House GOP to vote on punishing Hunter Biden for defying his subpoena

WASHINGTON – Two House committees will vote Wednesday on whether to hold Hunter Biden, the president’s son, in contempt for defying a subpoena related to his overseas business deals.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpoenaed Hunter Biden in November to ask about lucrative deals in Ukraine, China and elsewhere. President Joe Biden and the White House have dismissed allegations of influence peddling as “lies” and “baseless innuendo.”

But Hunter Biden ignored the subpoena, and instead went to Capitol Hill and gave a defiant and dramatic speech in which he unleashed his fury at his GOP tormentors. He offered to testify at a public hearing, but not a closed-door deposition where he said his words could be manipulated.

The contempt votes are the latest salvo in House Republican investigations of the Biden administration that resulted in an impeachment inquiry. If the committee and full House vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt, lawmakers could ask the Justice Department to consider criminal charges.

The Oversight committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, and head of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, said Hunter Biden “blatantly defied” lawful subpoenas. But the lawmakers said he wouldn’t receive preferential treatment.

“Our investigation has produced significant evidence suggesting President Biden knew of, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name,” Comer and Jordan said in a joint statement. “We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight committee, said there was no precedent for holding a private citizen in contempt for offering to testify in public.

“Instead of taking yes for an answer, Chairman Comer has now obstructed his own hapless investigation by denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the committee’s questions in front of the American people and the world,” Raskin said in a statement.

Hunter Biden called the investigation "shameless" in his speech outside the Capitol.

"There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was involved in my business because it did not happen," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP to vote on contempt for Hunter Biden over subpoena