On Wednesday, Hunter Biden announced he would defy the House Oversight Committee‘s subpoena to testify privately, pushing lawmakers to potentially hold the President's son in contempt of Congress.
While addressing the media in front of the U.S. Capitol, Biden once again offered to testify in a public hearing. (RELATED: House Republicans Threaten To Hold Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress)
“I'm here today to acknowledge that I've made mistakes in my life and wasted opportunities and privileges I was afforded. For that, I'm responsible for that. I'm accountable,” Biden said. “And for that, I'm making amends.”
“But I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has betrayed me for their political purposes,” he pivoted. “I am first and foremost a son, a father, a brother, and a husband from a loving and supportive family. I'm proud to have earned degrees from Georgetown University and Yale Law School. I'm proud of my legal career and business career. I'm proud of my time serving on a dozen different boards of directors, and I'm proud of my efforts to forge global business relationships.”
“For six years. MAGA Republicans, including members of the House committees who are in a closed door session right now, have impugn my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family and my friends,” he said. “They have ridiculed my struggle with addiction. They belittled my recovery and they have tried to dehumanize me all to embarrass and damage my father, who has devoted his entire public life to service.”
“For six years. I have been a target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting Where's Hunter? Well, here's my answer. I am here. Let me state as clearly as I can. My father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” he added.
He then attacked the House Oversight Committee, which subpoenaed him, saying, “They have no shame. These same committee chairmen have engaged in unprecedented political interference in what would have already been a five-year investigation of me.”
“Yet here I am, Mr. Chairman, taking up your offer when you said we can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose,” he concluded. “Well, I've chosen I am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee's legitimate questions. Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I'm here. I'm ready.”
After Biden's press conference, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they would initiate contempt proceedings.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.