ANALYSIS – After bluffing and blustering and ignoring legitimate congressional subpoenas made by both the Oversight and Judiciary committees – and threatened with a House vote to find him in contempt of Congress – Hunter Biden caved Friday to the GOP and agreed to sit for a closed-door deposition in the House impeachment inquiry into his dad.
This, despite his stunt to distract the ongoing contempt hearing against him by suddenly showing up, marks a major reversal by the combative former drug addict first son.
As the Daily Caller reported:
Biden and Lowell previously offered to have him testify publicly and skip the closed-door session. Republican lawmakers rejected Biden's proposal and told him to appear for the private session before testifying publicly.
“If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition. We will accept such a subpoena on Mr. Biden's behalf,” Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter to Chairmen James Comer and Jim Jordan.
In the letter, Hunter Biden's lawyer claims that the original House subpoenas were flawed because when they were issued in November the House hadn't voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry.
This nonsense, of course, flies in face of the fact that the Oversight and Judiciary committees both have subpoena powers in their own right.
The House Judiciary and Oversight committees voted separately Wednesday to hold Hunter in contempt – after Hunter essentially crashed the Oversight hearing, offering improperly to testify right then and there, despite evading his scheduled Dec. 13 interview.
While mainstream media outlets praised Hunter's stunt as an effective “counterpunch” to the GOP's hearing, others saw an angry, entitled jackass scowling angrily and then storming out of a hearing he was not supposed to be at, and then promptly caving to GOP demands that he appear behind closed doors.
The Daily Caller noted:
Biden and Lowell previously offered to have him testify publicly and skip the closed-door session. Republican lawmakers rejected Biden's proposal and told him to appear for the private session before testifying publicly.
Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance Wednesday at the House Oversight Committee's markup hearing on a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt. He sat in the crowd with Lowell and his financier, Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, for a few minutes before dashing out…
The Daily Caller continued:
After he stormed [out of] the hearing, Hunter Biden flew back to Los Angeles, California, where he pleaded not guilty Thursday to nine federal tax related charges at an arraignment. He faces up to 17 years in prison for the tax charges.
Contempt of Congress is punishable by a minimum of 30 days incarceration, though a decision to prosecute would be made by Joe Biden's Justice Department (DOJ) appointees if the full House approves the sanction.
In the current political environment, it would be much tougher for even Biden's DOJ to avoid sanctioning Hunter. It's unclear if House Republicans will still hold Hunter Biden in contempt following Lowell's letter.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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