U.S. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., released a resolution Monday recommending the U.S. House of Representatives find the president’s son, Hunter Biden, in contempt of Congress after he skipped a deposition last month connected to the ongoing impeachment inquiry into his father.
The Oversight Committee is scheduled to consider the resolution Wednesday before likely sending it to the House floor. These kind of proceedings for the president’s son are largely uncharted waters but could lead to federal criminal charges for Hunter, who already faces criminal charges for tax and gun crime allegations.
Hunter ignored the Congressional subpoena and skipped his Dec. 13 deposition. Instead he gave a brief speech to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol building. Hunter’s legal team has said he is willing to testify publicly but did not want his words to be twisted by lawmakers via closed-door testimony.
Comer has responded that Hunter must comply with the subpoena for the private testimony but will likely be given his opportunity to testify publicly as well.
The subpoena came as mounting evidence shows that the Biden family an associates received more than $20 million from overseas entities in China, Russia, Ukraine and more.
IRS whistleblowers also testified that the president’s justice department leaned on the IRS to slow and hinder the investigation into Hunter.
The key question is whether that money was then funneled to the current president. Some evidence shows that the president received checks totaling $240,000 from his family as well as what appears to be a monthly payment of nearly $1,400. But it remains unclear how directly or if those funds were tied to the overseas dealings.
The president has denied that he financially benefited from any of his son’s dealings overseas.
Comer said the subpoenas and ongoing investigation will get to the bottom of just that.
“Mr. Biden’s testimony is a critical component of the impeachment inquiry into, among other things, whether Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as Vice President and/or President… took any official action or effected any change in government policy because of money or other things of value provided to himself or his family,” the resolution said.
The resolution also said Hunter’s testimony will help lawmakers determine whether the president “abused his office of public trust by providing foreign interests with access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him; or…abused his office of public trust by knowingly participating in a scheme to enrich himself or his family by giving foreign interests the impression that they would receive access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him.”
