Hunter Biden rebuffed an invitation from House Republicans to appear in a public hearing next week alongside his former business associates, with his lawyers writing in a letter to the House GOP that their client “declines your invitation to this carnival side show.”
That’s exactly how Hunter’s camp has described the probe into his business dealings abroad for weeks—blasting Republicans for continuing to pursue an impeachment probe against his father, President Joe Biden, despite their star witness being indicted on allegations he lied to the FBI.
Abbe Lowell, the younger Biden’s attorney, added in the letter that Republicans’ latest invitation is “not a serious oversight proceeding.”
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“It is your attempt to resuscitate your Conference’s moribund inquiry with a made-for-right-wing-media, circus act,” he said.
Hunter’s invite was sent last week by Rep. James Comer (R-TN), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. It said three of Biden’s former business associates, all of whom are currently facing their own legal challenges, were set to testify to the committee about allegedly illegal business deals involving the Bidens.
In a statement, Comer slammed Hunter for turning down an invitation to testify publicly after he spent months calling for public deposition.
“Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come,” he said.
Comer said Hunter’s closed-door deposition, which took seven hours on Feb. 28, offered insight into how his father factored into the business ventures of his relatives while he was vice president. Democrats in attendance described the deposition as being an “embarrassing spectacle” that accomplished nothing and wasted government resources.
In a transcript of the hearing, Biden repeatedly insisted his father never received money or benefited financially from any of his business ventures.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, criticized Comer for scheduling a public hearing after he skipped out on much of Biden’s deposition last month.
On the day of the closed-door deposition, Biden came out swinging at Republicans in a prepared statement, saying the probe was nothing more than a “partisan political pursuit.”
“For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” he said. “You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism—all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face.”
