Politics

Jerry Nadler: Hunter Biden ‘Not A Relevant Witness’ At Impeachment Trial

Fox News

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that Hunter Biden is “not a relevant witness” at the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Nadler, who was named an impeachment manager Wednesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was speaking at a news conference where he described Democratic expectations for the trial.

The congressman insisted that Trump had “betrayed his country by trying to extort Ukraine by withholding $391 million in military aid … in order to get Ukraine to announce an investigation of a domestic political opponent. That is the allegation.”

Nadler suggested that “any witness who has information about whether that is true or not true is a relevant witness. Anybody, like Hunter Biden, who has no information about any of that, is not a relevant witness.” (RELATED: House Votes To Send Articles Of Impeachment To The Senate, Approve Impeachment Managers)

The impeachment manager then claimed that “any trial judge in this country would rule such a witness is irrelevant and inadmissible.”

But for many Republicans, including the president, Biden is central to the impeachment question. The president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has repeatedly called for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the activities of both Bidens vis-a-vis Ukraine. Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas company, gave Hunter Biden a lucrative seat on its board of directors in April 2014, reportedly to cozy up to prominent Americans who might be able to free the company from being investigated.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves as he walks out of Air Force Two with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden (R) on Dec. 4, 2013 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty Images)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves as he walks out of Air Force Two with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden (R) on Dec. 4, 2013 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty Images)

Former Vice President Joe Biden has bragged about how he successfully applied pressure to Ukraine to remove the prosecutor who was leading that investigation, but direct evidence has yet to be found proving that removal to be linked to the Burisma probe. (RELATED: Giuliani Says Ukraine Paid Hunter Biden $3M In Laundered Money, While Joe Biden And Obama Looked The Other Way)

Nadler also suggested Wednesday at the news conference that impeachment was no longer just about the president because now “the Senate is on trial.”

House Republicans wanted Biden to testify before the House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry but that request was denied by the chairman, Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff.

Trump has said that if witnesses do appear at the impeachment trial, his top two choices are Schiff and Hunter Biden.