Hunter Biden has agreed to sit for a deposition before the U.S. House committees investigating his foreign business deals.
"You have not explained why you are not interested in transparency and having the American people witness the full and complete testimony of Mr. Biden at a public hearing. If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition," his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a letter Friday to House Oversight & Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
"I write to make you aware (if you are not already) that your subpoenas were and are legally invalid and cannot form a legal basis to proceed with your misdirected and impermissible contempt resolution. And you two of all people, should know that is the case."
Lowell argued in the letter, obtained by Newsmax on-air national correspondent Alana Austin, that Hunter Biden said "repeatedly that he would answer all pertinent and relevant questions you and your colleagues had for him at a public hearing."
"Rather than accepting Mr. Biden’s offer to voluntarily sit for a public hearing, you are now seeking to have the full House find him in contempt based on subpoenas for a deposition that you issued on November 8 and 9, 2023," he said, arguing that the "subpoenas were and are legally invalid and cannot form a legal basis to proceed with your misdirected and impermissible contempt resolution."
In a footnote on the last page of the eight-page letter, Lowell suggested a "discussion" between the two sides.
"[Maryland Democrat] Rep. Glenn Ivey suggested a procedure for a hybrid process-a public deposition; hearing with alternating rounds of questions for Republicans and Democrats, and with similar rules (e.g., role of counsel in questioning), as is done in a closed-door deposition," the footnote reads. "Four Republicans actually voted in committee in support of this process. Perhaps that could be the basis for our discussion."
The news comes two days after the House committees voted to hold the president's son in contempt for defying subpoenas, an official sanction that followed a dramatic and surprise appearance by the president's son on Capitol Hill.
Comer on Wednesday said Hunter Biden "blantantly defied two lawful subpoenas."
"Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with the committees’ subpoenas is a criminal act" that "constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution as prescribed by law," he said.
"We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name," Comer added. "All Americans must be treated equally under the law. And that includes the Bidens."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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