Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, made a surprise appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to attend a House Oversight Committee hearing to consider a resolution to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to appear before a scheduled deposition. The resolution passed the committee, sending it to the House of Representatives for a final vote.
The younger Biden, flanked by his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, walked into the hearing room during opening statements and sat down without answering questions from reporters. He did not appear to address anyone in the room.
The move appeared to come as a surprise to the panel, and the proceedings quickly turned ugly, with one Republican lawmaker suggesting that the younger Biden should be "arrested right here, right now and go to jail" for his actions.
"You are not above the law," said South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who accused Hunter Biden of being "the epitome of white privilege" and called his appearance a "political stunt."
"Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed," Mace said as she railed against Hunter Biden. "What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here."
"Hunter Biden you are too afraid for a deposition, and I still think you are today," the South Carolina Republican said. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."
Democrats, including Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, attempted to interject, saying that lawmakers can "hear from Hunter Biden right now" and attempted to force a vote to try and get the president's son to testify. At a separate House Judiciary Committee hearing about Hunter Biden taking place concurrently, California Rep. Eric Swalwell attempted to do the same and have the meeting adjourned so they could hear from him; the motion failed.
As far-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Greene of Georgia was about to speak to the panel, Hunter Biden walked out of the hearing room as abruptly as he entered it; she responded by calling him a "coward" after he was out of the room.
“Apparently you’re afraid of my words,” Greene said. “What a coward."
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California fired back at his Republican colleague, calling it "hypocritical and shameful" that she was aggrieved by Hunter Biden leaving the room "when she's showed nude photos of [Hunter Biden] to this committee in this very room."
After Hunter Biden left the room, his attorneys addressed reporters, accusing the Republican committee chairmen leading Wednesday's inquiry of "commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions."
"The question there is, what are they afraid of?" Lowell asked, pointing out that his client "was and is a private citizen ... despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father."
"Despite their improper partisan motives, on six different occasions since February of 2023, we have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided," Lowell added.
When asked by reporters if he would have testified at Wednesday's hearing if asked, Hunter Biden replied: "Yes."
The Republican-led House Oversight panel met Wednesday to take the next steps in its standoff with Hunter Biden, who has been the subject of a yearslong probe into his business dealings.
Hours after the heated events of the early part of the hearing, the panel advanced the resolution to recommend contempt charges for Hunter Biden in a 23-14 vote.
In a report released Monday ahead of the hearing, Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, laid out their case that the younger Biden’s “flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions.”
Instead of appearing for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, Hunter Biden held a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, where he called 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 press conference last month. "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 at the time of the House Republican investigators. "I’m here. I’m ready.”
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 present evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
The measure will now 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 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.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday pointed fingers at one another about the Jan. 6 committee subpoenas. Republicans charged that Democrats who supported holding individuals in contempt for defying that panel's subpoenas, like former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, should do the same for Hunter Biden.
Democrats fired back that members of the House GOP who were subpoenaed by the panel, like Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., refused to comply with them.
Moskowitz attempted to introduce the subpoenas against Jordan, McCarthy and the other figures who did not comply with the subpoenas, offering to support referring Hunter Biden for contempt in exchange.
"You vote to add those names and show the American people that we apply the law equally, not when it's just Democrats," Moskowitz said, adding: "Show that you're serious and that everyone is not above the law, vote for that amendment and I'll vote for the Hunter Biden contempt."
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. On Thursday, Hunter Biden is set to be arraigned in California on the federal tax charges.