In a letter filled with derision, Hunter Biden’s attorney has advised the House Oversight Committee that President Joe Biden’s son wants his appearance before the panel to be a public show.
Last month, the Oversight Committee issued subpoenas for multiple members of the president’s family to testify as part of its investigation into the Biden family’s finances. Hunter Biden was summoned to appear behind closed doors.
However, a letter from lawyer Abbe Lowell to the panel said Hunter Biden wants to testify in public on Dec. 13, according to NBC News.
“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door,” Lowell wrote.
“Mr. Chairman, we take you up on your offer,” the attorney said in the letter to Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the committee, according to The Washington Post.
“Accordingly, our client will get right to it by agreeing to answer any pertinent and relevant question you or your colleagues might have, but — rather than subscribing to your cloaked, one-sided process — he will appear at a public Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing,” Lowell wrote.
Hunter Biden attorney: "Our client will get right to it by agreeing to answer any pertinent and relevant question you or your colleagues might have, but — rather than subscribing to your cloaked, one-sided process — he will appear at a public…hearing” https://t.co/YltcDOLBKk pic.twitter.com/1Pp8MdEfr4
— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 28, 2023
The letter mocked the panel, saying it had achieved nothing of substance.
“Your Committee has been working for almost a year—without success—to tie our client’s business activities to his father. You state that one of your purposes is to review how a president’s family’s business activities raise ethics and disclosure concerns to inform the basis for a legislative solution,” Lowell said.
“But all your focus has been on this President’s family while turning a blind eye toward former President Trump and his family’s businesses, some of which the family maintained while serving in office — an area ripe to inform your purported legislative pursuits,” he wrote.
Lowell said House Republicans have “manipulated” Hunter Biden’s “legitimate business dealings” and his addiction issues “into a politically motivated basis for hearings to accuse his father of some wrongdoing.”
The subpoena, he claimed, was “what appears to be a Hail Mary pass with your team behind in the score and time running out.”
“Your fishing expedition has become Captain Ahab chasing the great white whale,” the attorney wrote.
Comer said in a statement on Lowell’s letter that House Republicans “expect full cooperation with our subpoena for a deposition but also agree that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.”
“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else,” the congressman said.
“That won’t stand with House Republicans,” he said. “Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on December 13.”
🚨NEW🚨
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) November 28, 2023
Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans.
My full statement👇 https://t.co/s8hU5VFNXl
In addition to Hunter Biden, subpoenas were announced for James Biden, the president’s brother, and Rob Walker, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.
Requests for transcribed interviews were made for James Biden’s wife, Sara; Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden, and her sister, Elizabeth Secundy; Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen; and Tony Bobulinsk, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.
via westernjournal