House Republicans announced Friday that they will move ahead next week with a resolution to hold Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, in contempt of Congress for failing to appear for a scheduled deposition last month.

What You Need To Know

  • The Republican-led House Oversight and Judiciary Committees will meet next week to consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress

  • House Republicans said they would hold Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, in contempt of Congress for failing to appear for a scheduled deposition last month

  • Instead of appearing for the closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, Hunter Biden held a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, where he slammed House Republicans' probe as "illegitimate" and offered to testify publicly

  • While the Justice Department has acted on some recent contempt of Congress referrals, particularly those recommended by the House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, it declined to enforce some others

The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees will meet next week to take the next steps in their standoff with Hunter Biden, who has been the subject of a yearslong probe into his business dealings. The panels will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold the younger Biden in contempt.

Republicans, who last month formalized their monthslong impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president, have been looking to tie the elder Biden to his son's business dealings, but they have yet to uncover any actual evidence of wrongdoing by the president.

Instead of appearing for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, Hunter Biden held a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, where he slammed House Republicans' probe as "illegitimate" and offered to testify publicly.

"I am here to testify at a public hearing, today, to answer any of the committee's legitimate questions," Hunter Biden said at the time. "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?" he asked of the House Republican investigators. "I’m here. I’m ready.”

House Republicans quickly responded by saying they will move to hold him in contempt and later inquired as to whether the White House meddled in Hunter Biden’s decision to defy their subpoena.

“We planned to question Hunter Biden … but he blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas, choosing to read a prepared statement outside of the Capitol instead of appearing for testimony as required,” Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement Friday.

“Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution” the two Republican chairmen charged. “We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name.”

Assuming the contempt measure advances out of committee, it will head to the House of Representatives for a full vote before it can be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. House Republicans would need nearly every member of their conference present to pass the bill, with their already-thin margin — following the retirement of Kevin McCarthy and the expulsion of George Santos — dwindling even further when Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson steps down later this month.

The House voted along party lines last month to formalize its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, a 221-212 vote with no GOP defections. The margin currently sits at 220-213 in favor of Republicans.

The White House has repeatedly dismissed the impeachment inquiry as politically motivated and unsubstantiated, and President Biden has vehemently denied having any role in his son’s business dealings.

While the Justice Department has acted on some recent contempt of Congress referrals, particularly those recommended by the House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, it declined to enforce some others.

Hunter Biden is currently facing federal tax charges in California and firearms charges in Delaware in relation to owning a gun in 2018 while using drugs. The timeline of the indictments could present the possibility that he is on trial in the midst of his father’s reelection campaign.