House GOP Halts Hunter Biden Contempt Vote Amid Negotiations on His Closed-Door Deposition

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 10, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Lawyers for President Joe Biden’s son and members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the House Judiciary Committee are near an agreement on the date for Hunter Biden to sit down for a closed-door deposition.

“Following an exchange of letters between the parties on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, staff for the committees and lawyers for Hunter Biden are working to schedule Hunter Biden’s appearance,” an Oversight panel spokesman told The Epoch Times.

“Negotiations are ongoing this afternoon and in conjunction with the disruption to member travel and canceling votes, the House Rules Committee isn’t considering the contempt resolution [citing Hunter Biden] today to give the attorneys additional time to reach an agreement.”

A spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Mr. Biden’s lead attorney, didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

The committee spokesman was referring to the disruption caused by a winter snowstorm moving from Texas and the Gulf Coast up through the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast that created hazardous traveling conditions and the cancellation of flights to the nation’s capital.

The apparent agreement began coming together over the weekend after Mr. Lowell told Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that Mr. Biden would accept a new subpoena if it was issued. In response, the chairmen indicated that they were willing to do so and to recommend staying House Rules Committee consideration of a House resolution citing Mr. Biden with contempt for refusing to date to appear for such a deposition.

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“The committees welcome Mr. Biden’s newfound willingness to testify in a deposition setting under subpoena. Although the committee’s subpoenas are lawful and remain legally enforceable, as an accommodation to Mr. Biden and at your request, we are prepared to issue subpoenas compelling Mr. Biden’s appearance at a deposition on a new date in the coming weeks,” the chairmen told Mr. Lowell in a Jan. 14 letter.

The contempt resolution was dropped from a revised House Rules Committee schedule announced on Jan. 16.

Rules Committee Republicans led by Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) had been expected to vote unanimously to move the Hunter Biden contempt resolution to the floor for an as-yet unscheduled vote by the full House of Representatives, while the four Democrats on the rules panel were expected to oppose the measure.

The resolution was previously adopted by the oversight and judiciary committees after Mr. Biden refused to appear for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, 2023, as required by a subpoena.

Biden Grandstanding

Instead, the president’s son demanded in an impromptu press conference outside the Senate chamber on the Capitol Grounds that he be allowed to appear in a public meeting of the committees to face questioning about his business dealings with foreign entities in China, Ukraine, Romania, Russia, and other countries.

Then, when the oversight panel met on Jan. 10 to debate the proposed contempt resolution, Mr. Biden, accompanied by Mr. Lowell and his close friend, Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, sat in the front row of the hearing room at the opening of the proceedings.

Mr. Comer refused panel Democrats who insisted that Mr. Biden be allowed to satisfy the subpoena by taking questions in the hearing convened to consider the contempt measure.

Instead, Mr. Biden faced a withering statement by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who said he should be “arrested right here, right now.” When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began her statement, Mr. Biden and his two associates quickly departed the hearing room.

“Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with the Committees’ subpoenas is a criminal act. It constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution as prescribed by law. We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name. All Americans must be treated equally under the law. And that includes the Bidens,” Mr. Comer said in the hearing.

House Republicans are conducting an impeachment inquiry concerning the appearance of significant potential conflicts of interest in the president’s role in his son’s business activities.

The president is known among Hunter Biden’s present and former partners as “the Big Guy” who could help their foreign clients such as Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm that was relieved of a corruption investigation following then-Vice President Joe Biden’s threatened withholding of $1 billion in U.S. assistance to the government of Ukraine.

“Based on witness testimony, Joe Biden was the brand his family sold around the world to enrich the Biden family. The Bidens and their associates raked in over $24 million from 2014 to 2019 from countries like China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan,” Mr. Comer said, regarding the impeachment inquiry.

“Witness testimony confirms then-Vice President Biden met, spoke by phone, dined, and had coffee with his family’s foreign business associates. President Biden has repeatedly lied to the American people about speaking with his son’s associates. We’ve also traced how money from the Bidens’ China deals and other influence-peddling schemes landed in Joe Biden’s personal bank account.”