Hunter Biden will appear for a closed-door deposition next month as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, House Republicans announced Thursday.
The scheduled deposition, which is set for February 28, comes after the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee passed resolutions last week to hold the first son in contempt of Congress for his failure to appear for a scheduled deposition last month, defying a congressional subpoena.
“His deposition will come after several interviews with Biden family members and associates,” House Oversight chairman James Comer and House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan said in a statement announcing the deposition on Thursday. “We look forward to Hunter Biden’s testimony.”
The younger Biden appeared outside the Capitol on December 13 and said he would testify before the House Oversight Committee only if he could do so in a public hearing. The committee had previously issued a subpoena to the younger Biden compelling him to participate in a deposition. He was scheduled to give closed-door testimony that day.
“What are they afraid of? I’m here, I’m ready,” Hunter Biden said outside the Capitol.
He said he was given the option to participate in depositions or committee hearings. “Well, I’ve chosen. I’m here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions,” he said.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” the younger Biden told reporters.
After the two House committees voted to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, his attorney, Abbe Lowell, volunteered to discuss a new deposition date.
Lowell sent a letter to the committees last week claiming the initial subpoena was “legally invalid” because it was issued before the House voted to formally open the impeachment inquiry against President Biden.
“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,” Lowell wrote. “We will accept such a subpoena on Mr. Biden’s behalf.”
Comer and Jordan wrote that they “welcome Mr. Biden’s newfound willingness to testify in a deposition setting under subpoena.”
“Although the Committee’s subpoenas are lawful and remain legally enforceable, as an accommodation to Mr. Biden and at your request, we are prepared to issue subpoenas compelling Mr. Biden’s appearance at a deposition on a new date in the coming weeks,” they wrote.
On Thursday, Comer and Jordan announced scheduled testimony from other Biden associates, including Hunter Biden’s business partners Marvyn Yan and Rob Walker, who will appear before the committees on January 22, and Eric Schwerin and Joey Langston, who will testify on January 29.
Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski will testify on February 5.
The House Oversight Committee has said that financial records show the Biden family created a complex web of more than 20 shell companies “in a concerted effort to hide payments from foreign adversaries.” The family, its business associates, and their companies raked in more than $24 million from foreign nationals over a period of five years. That includes millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan.
Former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer testified that then–vice president Joe Biden joined at least 20 phone calls and in-person meetings with Hunter’s foreign business associates during their time working together. He explained that access to the vice president served as the selling point of the Biden “brand” that allowed him and Hunter several lucrative financial opportunities, including joining the board of Burisma.
At the time, Burisma’s founder and CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, was being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, whom the elder Biden later bragged about having fired.