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Comer said "there's a very good possibility" that Hunter Biden will get a subpoena, but the committee wants to talk to whistleblowers in transcribed interviews first. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is poised to take the gavel as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee if Republicans take control of the House in January. David Pecker’s testimony was a critical building block for the prosecution’s theory that his partnership with Donald Trump was a way to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers from favoring some sites and apps over others.
House GOP preps contempt charges against Hunter Biden
Three of Nevada’s congressional members are born and raised in Nevada, while the other three moved to the Silver State. They gave the White House until Wednesday to turn over documents regarding Hunter Biden's scheduled deposition. "Instead of taking yes for an answer, Chairman Comer has now obstructed his own hapless investigation by denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the Committee's questions in front of the American people and the world," Raskin said.
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Hunter Biden indicates willingness to comply with a Republican subpoena under certain conditions - The Associated Press
Hunter Biden indicates willingness to comply with a Republican subpoena under certain conditions.
Posted: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
In a fiery response, Biden defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused special counsel David Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure” in the case. Control of the House is unclear, with the results in several races still not final, but Republicans are expected to hold a slim majority, a much different outcome than top GOP leaders forecasted in a "red wave" that failed to materialize. Comer admitted he expected his party would win more seats, but as for his planned investigations he said nothing has changed — "full steam ahead." Separately, Hunter Biden on Thursday pleaded not guilty to nine federal tax charges in federal court in California. Prosecutors allege the president's son engaged in a years-long scheme to avoid paying more than $1 million in taxes.
House Republicans ready contempt of Congress charges against Hunter Biden over a subpoena he defied
While there are three Republican chairmen co-leading the inquiry, Comer has arguably quarterbacked the most controversial pillar of the probe – millions of dollars’ worth of business dealings by the Biden family. Through that work, Comer has made sweeping claims that the president was involved in bribery and influence-peddling schemes that compromised his job. Without providing evidence, promising it will come Thursday, Comer said the president was looped in on actions by Hunter that he called "influence peddling" and described it as lobbying foreign governments without registering, as required by law. "Hunter Biden's willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney's Office for prosecution," said Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in a joint statement. The House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees wrote to Morris in November to request his testimony, noting that news reports indicated he had lent Hunter Biden more than $2 million and that other testimony they obtained said he made tax payments on behalf of Biden. They also pointed to Biden’s initial plea deal that fell apart in August, which identified a third party that had made tax payments on his behalf.
The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees announced Friday that they will hold full committee votes on contempt charges against President Joe Biden’s son as the GOP moves into the final stages of its monthslong impeachment inquiry. The two Republican-led committees voted last week to recommend that the full House hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena in the Republican impeachment inquiry into his father. The younger Biden had offered to testify at a public hearing, and he appeared on Capitol Hill to make a statement in December on the day ordered in his subpoena but did not appear for the closed-door testimony the committees requested. For months, Republicans have pursued an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie the Democratic president to his son’s business dealings. So far, GOP lawmakers have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the elder Biden in any wrongdoing.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced that on Wednesday, his panel will consider a resolution and accompanying report to penalize Hunter Biden for his defiance of the subpoena. If the Oversight panel advances the contempt resolution, it would then require approval by the full House. Hunter Biden and his lawyers have repeatedly slammed the GOP-issued subpoena for the closed-door testimony, arguing that information from those interviews can be selectively leaked and manipulated. The impeachment inquiry, now underway for a few months, was formally approved along partisan lines by the House last month just before Congress left for the holiday recess. Republicans have yet to present any hard evidence that the president personally benefited from his son's businesses. Hunter Biden and his lawyers have repeatedly slammed the GOP-issued subpoena for the closed-door testimony, arguing that information from those interviews can be selectively leaked and manipulated.
Raskin pointed to Biden's offer to testify publicly and says Comer and his investigation are filled with "curated distortions" and "blatant lies." The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, responded in a statement to the news that House Republicans plan to move forward. “We are in communication with James Biden’s attorney about scheduling a time for him to appear,” the spokesperson said.
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The move to hold Hunter Biden in contempt comes as House Republicans aggressively kick their impeachment investigation into high gear. In addition to the markup on the contempt resolution, they are also planning to hold a closed-door transcribed interview next week with Georges Bergès, who owns an art gallery in New York City, to discuss his involvement with the selling of Hunter Biden’s art. Bergès has a display of Hunter Biden’s art that is available for purchase at his SoHo gallery and was subpoenaed by the committees after initially refusing to answer a voluntary request to appear. Republicans have suggested that Bergès was selling Hunter Biden's art to supporters of the president seeking to curry favor, a charge Bergès has denied.
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“It needs to be a high bar, and if we are contemplating that on the president … I don’t think we are there yet,” GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa reflected to CNN when asked whether he believed Republicans had uncovered evidence of an impeachable offense by the president. In February, Republicans were dealt a massive blow when it was announced that the individual who brought forward the bribery allegations about the president and his son memorialized in an unverified FBI document – which Republicans had been warned not to bank on – was charged with lying about the Bidens. At the same time, Republicans finally went after their top witness, Hunter Biden, who was at the center of their allegations about his father. Between the 2020 Gallup survey and the 2024 Gallup survey, Mr. Biden’s perception as being trustworthy slid the most among independent voters. Gallup also reported that perceptions of President Trump as trustworthy declined to 28 percent among independent voters in 2024 from 31 percent of independents in 2020. Whether or not Republicans are able to muster the votes for a formal impeachment vote in the House, a Senate trial would likely be dismissed, as is expected to happen with the impeachment of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.
Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
Washington — House Republicans said they would move forward with a floor vote next week on holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress unless he agrees to comply with their subpoenas and sit for a closed-door deposition. GOP lawmakers have been investigating Hunter Biden's business dealings for nearly a year and have accused Mr. Biden of profiting from his son and brother's overseas work. But the Republicans have not produced any evidence of wrongdoing by the president or that he benefited from his family's foreign business ventures. Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said in a statement Friday that Hunter Biden's refusal to comply with their subpoenas for testimony constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to federal prosecutors. Morris received a formal request — though not a subpoena — for a transcribed interview in November as part of the committees’ impeachment inquiry into the president. And the markup will be held the day before Hunter Biden is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles on the nine federal tax-related charges stemming from a separate special counsel investigation into his finances and other matters.
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