Politics

Hunter Biden Flees Committee Hearing After Making Surprise Appearance

House XXX Committee meets to vote on whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

James Lynch Contributor
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Hunter Biden rushed out of the House Oversight Committee’s Wednesday markup hearing while lawmakers debated whether to hold him in contempt of Congress.

The first son made a surprise appearance at the start of the hearing, and his presence in the hearing room immediately sparked tensions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

“My first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today? That’s my first question. Second question, you are the epitome of white privilege. Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up there,” Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace told Hunter Biden.

He dashed out of the hearing room as Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was starting her round of questioning at the Oversight Committee hearing. (RELATED: Joe Biden Leads Were ‘Off The Table’ During Hunter Biden Investigation, IRS Whistleblowers Testify)

“I think it’s clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can’t even face my words as I was about to speak to him. What a coward,” Greene said.

Abbe D. Lowell, Hunter’s defense counsel, gave a brief statement to the press after he and his client left the hearing. (RELATED: Democratic Party Donors Bought ‘Vast Majority’ Of Hunter Biden’s Art, Comer Says)

In his statement, Lowell pushed back against House Republicans’ attempt to hold Hunter Biden in contempt and mentioned his client’s offer to testify publicly instead of being deposed behind closed doors.

“The Republican chairs today, then, are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions,” Lowell told reporters.

One of the reporters who surrounded Hunter Biden as he walked down the hallways of the Rayburn House Office Building appeared to ask him what kind of crack he prefers to smoke.

The first son previously struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine, which he chronicled in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.” His federal tax indictment in California shows that Hunter Biden failed to file his taxes and pay his outstanding tax liabilities long after he claims to have gotten sober.

Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn also spoke up, pressing Hunter on his father’s alleged involvement with his foreign business dealings.

“Do you have a dad? Does he call you?” Hunter responded.

Hunter Biden’s fixer, Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, was also present in the audience with Lowell and Biden at the Oversight Committee hearing. (RELATED: Hunter Biden’s Fixer Is Reportedly Backing Documentary About His Life)

At the same time as the Oversight hearing, the House Judiciary Committee was holding its own contempt of Congress markup hearing for the subpoena it issued jointly with Oversight. Hunter Biden defied the subpoena on Dec. 13 when he chose to deliver a press conference on Capitol Hill instead of sitting for a closed-door deposition.

“Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma. Not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter Biden said at the press conference.

House Republicans voted on Dec. 13 to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Biden examining his role in his son’s foreign business dealings. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith are leading the inquiry.

Joe Biden spoke with his son’s business associates on at least 20 occasions and had dinner with them multiple times, Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified in July.

Archer recalled Joe Biden’s attendance at a spring 2014 dinner Joe Biden attended with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and a spring 2015 dinner with Vadim Pozharskyi, an executive with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings. (RELATED: Former Burisma Lawyer John Buretta Files Retroactive FARA Disclosure As Biden Impeachment Inquiry Progresses)

The president denied speaking with his son’s business associates on Dec. 6, the day after the Ways and Means Committee released email data showing that then-Vice President Biden exchanged over 50 emails with Hunter Biden’s then-business associate Eric Schwerin.

“I don’t know why Hunter’s here. He wants another photo op. He’s not compliant with that subpoena,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Hunter Biden’s arraignment in California is scheduled for Thursday. He is facing nine federal tax charges including three felonies related to his alleged failure to pay over $1 million worth of taxes over a four year period. He is also staring down three federal gun charges in Delaware, to which he pleaded not guilty in October.

The White House has said President Biden will not pardon his son.