Defiant Hunter Biden condemns GOP impeachment efforts in long-awaited testimony

Semafor Signals

Insights from The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and The New York Times

The News

Hunter Biden railed against Republicans in a closed door-hearing Wednesday as part of a GOP-led impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden, accusing them of having “hunted” him for more than a year.

In a defiant statement before what was expected to be a lengthy deposition, the president’s son accused the GOP of having “built your entire partisan house of cards on lies” and blamed Trump-supporter conspiracies for the allegations against his father.

“For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” he told the House Oversight Committee, according to a copy of the statement he released in advance. “You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face.”

House Republicans have long tried to show that the president benefited from the business pursuits of his family members, so far unsuccessfully. Biden family members and their associates have testified under oath that the president has received no financial gain from their activities.

The younger Biden reiterated his claim that he never involved his father in any of his business decisions, saying: “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.”

It’s unlikely that an impeachment will come to fruition, however, as House Republicans would need every vote to overcome their razor-thin majority.

SIGNALS

Hearing could fall short of revelatory

Republican lawmakers leading the impeachment inquiry are hoping Hunter Biden’s testimony will connect his father to his foreign business dealings as the 2024 election campaign ramps up — but they’re not holding their breath for a news-making day. “Thanks for covering what might be a big nothing,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told Fox Business, “or an incredible opportunity to get to the bottom of this very complex scheme that the Bidens worked out for decades.”

The impeachment inquiry was recently undermined when one GOP star witness, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation informant, was arrested on charges that he lied about allegations he brought of a bribery scheme involving the president, his son, and a Ukrainian energy firm.

Testifying could pose risk in Hunter Biden’s other criminal cases

Hunter Biden’s decision to testify in this case could be a risk, The New York Times reported, because anything he says can be used against him in a separate federal indictment against him for alleged tax crimes connected to his overseas business interests.

Biden had previously refused to testify in private, saying he wanted the public to hear what he had to say directly, before changing his mind. But although the hearing is behind closed doors, a transcript is expected to be released quickly — potentially the next day.

Democrats slam hearing as a ‘fishing expedition’ and ‘waste of time’

Emerging from the deposition room for a lunch break, Democrats on the committee accused their Republican counterparts of wasting their time on an “embarrassing spectacle,” The New York Times reported.

“I believe, based on this first hour, that this whole thing really has been a tremendous waste of our legislative time and resources,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee.

Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., characterized the deposition as a “deep sea fishing expedition,” saying Republicans were scrambling to find “anything to substantiate their fairy tales.”