Hunter Biden makes surprise appearance at contempt of Congress hearing

Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at a markup of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday as the panel considers a resolution to hold the president’s son in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena last month.

Fireworks went off at the start of the markup when lawmakers recognized that Biden was in the hearing room. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) asked “who bribed Hunter Biden to be here” and went after him for defying a subpoena.

“You are the epitome of white privilege. Coming in to the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here,” she said.

“I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail,” she added.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-N.Y.) then suggested that the panel hold a vote on hearing from Biden today, asking for a show of hands from the room.

Biden walked into the hearing with his attorney, Abbe Lowell, and Kevin Morris, an associate and entertainment lawyer who is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a deposition next week.

The Oversight and Judiciary panels are moving to hold Hunter Biden in contempt after he failed to appear for a closed-door deposition last month as part of their impeachment inquiry into his father, President Biden. 

Hunter Biden offered only to testify in a public setting, and delivered a statement to the press outside the Capitol rather than attend the deposition saying that his father “was not financially involved in my business.”

In his press conference on the Senate lawn during the scheduled deposition time last month, Hunter Biden nodded to an offer by Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who prior to issuing the subpoena said he would “drop everything” if Biden wanted to testify publicly, and accused the GOP of reneging on that claim.

Biden attorney Abbe Lowell issued a statement last week accusing the House GOP of playing “politics by seeking an unprecedented contempt motion against someone who has from the first request offered to answer all their proper questions.  What are they afraid of?”

But Republicans said a public format, with rounds of questioning cycling between members on the panel, was insufficient alone for the investigation, offering a public hearing at a later date and to release the transcript of the deposition. The Republican leaders noted that initial closed-door testimony is standard for such inquiries.

House Republicans have long investigated alleged “influence peddling” by the president’s son while his father was vice president, going as far as to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden has centered in large part on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, as well as the Department of Justice’s handling of a tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden.

Both Hunter Biden and the White House have repeatedly said that the president was not involved in his family’s foreign business activities.

Updated at 10:31 a.m.