Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) closed the hearing, reiterating the key points brought forward by their parties.
Mr. Raskin asserted that Democrat witness Lev Parnas had sufficiently "explained to America that the allegations at the very foundation of this inquiry were predicated on Russian propaganda and disinformation."
He also thanked Mr. Parnas for "showing America what real intellectual honesty and personal honesty look like and how you can grow out of the deranged Trump syndrome that so many of our colleagues are still suffering from today."
Witness and businessman Tony Bobulinski said that speaking to President Joe Biden's brother, Jim Biden, was when he first came to the idea that the business deal he was involved in might not be entirely legal.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) asked the witness when he had the first inclination that he might need to step away from first son Hunter Biden and the Biden family.
Mr. Bobulinski said, without hesitation, that when Mr. Jim Biden used the term "plausible deniability," was when he first became concerned.
According to Republican witness and businessman Tony Bobulinski, Democrat witness Lev Parnas told him that “they’re coming for me.”
Mr. Bobulinski offered that comment after being asked his opinion on Democrats calling Mr. Parnas “the most credible witness” to speak to the committee.
After Mr. Bobulinski’s comment, Mr. Parnas seemed to double down, saying, “just keep talking,” and when asked to clarify, he said, “I said if you keep lying, you will end up in prison.”
When asked by committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) if he would like to take less than one minute to address anything that was said during the hearing, Republican witness and businessman Tony Bobulinski said, "my biggest appeal to everyone in this room is I wish you would spend the time focusing on the fact that the Chinese Communist Party infiltrated the White House with the United States of America through the Biden family.”
The former military member and first son Hunter Biden's business partner went on, saying, "I don't say that lightly. It's not a joke. I was willing to die for this country, as was my father, and both my grandfathers and my brother. This is serious, serious stuff. We should be asking how that happened.
"Take the Biden name and the Biden family completely out of it. How did the Chinese Communist Party infiltrate the White House and the United States of America? Let's start there, focus on those facts: what they did, how they did it, why they use money, why they use private enterprises instead of military stuff … that is huge to our national security."
Rep. Matt Gaetz questioned Democrat witness Lev Parnas about his time in prison, asserting that he was the only person in the committee hearing that has worked for a Russian oligarch.
Mr. Gaetz confirmed with Mr. Parnes that he had spent four months in prison but that he was “indicted for crimes that could have resulted in you spending 50 years in prison.”
Mr. Parnas confirmed the assertion but said that the charges were “false charges” that the judge “saw through.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) called for Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to call for the impeachment vote for President Joe Biden, saying, "The chairman knows me, I'm just here to help him … Let's just call for it."
Mr. Moskowitz made the push after asserting that after 15 months of inquiry, the Republicans did not have enough evidence to impeach President Biden.
The lawmaker had some exchanges with Republicans who asserted that they would not rush the process, as they claim was done with the last president, but needed to persist in order to do their due diligence.
Following accusations by several Democrats that former President Donald Trump’s family is likely guilty of “influence peddling,” in reference to the name of the hearing, Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) introduced a motion to subpoena the former president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Mr. Raskin introduced a motion to “issue a subpoena to Jared Kushner to compel testimony related to $2 billion collected from Saudi Arabia after his service within the White House.”
Following the motion and a second, there was a motion put forward to table the motion on a subpoena. That resulted in a voice vote, after which Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) assessed that the majority of the committee voted to table the motion, and the hearing proceeded without objection.
Rep Pete Sessions (R-Texas) questioned Businessman Tony Bobulinski about the financial gain he had from the business he had with first son Hunter Biden.
Mr. Bobulinski confirmed that while it’s his understanding that individuals from the Biden family received millions from the detail he was involved in, he received nothing.
“Were you ever paid?” Mr. Sessions asked.
When asked by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) about what first son Hunter Biden "brought to the table" to be included in the business deals with a company that received financial gains from Chinese companies, witness Jason Galanis asserted it was his relationships.
"What was the value that Hunter brought to the table? Mr. Perry asked.
Mr. "It was the access to the inducement to induce companies like this harvest group to participate in burden. So it was, we'll call it, relationship capital that he brought to the table, not financial capital."
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) put questions to Jason Galanis about his legal representation, asserting that Mr. Galanis was offered legal aide by an attorney with a known connection to former President Donald Trump.
After receiving confirmation from Mr. Galanis that he was represented in the hearing by attorney Mark Paoletta, Ms. Stansbury asserted that Mr. Galanis was “ in fact a former lawyer to Donald Trump who served in the administration in the Office of Management and Budget, and was at the center of the Ukrainian pressure campaign for which Donald Trump was impeached.”
The lawmaker went on to say that Mr. Paletta was the former president’s chief Office of Management and Budget (OMB) lawyer when President Trump made the decision to withhold aid to Ukraine, asserting that the decision was made to “try to extort the Ukrainian government into investigating Joe Biden.”
The hearing is now in recess due to votes on the House floor
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) exchanged barbs with GOP witness Tony Bobulinski while asking him if he believes the current president committed a crime worthy of impeachment.
“Mr. Bobulinski ... I have a quick question, simple. Is it your testimony today that you personally witnessed President Joe Biden commit a crime?”
Mr. Bobulinski responded by alleging the president committed a RICO violation and was involved in financial corruption regarding his business dealings with his son Hunter.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) started her line of questioning by challenging Democrats’ assertions that Hunter Biden was the only one of his associates to have done no wrong.
“I think most Americans are taught at a very young age that you are who you surround yourself with,” Ms. McClain said.
While she said that her Democrat colleagues had treated Mr. Biden as “this golden boy,” she questioned if that was something people actually believed.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) engaged in a heated exchange with Businessman Tony Bobulinski about his testimony that President Joe Biden was involved in the businessman and first son Hunter Biden's business deals.
The lawmaker showed photos of email exchanges between Mr. Bobulinski and others of Mr. Hunter Biden's business partners, including a quote that allowed for "10 percent held by H for the big guy."
After Mr. Bobulinski confirmed that he did remember the email, Mr. Goldman asked, "Did anyone ever respond to that email?"
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) asked Tony Bobulinski to explain what Hunter Biden meant in a text exchange in which he referred to “my Chairman.”
Ms. Greene noted that Mr. Biden, during his deposition, had claimed he was referring to CEFC China Energy Chairman Ye Jianming, and that the rest of his associates referred to CEFC Executive Director Zang Jianjun as “a different chairman.”
“Does this make any sense to you?” she asked.
In response to questioning from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), Tony Bobulinski charged President Joe Biden and his son Hunter for operating in a “world of plausible deniability.”
He said witnesses have testified and “have given you tremendous amounts of evidence that outline [the Bidens] work to obfuscate it, create layers of obstruction,” and that is why “Rob Walker was getting sent millions of dollars instead of Hunter Biden directly.”
Mr. Bobulinski alleged that is also why “Devon Archer was receiving millions of dollars instead of going to Hunter directly.”
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) asked GOP witnesses Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis about Hunter Biden’s alleged role in foreign business deals.
“This all comes down to eventually the one big guy who gets 10% for the big guy and so we know that all this money flowed through this to get to Hunter. And then we know of course, that 10% went to the big guy,” he said.
Mr. Cloud emphasized the general pattern of Hunter Biden “offering access to Joe Biden, Hunter gets paid and then Joe gets a share, that is basically what the general practice across many of these shell companies were.”
Following the use of photographs of text messages from businessman Tony Bobulinski’s mobile device, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) asked that the device in question be handed over to the committee, either voluntarily or by subpoena by the committee.
Mr. Raskin put forward a vote that the device be subpoenaed by the committee, so that lawmakers could see more than just Mr. Bobulinki’s selected photos, saying “I'm wondering whether we could get all of those texts and I would move to the committee's subpoena Mr. Bob Lewinsky's BlackBerry phone.”
After Mr. Raskin’s request for a vote, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) moved to table, or shelve, the motion.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Jason Galanis to elaborate on a phone call he said he had participated in that included Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and Yury Luzhkov and Yelena Baturina, the former mayor and first lady of Moscow.
The call, Mr. Galanis said, was initiated by the younger Biden, who called his father to bring him into the conversation on speakerphone.
“It was a relatively short discussion, but it was a discussion about Yelena and Yuri coming to town [Washington]. That as a test flight, specifically, they talked about ‘being good to his boy.’”
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Al.) asked Tony Bobulinski about a meeting he allegedly had with President Joe Biden and his son by showing text messages from an old cell phone.
“I want to show you some messages between you [Mr. Bobulinski] and Hunter Biden on the screen here in May of 2017. For you first had a meeting with Joe Biden. These are messages between you and Hunter Biden, dated May 2, 2017. Do you recognize these?”
Mr. Bobulinski confirmed the messages and said he did not ask for the meeting after Mr. Palmer asked him about the meeting’s purpose.
Businessman Tony Bobulinski was asked by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) about the direct statements by first son Hunter Biden, where he testified under oath that his father was not involved in his business deals, which Mr. Bobulinski vehemently contradicted.
"Hunter Biden repeatedly testified under oath that his father was not involved in his business in any capacity, and that there wasn't even a connection between his father and his businesses … 'I'll just state for the record one more time ... My father has never been involved in my business,'" Mr. Smith said, quoting the first son's testimony.
"Mr. Bobulinski, was Hunter Biden telling the truth when he testified under oath that his father was never involved in any of his business dealings?"
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Tony Bobulinski, “Who’s the big guy?” in relation to his testimony into the president’s alleged business dealings with foreign assets.
“Joe Biden,” Mr. Bobulinksi answered. “I’m 1000% sure.”
Mr. Jordan responded by saying there are “text messages that back that up.”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) asked Tony Bobulinski whether he knew for a fact that the Biden family received money from China.
“They did, millions of dollars. I think approximately 8 to 9 million,” Mr. Bobulinski answered.
Asked again to confirm the figure, he replied, “Yeah, I think it’s actually over 10 million, but I’ll leave those details up to you guys.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (R-Calif.) called out key GOP witness Tony Bobulinksi for attending a 2020 debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden on behalf of the former president.
“I asked you specifically who got you into the presidential debate that was attended by you and others. And that, of course, was a huge moment in that campaign. And you could not recall in fact, you said quote, I do not recall who got me into the debate. Do you remember telling you that?” Mr. Garcia asked.
Mr. Bobulinski accused the congressman of “playing semantics” before admitting he was at the debate on behalf of President Trump.
Jason Galanis, another key GOP witness in the impeachment hearings on President Joe Biden and testifying from federal prison, said he believed that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) retaliated against him.
“The DOJ has retaliated against me and vigorously rejected” him when he “applied for home confinement [on] February 4, 2023.”
“On June 4, [2023], this committee issued a subpoena [for an] important tip that the FBI reversed my approval on June 30, [2023] But they asked me why prosecutors strongly objected to my release.”
Testimony from Jason Galanis, who was speaking from prison, shed light on what the former business associate of first son Hunter Biden saw as the interaction between President Joe Biden and himself and other associates.
Speaking about the goal of his partnerships with Mr. Hunter Biden, Mr. Galanis said, "Our goal that is Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, and me, was to make billions, not millions," Mr. Galanis said early in his testimony.
"The entire value out of Hunter Biden for businesses it was a family name as access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden," Mr. Galanis went on, saying that he witnessed other businessmen showing interest in working with Mr. Hunter Biden because of his relationship with the then-Vice President.
Lev Parnas immediately called the impeachment inquiry a “lie” in his opening testimony.
“The American people have been lied to by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions. They create a false sense of their own interests [that] normally would undermine the strength of our nation,” Mr. Parnas said.
He outlined the way he was allegedly enlisted to help craft the narrative that President Joe Biden was peddling his family’s name and influence for financial gain.
Tony Bobulinski, a key witness for the GOP in their impeachment hearings into President Joe Biden, targeted the president in his opening testimony.
“I want to be crystal clear from my direct personal experience and what I've subsequently come to learn and it's clear to me that Joe Biden was the brand being sold by the Biden family.
“His family's foreign influence peddling operation from China to Ukraine and elsewhere sold out the foreign actors who are seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government,” Mr. Bobulinski said.
The Committee hearings were disrupted when Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) asked Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to look at the committee rules, saying he believed the witness was violating said rules by calling members of the committee “liars.”
Following Mr. Bobulinski’s account of mistruths offered by President Joe Biden and Democrats on the committee, Mr. Raskin interrupted the witness testimony, saying, “Mr. Chairman … he called members of this committee liars and I just want to know whether the order and decorum requirements of house rule 11 Apply to witnesses appearing before the committee.”
Mr. Comer responded that the decorum requirements applied to members of the committee, but not witnesses.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-M.D.) pushed back against Republicans’ efforts to impeach President Joe Biden and immediately referred to Democrat witness, former Rudy Guiliani associate Lev Parnas.
“He was Rudy Giuliani's right-hand man, globe-trotting business partner and language interpreter in the mission to manufacture Ukraine and Burisma-related dirt and smears against Joe Biden.
“In 2018 and 2019 he spent all of his time traveling around the world trying to stage evidence against Joe Biden. In his letter, Parnas explains that the desperate search to find evidence of any kind of Biden corruption was a complete and total bust because there was no evidence to find.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) used his opening remarks to attempt to discredit the witnesses, including Businessman Tony Bobulinski.
Mr. Raskin called him a “bitterly disappointed wannabe Hunter business partner whose famously litigious history,” asserting that the witness met with former members of the Trump administration while “wearing a ski mask.”
Mr. Raskin also claimed that another witness, Jason Galanis, who appeared from prison via video link, “a serial fraudster and convicted con man.”
Ranking Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), called out Republicans in his opening statements in the March 20 impeachment hearing over President Joe Biden, calling their efforts a “spectacular failure.”
“With any luck today marks the end of perhaps the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations. The effort to find a high crime or misdemeanor committed by Joe Biden and then to impeach him for it,” he said.
Mr. Raskin took issue with the witnesses questioned throughout the impeachment proceedings.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) responded to Democrat derision, saying Republicans were fully justified in their investigation into President Joe Biden, pointing to testimony from former businessmen connected with the Biden family who testified that the presence of the president was traded on for money.
“How dare Republicans investigate Joe Biden? How dare they look into the money, the business, and the brand?” Mr. Jordan said incredulously.
“Millions of dollars from foreign entities run through 20 different companies for what was it? I mean, 20 different companies for what Devon Archer told us was for access to the brand. And the brand was Joe Biden.”
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Miss.), the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, called President Joe Biden an “enabler” who was “complicit” in his son’s business dealings.
“We have testimony from multiple witnesses that Joe Biden was the brand he knew what his son and brother were doing, and did nothing to stop it. That alone makes him complicit in a scheme to make money off of his public service,” Mr. Smith said.
“But he was not just complicit. He was as one of today's witnesses has testified an enabler of this activity.”
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) asserted in his opening statement that President Joe Biden is the family "closer," bringing money and influence to family foreign allies.
"The Biden family promises Joe's power," Mr. Comer said. "Joe Biden shows up, and millions of dollars come into the Bidens’s pockets. Joe Biden is the family's closer."
The Kentucky Republican went on to say that as far as he can tell, the members of the Biden family don't seem to be doing discernable work and yet are still paid well. He also addressed the claims that there are only a few possible explanations for what was found during the committee's 15-month investigation.
Rep. James Comer (R-K.y.), the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, opened the impeachment hearing into President Joe Biden by calling out Democrats.
“We have heard Democrats desperately proclaiming that witnesses have told this committee that Joe Biden had no involvement in his family's business dealings,” Mr. Comer said.
“Democrats have relied on these witnesses' opening statements and have willfully turned a blind eye to the facts that have come out in these interviews once the witnesses were questioned about our record of evidence.
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) opens the hearing, alleging that President Joe Biden used his influence to aid his family's business with foreign entities.
"In the course of this investigation, we have learned that Joe Biden has taken action after action to further his family's plans to get rich he shows up to meetings, gets on phone calls, shakes hands and tells people to quote, look after my family," Mr. Comer said.
Democrats from the House Oversight Committee released a memo prior to the start of the hearing this morning, asserting that there was a “Mountain of Evidence Proves No Wrongdoing by President [Joe] Biden,”
“The evidence could not be any clearer: Joe Biden was not involved in, did not profit from, and took no official action to benefit his family’s business dealings,” the memo stated.
The lawmakers cited 15 months of investigation into the president and family members, which included 80 hours of testimony from more than a dozen witnesses and the review of more than 100,000 pages of documents, saying that this cumulative evidence “definitively exonerates President Biden and proves that he committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense.”
A House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing concerning President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s business affairs will move forward on March 20 without Hunter Biden.
Following his closed-door deposition before impeachment investigators last month, the younger Biden was invited to appear publicly before the committee alongside three of his former business associates: Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski, and Jason Galanis.