Hunter Biden infuriates House GOP with surprise appearance
It’s the second pop-up arrival by the president’s son in less than a month as he attempts to pressure Republicans into allowing him to publicly testify in their probe against his family.
Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning during a House Oversight Committee meeting on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress for skipping a closed-door interview last month.
The hearing devolved into chaos, with Republicans accusing Hunter of grandstanding and Democrats calling on their colleagues across the aisle to allow him to testify during the event.
After about 30 minutes, he left the hearing room as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) attempted to question him. There’s no love lost between the two: Greene infamously showed nude photos of Hunter during an Oversight hearing last year.
The appearance is the latest instance of Hunter playing offense against House Republicans who have made him the centerpiece of their investigation into whether President Joe Biden used his position as vice president on his son’s behalf in exchange for money or favors.
No congressional investigations have discovered any wrongdoing by the president.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told Once Upon a Hill that the common denominator among House Republicans is censures and impeachments.
House Republicans censured three House Democrats last year; they are in various stages of impeachment probes against President Biden and several of his cabinet officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who Republicans were holding a proceeding on at the same time as the Hunter hearing.
“It’s the only thing that they have 218 votes for, so that’s why they continue to go down this rabbit hole,” Aguilar said. “Nothing they do in Oversight related to Hunter Biden is going to create more jobs, is going to help our economy.”
Ted Lieu, another California congressman who serves as the House Democratic Caucus vice chair, said everyday Americans are uninterested in the Washington drama.
“I can guarantee you no American family during the holidays was sitting there thinking, ‘Hey, that Hunter Biden, he agreed to testify publicly in front of Congress, but he really should be doing a closed-door deposition. That’s what we need to hold him in contempt,’” Lieu said. “No American family was thinking about that at all.”
Hunter showed up on Capitol Hill last month when he held a press conference instead of sitting for a private deposition while House Republicans were wondering if he would show up.
As I reported then, the decision would likely result in him facing contempt charges. But I also called the decision for Hunter to make a statement with the Capitol dome as a backdrop savvy because he “snatched the news cycle from House Republicans and enabled the 51-year-old recovering drug addict and businessman to speak for himself for once.“
Hunter created the same effect with his pop-up appearance today.
If the House votes to recommend contempt of Congress charges against Hunter, the Department of Justice would determine whether to prosecute him. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said that failure to do so could be grounds to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland.
It’s unclear whether the White House or House Oversight Democrats knew about the appearance in advance. Spokespeople for both did not respond to a request for comment.
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