Hunter Biden began his testimony on Wednesday by lashing out at House Republicans for investigating him and his family.
The first son criticized House Republicans for misrepresenting his statements and his foreign business dealings during the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden and insisted that his father did not have involvement in those dealings.
“I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never,” Biden began, according to Axios.
“For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” Hunter Biden continued. “You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any.”
Republicans have gathered emails, texts, bank records, testimony and additional evidence over the course of the impeachment inquiry, some of which suggest that Joe Biden was at least aware of, if not actively involved in, his son’s dealings. Hunter’s testimony is a major development in the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden over the apparent role he played in his son’s business enterprise.
Numerous business associates of Hunter Biden’s have testified for the inquiry over their specific role in the Biden business enterprise. Rob Walker, a key associate in Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings, former accountant and business partner Eric Schwerin, and former business partner Devon Archer are among the associates who have testified.
Indicted American-Israeli scholar Gal Luft, former business partner Tony Bobulinski, imprisoned fraudster Jason Galanis and disgraced ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov were highlighted by Hunter Biden in his attempt to discredit the investigation. Luft and Smirnov have not been brought in to testify by Republican lawmakers.
Hunter did not call out Archer, whose testimony about the Biden family “brand” is a central aspect of the impeachment inquiry. Archer specifically recalled Joe Biden’s interactions with his son’s foreign business associates on roughly 20 occasions, including two dinners in spring 2014 and 2015 respectively. Hunter Biden and Archer worked together on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings and once had a close friendship.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky) spoke publicly before Hunter Biden’s testimony began and outlined the case being made against the president’s son.
“The Bidens and their associates raked in over $30 million dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania and Democrat donors,” Comer said. “Ten members of the Biden family including Joe Biden either participated or benefitted from the family influence peddling schemes.”
House Republicans are being given the opportunity to ask Hunter Biden directly what role his father played in his foreign business dealings and why Joe Biden communicated with his son’s business associates.
Hunter Biden admitted to making mistakes throughout his life and said his father helped him recover from his years-long battle with drug addiction.
“What he got in return for being a loving and supporting parent is a barrage of hate-filled conspiracy theories that hatched this sham impeachment inquiry and continue to fuel unrelenting personal attacks against him and me,” he said.
At the conclusion of his opening statement, Hunter Biden called for the impeachment inquiry to end. After Biden’s testimony concluded, Comer said the next step of the impeachment inquiry is public testimony from Hunter Biden.