The committee has alleged that President Biden and Hunter Biden financially benefited during the senior Mr. Biden’s vice presidency by receiving money from foreign entities including in China—posing a conflict of interest for the now-president.
Hunter Biden declined to appear in front of the committee for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13. He instead made a statement outside the Capitol.
“For six years, I’ve been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting. ‘Where’s Hunter?’” he said. “Well, here’s my answer. I am here.”
“Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business—not as a practicing lawyer,” he continued. “Not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not my investment at all nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist.”
“There’s no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” he added.
The committee is scheduled on Jan. 10 to mark up the resolution.
In the executive summary of the contempt resolution, the committee stated that “Mr. [Hunter] 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.
“Accordingly, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability recommends that Congress find Robert Hunter Biden in contempt for his failure to comply with the Committee subpoena issued to him.”
The payments—sourced from such countries as Russia, China, Ukraine, and Romania—were also observed to have begun during the president’s time as vice president and, in some cases, coincided with his trips to those countries.
Another key finding was that a confidential FBI source had alleged that President Biden received a $5 million bribe to ensure that a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating a Ukrainian company for which his son was a board director was fired.
President Biden has called allegations about his involvement in his family members’ business dealings a “bunch of lies.”
“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. We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) in a Jan. 5 statement.
The markup of the resolution comes as Mr. Hunter Biden faces nine tax-related criminal charges. He is set to appear in a Los Angeles court for the arraignment on Thursday.
Additionally, it also comes as the House has been conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The House formalized the impeachment inquiry on Dec. 13, a move expected to give more firepower to Republicans’ efforts to compel the provision of documents and testimony from the White House and the Biden family.
