Hunter Biden deliberately defied a lawful congressional subpoena to testify in a closed-door deposition hearing before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, for which he may soon face contempt of Congress charges.
Such charges, if pressed, won't absolve the president's son of the subpoena's requirements, however, and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) predicted last week that Hunter will eventually provide the committee with his subpoenaed testimony, according to Breitbart.
President Joe Biden's son Hunter, along with Joe's brother James, were subpoenaed to testify in depositions as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into alleged Biden family corruption and influence-peddling in foreign business deals.
Last Monday, Rep. Comer appeared on Fox News with "Hannity" guest host Kayleigh McEnany and was asked about the Biden family's defiance of congressional subpoenas and whether he thought Hunter and James Biden would ever actually show up for the depositions.
"I think James Biden will come before Congress. I think we’ll eventually get Hunter Biden," Comer said. "Look, we’ve seen Joe Biden say that anyone who defies a congressional subpoena should be held accountable, and they should be locked up."
President Biden is on video in 2021 responding to a reporter's question about associates of former President Donald Trump defying congressional subpoenas and said at that time, "I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally."
Comer told McEnany of Biden's prior commentary about criminal accountability for defying congressional subpoenas, "So we’re going to see if his attorney general is going to be as aggressive with the Biden family at defying subpoenas as he was at anyone that was involved in any of the Trump investigations."
Asked a moment later specifically about Hunter eventually appearing for a subpoenaed deposition, the chairman replied, "I think he's gonna have to. He doesn't have a choice. This is a credible investigation" that polling shows is supported by a majority of the American people.
More recently, Axios reported that Chairman Comer was joined by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) in sending a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel to request relevant documents and communications related to an allegation that President Biden was aware of and potentially involved in his son Hunter's earlier defiance of the congressional subpoena.
That allegation was based on a remark from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to reporters on the same day that Hunter defied the subpoena and instead spoke at a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol building, in which she acknowledged that "the president was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say."
"In light of an official statement from the White House that President Biden was aware in advance that his son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas, we are compelled to examine as part of our impeachment inquiry whether the President engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of Congress," the two chairmen wrote in the letter.
They went on to cite the relevant portion of 18 U.S.C. § 1505, which states, "Whoever corruptly ... influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede ... the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress" can be fine and imprisoned up to five years.
"The Committees have accumulated substantial evidence that Hunter Biden’s business endeavors have improperly included his father, and the President has made false claims about his knowledge and involvement in these schemes," the chairmen continued in the letter. "In fact, just days before Mr. Biden was scheduled to appear for his deposition, the President claimed he had not interacted with any of his son’s business partners. This is false. The President has met with, spoken to, and received money sourced from his son’s foreign business partners."
"In light of this evidence, the fact that the President had advanced awareness that Mr. Biden would defy the Committees’ subpoenas raises a troubling new question that we must examine: whether the President corruptly sought to influence or obstruct the Committees’ proceeding by preventing, discouraging, or dissuading his son from complying with the Committees’ subpoenas," they added. "Such conduct could constitute an impeachable offense."
