President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has refused an invitation from Republican lawmakers to appear at a public hearing before Congress, according to his attorney, who cited a scheduling conflict and denounced the hearing as a “carnival side show.”
Abbe Lowell, Mr. Biden’s attorney, said in a letter to House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) that his request for Mr. Biden to appear at a March 20 public hearing alongside other witnesses can’t be met because of a court hearing the next day in California.
Mr. Lowell said that the scheduling conflict is the “least of the issues,” while denouncing the hearing as not a “proper proceeding” but an “obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended,” pointing to the arrest of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who is accused of lying to agents and falsifying records about the alleged business dealings of President Biden and his son.
“I must confess my surprise by your hasty request,” Mr. Lowell wrote. “After that six-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024, along with the realization that your inquiry was based on a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars and a charged Russian spy, I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead.”
Mr. Lowell argued that multiple witnesses had “undermined the central premise” of the hearing, namely that President Biden benefited from his son’s business dealings.
“President Biden has done nothing wrong and certainly nothing, even in your misapplication of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution, to warrant further proceedings,” he argued.
Mr. Biden testified on Feb. 28 before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, admitting to making “mistakes” and wasting opportunities but denying any involvement of President Biden in his business dealings.
‘We Fully Expect Hunter Biden to Participate’
Mr. Comer issued a statement in response to Mr. Lowell’s letter, arguing that Mr. Lowell’s client had called for a public hearing for months and was now inexplicably backing out.
“The House Oversight Committee has called Hunter Biden’s bluff,” Mr. Comer wrote. “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.”
Mr. Comer also challenged Mr. Lowell’s characterization of the prior hearings and evidence surfaced thus far, arguing that the evidence that has emerged shows that President Biden misled the public when he denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings.
“During our deposition and interview phase of our investigation, Hunter Biden confirmed key evidence, including evidence that his father, President Joe Biden, lied to the American people about his family’s business dealings and in fact attended meetings, spoke on speakerphone, and had coffee with his foreign business associates who collectively funneled millions to the Bidens,” Mr. Comer wrote. “However, parts of Hunter Biden’s testimony contradict the testimonies of Devon Archer, Jason Galanis, and Tony Bobulinski.”
The Republican lawmaker said that, despite Mr. Lowell’s letter, he still expects Mr. Biden to show up at the hearing.
“Next week’s hearing with Hunter Biden and his associates is moving forward and we fully expect Hunter Biden to participate. The American people demand the truth and accountability for the Bidens’ corruption,” he wrote.
‘The Brand’
After Mr. Biden testified on Feb. 28, Mr. Comer alleged in remarks to reporters that 10 members of the Biden family, including President Biden, “either participated or benefited from the family’s influence-peddling schemes.”
Mr. Comer added that President Biden was “the brand” that the Biden family was selling and that his holding of high office was the only reason that any of the international business transactions that saw tens of millions of dollars flowing to the Biden family took place.
These transactions have been detailed in a House Oversight Committee timeline of what it calls “The Bidens’ Influence Peddling” scheme.
President Biden has repeatedly denied any involvement in his family’s business dealings.
During the testimony on Feb. 28, Mr. Biden was asked if it was fair to say that Burisma wanted him on their board “because your dad was the Vice President.”
“No, I don’t think that it’s fair,” Mr. Biden replied.
He said he was encouraged to take the Burisma job by then-President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski, who Mr. Biden said saw Burisma as a “bulwark against Russian aggression” and that it needed all the support it could get to survive.
Prior to the Feb. 28 hearing, House Oversight and Judiciary Committee members had interviewed several Biden family business associates, including Mr. Biden’s former business partners Rob Walker and Tony Bobulinski.
Another of Mr. Biden’s business associates, Devon Archer, also testified before committee members last summer.
Mr. Archer testified that then-Vice President Biden appeared in person at business dinners attended by his son and his son’s business partners in 2014 and 2015.
