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House Republicans are prepared to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying their subpoena last month, adding to the long list of legal troubles plaguing President Joe Biden's son.
Hunter Biden defied a subpoena filed by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on December 13, which summoned the president's son to give a closed-door deposition in front of lawmakers. The deposition request was part of the GOP-led impeachment inquiry into Biden, who has been accused by Republicans of benefiting from his son's foreign business dealings while serving as vice president. The White House has repeatedly denied such allegations.
Instead of complying, Hunter Biden hosted a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol last month, bashing the investigations into his father as "baseless" and challenging House Republicans to hold a public deposition on the matter.
On Friday, Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committees announced that they plan to mark up a resolution at 10 a.m. Wednesday to bring contempt charges against the president's son. The resolution would be voted on by the House at a later date.
"Our investigation has produced significant evidence suggesting President Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name," read a joint statement from House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
"We planned to question Hunter Biden about this record of evidence, but he blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas, choosing to read a prepared statement outside of the Capitol instead of appearing for testimony as required," the statement continued. "Hunter Biden's willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney's Office for prosecution. We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name."
Newsweek reached out to Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, via email for comment.
The contempt markup hearing is scheduled a day before Hunter Biden is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles on nine federal tax-related charges brought against him last month. The president's son is also facing firearm charges in Delaware.
Republicans are also going after whether Joe Biden knew about his son's decision to defy his congressional subpoena beforehand—Comer and James asked the White House last month to turn over all documents related to Hunter Biden, his representatives, and the president's executive office to determine whether the president "engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of Congress."
Joe Biden's representatives have often dismissed questions regarding Hunter Biden's legal woes as a personal matter, but White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on December 13 that the president was "certainly familiar" with what his son was going to say in the prepared statements given in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Update 1/5/24 12:15 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
About the writer
Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more