President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is sitting for a closed-door deposition Wednesday with lawmakers as part of the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president.
Hunter Biden is the most crucial witness yet in the months-long probe, and the Republicans leading the investigation have long sought to interview him.
Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary committees have placed Hunter Biden at the very center of their impeachment inquiry, alleging he engineered an elaborate web of lucrative, overseas business ventures that leaned heavily on his father’s international influence — and that the president himself has benefited financially from those shady arrangements.
But the White House and Hunter Biden’s legal team have vehemently denied the allegations and Republicans are still looking for a smoking gun.
Wednesday’s interview comes after the investigation suffered a blow with the arrest of an FBI informant on charges of fabricating a key allegation in the case.
Follow along with live updates below.
Hunter Biden attorney: Republicans ‘have produced no evidence’
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, dismissed Wednesday’s deposition, saying republicans “have produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father, period.”
“It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client’s addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry. So as I said before, there is no evidence because there is no evidence, and today only confirmed that,” he added.
The closed-door deposition of Hunter Biden has ended after seven hours.
Chip Roy accuses Democrats of violating rules in talking about deposition
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) went after House Democrats who denounced the Hunter Biden deposition on Wednesday, accusing those who discussed the contents of Biden’s testimony of breaking House rules.
“My colleagues, by the way, are breaking House rules,” Roy said in a Fox News interview Wednesday. “Not just some rules we set up for this deposition, [but] United States House of Representatives rules by getting into the specifics and talking about specific questions during the deposition.”
Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) were among the Democrats who derided the apparent focus on the use of speakerphone during Hunter Biden’s business meetings. They complained of multiple questions focusing on the technology.
“They seem to be obsessively focused on speakerphones and use of speakerphone,” Raskin told reporters during a break in the deposition. “I did not know that that was the devil’s technology, but apparently it is.”
Roy painted the Democrats’ complaints as distractions and said the deposition on Wednesday did not answer the key questions at the heart of the GOP’s allegations of corruption.
“There’s no good answers to why Joe Biden was present when [Hunter Biden] was having these business dealings with folks,” he said. “We didn’t learn anything today that does not underscore the serious concerns we can all see at the evidence sitting right in front of us.”
— Nick Robertson
Comer: ‘Next phase’ in inquiry is public hearing with Hunter Biden
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said the “next phase” in the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden will be a public hearing with Hunter Biden, the president’s son.
The statement came during Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition with the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
“This impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase, which will be a public hearing,” Comer told reporters.
Hunter Biden’s team initially demanded that their client sit for a public hearing rather than a closed-door deposition out of concern that Republicans would selectively leak and misconstrue his testimony.
Republicans, however, would not grant the request, arguing that the witness first had to sit for a private deposition before appearing for a public hearing. Hunter Biden, as a result, defied a subpoena to appear for a deposition in December, instead delivering a statement on the Capitol complex.
Republicans, in response, launched contempt of Congress proceedings against Hunter Biden and advanced the resolution in January. But before the full House vote, Hunter Biden acquiesced and said he would sit for a closed-door deposition if Republicans re-issues him a subpoena — which they did.
Comer on Wednesday said he hoped a public hearing would “clear up some discrepancies between some of the statements were made between some of the associates and what we heard today.”
Comer said the committees do not yet have a date for the public hearing but said “the sooner the better.”
— Mychael Schnell
Hunter Biden asks GOP: What about Jared Kushner?
As Republicans grilled Hunter Biden about his business deals overseas, the president’s son turned the question back on his interrogators.
He asked GOP lawmakers about foreign investments secured by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Trump, shortly after he left the White House, according to Democrats participating in the closed-door deposition.
“He drew the distinction between what he has done in a business world with independent businessmen, versus foreign governments, which he did not do any business with — unlike Jared Kushner,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said during a break in the testimony.
Among other roles, Kushner had overseen Middle East policy in the Trump White House, and he raised plenty of eyebrows when he secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia just six months after leaving public service.
The scrutiny mounted further when The New York Times reported that the advisory panel for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had recommended against investing in Kushner’s newly launched private equity firm, citing “the inexperience of the … management.” The advice was overruled by a larger board led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a close ally of the Trump administration.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the questioning throughout the morning has been largely cordial, but Hunter Biden became “assertive” when invoking the Kushner episode.
— Mike Lillis
Texas Democrat: No new evidence presented during Hunter Biden deposition
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), a member of the Oversight Committee, said no new evidence has been presented roughly three hours into Hunter Biden’s deposition.
“One thing that nobody has asked yet is — after all morning and now a big chunk of the afternoon — has there been any new evidence unveiled? And the answer is no,” Casar told reporters during a break in the deposition.
“So we’re just sitting there rehashing, rehearing the stuff you’ll have already reported, debunked conspiracy theories, no evidence, more and more references back to witnesses that have already been put in jail or indicted by the FBI,” he added.
—Mychael Schnell
Goldman: GOP working on behalf of Putin to get Trump elected
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a member of the Oversight Committee, suggested the Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry are siding with Russia to cripple Biden’s chances of reelection for the benefit of former President Trump.
Goldman, who was the top legal adviser to Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, noted that the most crucial witness driving the GOP’s allegations of Biden-family corruption was an FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who had accused Joe and Hunter Biden of each accepting a $5 million bribe from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
Smirnov was recently arrested on charges of fabricating those claims and told investigators he’d been in contact with Russian intelligence associates prior to making them.
Raskin and other Democrats have said Smirnov’s indictment should mark the immediate end of the impeachment probe. Goldman on Wednesday took that a long step further, saying that if Republicans continue to pursue the investigation, they’ll be participating in a Russian misinformation campaign to undermine Biden’s for the benefit of Trump.
“The only thing that the Republicans have left are these Burisma allegations, which we now know were completely made up by their source, who’s now been indicted because he was working with Russian intelligence to interfere in our election,” Goldman said.
“So let’s be very clear. Because that is the only basis to move forward with an impeachment inquiry, if this impeachment inquiry continues, then Chairman Comer and Chairman Jordan are working with Russia to interfere in the November 2024 election on behalf of Vladimir Putin for the benefit of Donald Trump,” he continued.
“That is what this has been reduced to now; and that is what this first hour showed us.”
— Mike Lillis
Lawmakers focus on speakerphone calls during Hunter Biden deposition, Dems say
The first hour of Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition included discussion about speakerphone calls, according to lawmakers, likely in relation to instances where the younger Biden put his father on speakerphone during business meetings.
“They seem to be obsessively focused on speakerphones and use of speakerphone,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters during a break in the deposition. “I did not know that that was the devil’s technology, but apparently it is.”
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) said the first part of the deposition spent “10 minutes talking about the technology of a speakerphone.”
The discussion of speakerphones follows testimony from Devin Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, who told lawmakers that the younger Biden at times put his father on speakerphone while with business associates. Archer said the conversations were limited to brief pleasantries.
Republicans, nonetheless, have seized on the testimony as evidence of Joe Biden being aware of his son’s business dealings.
“As the daughter, as a woman whose been in business, I’ve never had my father call in and be a part of business dinners or business phone calls,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told reporters during the break on Wednesday.
— Mychael Schnell
Ocasio-Cortez: Hunter Biden deposition ‘a deep sea fishing expedition’
Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) characterized Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition as a “deep sea fishing expedition” and called the multi-pronged impeachment inquiry into President Biden a “fairytale.”
“What we just witnessed over the last hour was, I think, a deep sea fishing expedition, because the Republican case has completely fallen apart over the last couple weeks after it’s been exposed,” Ocasio-Cortez said after the first hour of questioning. “That the critical even one of their most key pieces of information was based on a source that was in communication with Russian intelligence.”
The New York progressive was referencing the indictment of an FBI informant earlier this month on charges he fabricated claims about the Biden family. The informant, Alexander Smirnov, told the Justice Department that he learned about the information he relayed from “officials associated with Russian intelligence.”
Ocasio-Cortez added the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry is “inappropriate” and presents an “abuse” of public resources while failing to provide any evidence linking Hunter Biden’s business deals to his father.
“They are now trying to scramble to find anything to substantiate their fairytale is what we should call this,” she said. “But I think more disturbingly, what we are seeing is just a complete and inappropriate expedition into the president’s son, and for matters in subjects that are completely unrelated to an impeachment investigation, and I think it is extremely disturbing to see the lack of professionalism, the lack of grounding and the abuse of public resources and abuse of public power in order to pursue something that truly whose point at this juncture is very unclear.”
— Filip Timotija
Mace: ‘Hunter Biden is being defiant and also dishonest’
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Hunter Biden has been “defiant and also dishonest” during his deposition as part of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into his father, President Biden.
“Two things I’m gonna say this morning so far in the first hour is that Hunter Biden is being defiant and also dishonest,” Mace told reporters.
She also said some of Biden’s testimony has been “in direct conflict with other witnesses,” but refused to disclose which individuals she was referring to, deferring to the transcript that will be released after Wednesday’s deposition.
“I won’t go into detail, you’ll be able to see it for yourself, but it’s no surprise, it’s no shock that he is being that way,” Mace said.
The readout came roughly one hour into Hunter Biden’s highly anticipated deposition before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. Republicans have alleged that the president was involved with Hunter Biden’s business dealings, a charge that the president’s son denied in his opening statement on Wednesday.
— Mychael Schnell
Raskin: Hunter Biden hearing a ‘tremendous waste of our legislative time’
Rep Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) derided the GOP’s deposition of Hunter Biden after the first hour of closed-door testimony.
“So what we saw, I think, was a rather embarrassing spectacle where the Republicans continued to belabor completely trivial points,” Raskin told reporters.
“They seem to be obsessively focused on speakerphones and use of speakerphone. I did not know that that was the devil’s technology, but apparently it is,” he said. “And I believe, based on this first hour, that this whole thing really has been a tremendous waste of our legislative time and the people’s resources.”
Raskin said that previous witnesses have affirmed that Hunter Biden did not request or receive any favors from his father as part of his business dealings, and “nothing that we’ve heard from Hunter Biden has changed that in any way.”
Hunter Biden testified Wednesday that he “did not involve” his father with any of his business, denying allegations of corruption levied against him and the president by GOP investigators.
— Nick Robertson
Comer says he’s ‘ready’ to begin closing investigation into Biden family
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said that he is “ready” to begin concluding his impeachment probe into President Biden and his family.
“I am ready to try to begin to close this investigation,” Comer said Wednesday while speaking to reporters in the Capitol. “This has been a very difficult investigation. This administration has been very obstructive. They haven’t been cooperative, feel like we are having to battle the Department of Justice and the FBI on a daily basis to get basic information.”
Comer’s remarks came right before the deposition of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who is the latest in a long line of witnesses Republicans leading the investigations have interviewed — and perhaps the most consequential.
“Many of our witnesses that we brought in would be what I consider hostile witnesses, but at the end of the day I think with every interview we’ve learned new information and the basis of what we’ve learned is that the Biden’s didn’t have a legitimate business,” Comer said.
— Filip Timotija
Hunter Biden: ‘I did not involve my father in my business’
Hunter Biden testified on Wednesday that he “did not involve” his father, President Biden, in his business dealings.
He delivered the message at the beginning of his highly anticipated deposition as part of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into the president.
“I am here today to provide the Committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never,” Biden said during his opening statement.
— Mychael Schnell
Raskin on impeachment inquiry: GOP should ‘fold up the circus tent’
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Republicans should “fold up the circus tent” of their impeachment inquiry, as lawmakers prepare to hear from Hunter Biden, the president’s son.
“I think that our colleagues would do best at this point to fold up the circus tent and allow us to focus on something that would actually be of benefit to the American people,” Raskin said.
The statement comes after Raskin earlier this month called on Republicans to end the inquiry into Biden after the Justice Department indicted an FBI informant who provided information that was central to the GOP’s case against Biden. Authorities said the informant, Alexander Smirnov, fabricated his claims about the president.
Raskin on Wednesday said Republicans have yet to show what the president is guilty of that warrants impeachment.
“The Constitutional standard for impeachment is treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. We’re still waiting for our Republican friends to articulate what they think the high crime and misdemeanor is in this case,” he said.
— Mychael Schnell
Hunter Biden arrives for deposition
Hunter Biden has arrived to Capitol Hill for his closed-door deposition.
He did not make a statement to gathered reporters and did not take questions.
The deposition is slated to start at 10 a.m.
GOP impeachment inquiry faces make-or-break moment with Hunter Biden appearance
Hunter Biden is poised to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill, representing the most crucial witness to be interviewed in House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden — and marking perhaps the last best chance for the GOP to salvage an investigation that’s been kneecapped by a series of recent setbacks.
Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary committees have placed Hunter Biden at the very center of their impeachment inquiry, alleging he engineered an elaborate web of lucrative, overseas business ventures that leaned heavily on his father’s international influence — and that the president himself has benefited financially from those shady arrangements.
At the heart of their case were allegations from an FBI informant that Hunter and Joe Biden had each received a $5 million bribe from Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company the younger Biden sat on the board of.
Yet their case suffered a blow earlier this month with the arrest of that informant, Alexander Smirnov, on charges that he fabricated those very allegations.
Republicans have sought to downplay the significance of the arrest, maintaining the Smirnov claims were only a small part of the broader pattern of corruption and influence peddling they’ve accused the Biden family of employing.
But Republicans have yet to offer any clear evidence to substantiate their allegations, raising the already high stakes surrounding Hunter Biden’s appearance behind closed doors Wednesday.
— Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis