Embattled First Son Hunter Biden will not be attending next week’s public House Oversight Committee hearing regarding alleged influence peddling and the Biden family’s business dealings, his lawyer said in a letter Wednesday.
The hearing is set for Wednesday, March 20th. Former Biden business associates are expected to attend.
Oversight Chair James Comer says the hearing will “examine inconsistencies among the witnesses’ testimonies in order to get the truth for the American people.”
Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell says Hunter will not attend.
“To begin, even if that hearing was a legitimate exercise of congressional authority, neither Mr. Biden nor I can attend because of a court hearing the very next day in California,” Lowell said. “The scheduling conflict is the least of the issues, however.”
“Your blatant planned-for-media event is not a proper proceeding but an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended,” Lowell continued.
Lowell reminded Comer of a statement he made in January when he said: “All we need are people to come in for the depositions and then we’ll be finished. We just need people to show up to the depositions and we’ll wrap this up. Nobody wants to wrap this up more than I do.”
Lowell said his client, the president’s son, “did just as you asked and, as you did when you announced that witnesses could choose depositions, you want to ignore what you said.”
“I must confess my surprise by your hasty request,” Lowell wrote. “After that six-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024, along with the realization that your inquiry was based on a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars and a charged Russian spy, I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead.”
Lowell said that “even before Mr. Biden testified, witness after witness undermined the central premise of your partisan charade.”
“President Biden has done nothing wrong and certainly nothing, even in your misapplication of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution, to warrant further proceedings,” Lowell said.
Lowell added that Hunter Biden’s answers to questions during his deposition “were the final nail in the coffin of your wasteful year-long misadventure.”
“As Mr. Biden said numerous times, backed up by an accurate reference to the records in the Committees’ possession, his father was never involved in or derived any financial benefit from Mr. Biden’s businesses,” Lowell said. “Your allegations of any wrongdoing by anyone comes only from your taking a word, phrase, or line out of context in a few communications usually written by people other than Mr. Biden or when Mr. Biden explained he was in the throes of addiction.”
He added: “In total, your entire house of cards impeachment inquiry is built on one of those isolated texts, a drop-by hello at a dinner where Mr. Biden was pitching support for the World Food Program, a handshake hello in the lobby of a hotel, one of your colleagues not knowing the difference between ‘having a meeting’ and ‘meeting’ someone, Mr. Biden’s father chipping in to pay his share of a family bill, or Mr. Biden’s uncle paying back a loan he owed.”
Lowell said all of that is “far from the ‘smoking guns’ you claim,” and said “the ‘evidence’ does not amount even to droplets from a water pistol.”
Meanwhile, as for the March 20 hearing, Lowell said it is “not a serious oversight proceeding.”
“It is your attempt to resuscitate your Conference’s moribund inquiry with a made-for-right-wing-media, circus act,” he said. “Your idea of congressional ‘fact-finding’ is, amazingly, to have Mr. Biden appear with the discredited ‘witnesses’ you continue to promote.”
Lowell went on to blast Bobulinski and Galanis, claiming they have lied.
“Mr. Biden declines your invitation to this carnival side show,” Lowell wrote.
Comer responded Wednesday, saying his committee has “called Hunter Biden’s bluff.”
“Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come,” Comer said. “During our deposition and interview phase of our investigation, Hunter Biden confirmed key evidence, including evidence that his father, President Joe Biden, lied to the American people about his family’s business dealings and in fact attended meetings, spoke on speakerphone, and had coffee with his foreign business associates who collectively funneled millions to the Bidens.”
[h/t Fox News]
Hunter Biden refuses to attend House hearing with former business associates https://t.co/mwU0XOrvRQ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 13, 2024