The GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will vote next week whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before Congress, pursuant to duly-issued subpoenas, about his and his father’s business activities. Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s announcement comes two days after the House Oversight and Judiciary committees voted to hold Boy Biden in contempt.
The announcement also coincided with an eight-page letter to committee chairmen from Biden attorney Abbe Lowell. Lowell argued that the committees’ subpoenas carried no legal weight. Biden, he said, will testify when Congress issues a valid subpoena.
Nice try, Republicans said, but your boy had a chance and refused. He is not above the law.
The Letter
That was the message Louisiana’s Scalise sent on X.
“Floor Vote Announcement: Next week the House will vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for repeatedly defying subpoenas,” he wrote. “Enough of his stunts. He doesn’t get to play by a different set of rules. He’s not above the law.”
Two days ago, the Oversight and Judiciary committees sent the same message when they voted to send a contempt resolution to the full House, where the GOP majority will likely pass it. Having defied the subpoenas to testify, Biden is now trying to wriggle out of the contempt vote by claiming the resolution is legally toothless and feigning cooperation.
“I write to make you aware (if you are not already) that your subpoenas were and are legally invalid and cannot form a legal basis to proceed with your misdirected and impermissible contempt resolution,” Lowell wrote to GOP Representatives James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio. Comer and Jordan are chairmen of the Oversight and Judiciary committees, respectively.
Because the subpoenas were issued on November 8 and November 9, before the impeachment probe into President Joe Biden began in December, and Biden’s testimony was sought as part of the probe, Lowell argued, they carry no weight. And he cited the GOP’s opposition to the subpoenas that Democrats issued before the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump to back his case:
As you recount in your contempt reports, in 2019, when the Democrats held the majority, they similarly issued impeachment subpoenas before the impeachment inquiry of former President Trump was authorized by a full House vote. The basis at that time was then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s September 24, 2019, statement that “the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry” into then President Trump’s conduct and that she was directing committees to proceed to obtain information for that purpose. You even cited Speaker Pelosi as precedent for your latest actions.
Yet, as if Speaker Pelosi’s statement were the last word, your January 10, 2024, reports recommending contempt completely omit Republicans’ response to her statement and approach in 2019. Shortly after Speaker Pelosi’s statement, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins objected to the pre-authorization subpoenas. And you, Chairman Jordan, during a House Republican leadership press conference immediately after the actual impeachment inquiry resolution vote finally occurred, stated: “I want you all to think about something. This morning, I was in an impeachment deposition, but then had to leave that to come to the floor for a vote on the rules for impeachment. That [] says it all about this entire process. And it is a sad day.”
The Trump Justice Department issued a 54-page legal opinion that proper procedure is “subpoena first, impeachment inquiry resolution second,” Lowell continued, citing that opinion:
The House of Representatives must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process in that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents or testimony in support of the House’s power of impeachment.
For now, the House of Representatives will move forward with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress until such time that Hunter Biden confirms a date to appear for a private deposition in accordance with his legal obligation. While we will work to schedule a deposition date, we will not tolerate any additional stunts or delay from Hunter Biden.
The contempt vote will not convict Biden, but instead will refer the matter to the highly politicized Justice Department. In other words, whether to charge the Boy Wonder rests with leftist U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Resolution
The committees OK’d the measure to cite Biden by 23-14 (Justice) and 25-11 (Oversight).
“This flagrant disregard for Congress’ constitutional oversight role clearly merits a citation of contempt,” Jordan said. “It’s an open-and-shut case. Mr. Biden was issued an authorized opinion and without asserting any valid privilege … he didn’t show up to testify. This is a vote to protect our institution.”
Biden showed up at the Oversight hearing, but then fled the room after South Carolina’s Nancy Mace roasted him and as Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene took the microphone.
“Excuse me, Hunter, apparently you’re afraid of my words.… Wow, that’s too bad,” Greene said:
I think it’s clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women, because he can’t even face my words as I was about to speak to him.
Before the votes and that confrontation, the committees released the resolution with a detailed report about the Biden Mafia’s bribery and influence-peddling scheme that reached across the planet. They include financial links to China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and even Kazakhstan.
The report also noted that whistleblowers accused the Justice Department of obstructing the probe into Hunter Biden’s activities.
