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Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has defended displaying "uncomfortable" nude images of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, during a congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Greene told Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight in an interview on Wednesday that the images of Biden were "evidence" that she believed the "American people deserve to see."
The Republican showed the nude pictures during a GOP-led House Oversight Committee's hearing featuring two IRS whistleblowers who have alleged that the IRS gave Hunter Biden preferential treatment during a federal investigation into his taxes. Parts of the images were obscured.
Greene told Schmitt that the witnesses, Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley, had "stumbled upon finding Hunter Biden's involvement in prostitution, involvement in making pornography back in November of 2018 when they were actually doing a side investigation into a foreign amateur porn company."
"And that's where they found Hunter Biden," Greene said. "So, this is shocking and this is actually the evidence that I believe the American people deserve to see because when the American people can see this evidence, as uncomfortable as it was for me to show it on the Oversight Committee today, I believe that's how they can hold this government accountable."
A video clip of Greene's remarks shared to Twitter by user Acyn had been viewed more than 600,000 times as of early Thursday morning.
"Instead of wasting time on politically-motivated attacks on a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, the rule of law, and the independence of our justice system, House Republicans should join President Biden to focus on the issues most important to the American people like continuing to lower inflation, create jobs, and strengthen health care," said Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, in a statement to Newsweek on Thursday morning.
"There are real issues Americans want us to be spending our time on, and President Biden believes we can work together to make real progress, if House Republicans would make an effort instead of constantly staging partisan stunts to try to damage him politically. President Biden has upheld his commitment that this matter would be handled independently by the Justice Department, under the leadership of a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney," the statement concluded.
At Wednesday's hearing, Greene discussed Hunter Biden's sex life and alleged payments to escorts and prostitutes.
When the congresswoman's time was already over time, Greene held up a large graphic reading: "Hunter recorded multiple sex tapes with a prostitute he had paid for out of his law firm's bank account," which was accompanied by multiple images of Hunter Biden engaged in sexual acts.
Democratic Ranking Member Jamie Raskin interrupted Greene, saying: "It's over time and unbecoming of this hearing.
"Should we be displaying this, Mr. Chairman?" Raskin asked.
The chairman, Republican Representative James Comer, said that Greene's time had expired, and questioning continued by other members.
"The dates of the images and corresponding flight ticket are proof of the crimes," Greene's spokesperson, Nick Dyer, told Newsweek via email, when asked why the images were shown. "Not to mention the bank records."
He was referring to questions posed by Greene to Ziegler, in which the whistleblower said Hunter Biden allegedly had bank deductions for escorts and $10,000 not used for a golf membership, but "for a sex club payment."
Republicans on the Oversight Committee have been probing Hunter Biden's business dealings.
On Wednesday, the committee interviewed Ziegler - a 13-year special agent with the IRS and previously unidentified whistleblower - and Shapley, a known whistleblower and former IRS investigation supervisor.
Greene has been particularly critical of the president's son. During an interview in May, she described Hunter Biden as a "filthy human being" with a porn habit.
Update 07/20/23, 07.30 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from the White House.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more