Hunter Biden refuses subpoena from Congress, saying he wants to testify publicly

WASHINGTON —  Hunter Biden, the president’s son, refused Wednesday to sit for closed-door questioning by Republican lawmakers investigating his business dealings and said that he would only testify in a public hearing.

Biden had been ordered to appear for a deposition Wednesday morning as part of a subpoena issued by House investigators. Instead, he held a news conference outside the Capitol and read from a prepared statement in which he attacked Republicans for “distortions, manipulated evidence and lies.” He asserted that there was no basis for any impeachment inquiry of his father, a Democrat.

“I am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions,” Biden said. “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of?”

The abruptly called news conference offered rare public comments by Biden about his business affairs and came hours before House lawmakers were set to vote on whether to formalize the impeachment inquiry into the president.

“Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business — not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” Biden, 53, told reporters as he was flanked by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) and his defense attorney, Abbe Lowell. Burisma is a Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat.

“In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless. There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business, because it did not happen.”

Republican Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio responded by promising to initiate contempt proceedings against the younger Biden for rejecting the subpoena.

“Hunter Biden defied a lawful subpoena today, and we will now initiate contempt of Congress proceedings,” the pair said in a statement. “There will be no special treatment because his last name is Biden.”

That Biden balked at appearing for the deposition with the House Oversight Committee was not surprising. Since House investigators issued the subpoena last month, his defense lawyers have repeatedly sought to move the questioning to a public forum, arguing that a private session would be selectively leaked by Republicans to maximize the damage on both Hunter Biden and his father.

Comer, the committee chair, and his allies were insistent, however, that the deposition proceed.

The possibility of contempt proceedings adds to the complex legal issues facing Hunter Biden.

He was set this summer to resolve a long-running criminal investigation with a plea deal that would have avoided prison time.

The deal involved pleading guilty to two tax misdemeanors and completing a diversion program that would result in a felony firearms charge being dismissed. But the deal collapsed amid questioning by a federal judge, and Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, as special counsel.

Weiss’ team has since secured two indictments against the younger Biden for the same issues — tax and firearms — that had been covered by the plea deal and diversion agreement.

In Los Angeles, he was indicted last week for failing to file taxes for several years during his publicly documented crack cocaine addiction, along with charges that he evaded taxes and filed a false return by improperly categorizing certain expenditures, including $1,500 to an exotic dancer and $30,000 for his daughter’s tuition, as business expenses. Biden has since paid off his tax debts, a fact that his lawyers have cited in the days since the indictment was unsealed.

In Delaware, he was indicted in September for lying about his drug use on a government form when he purchased a gun in 2018.

Biden’s attorneys on Monday filed several motions to dismiss the Delaware case and invoked several arguments, including that the charges were vindictively and selectively prosecuted and the result of a pressure campaign by congressional lawmakers that trampled on the separation of powers among the three branches of government.

His defense lawyers are also trying to dismiss the Delaware case on grounds that it violates the diversion agreement he and prosecutors signed this summer. Under that agreement, prosecutors gave Biden immunity for the firearms and tax matters and agreed to wipe out a felony firearms charge if he completed certain terms over a 24-month period, including drug tests and a ban on purchasing firearms.

Prosecutors maintain the diversion period has not begun, since the federal probation office did not sign the agreement. But Biden’s lawyers point to prosecutors’ comments in court that indicate the deal was in effect — and remains so.

“Mr. Biden, one party, struck a deal with the prosecution, the other party, through the Diversion Agreement,” Biden’s lawyers wrote. “The prosecution’s desire to take political cover from the criticism leveled against it does not provide a legal basis for them to renege on the Diversion Agreement.”