owns An accurate reference to the record.”
The lawyer also noted that in an exchange during Hunter Biden’s testimony, Cuomo suggested he was willing to ask about the business activities of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a focus of the investigation to “peddle influence.” part of the force. ”.
“If you truly wanted to achieve this oversight purpose in a legal and bipartisan manner, you would hold hearings with relatives of former President Trump,” Lowell wrote.
“If you do that, Mr. Biden will consider an invitation to the event.”
About The Author
