The closed-door deposition comes as a federal indictment casts doubt over a crucial witness’ claims.
After months of negotiations and contempt threats, President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, will finally testify before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Feb. 28.
The deposition, scheduled for 10 a.m., is part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry of President Biden to determine if he and his family members sold access to his office and political influence while he was vice president.
The deposition will take place behind closed doors, despite the younger Biden’s prior insistence that it be conducted publicly. That detail, among others, was hammered out in negotiations over the past month after House Republicans halted efforts to hold Mr. Biden in contempt of Congress.
An impeachment inquiry aide told The Epoch Times that Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) intends to release Mr. Biden’s testimony “as expeditiously as possible” in keeping with his commitment to transparency.
Per House rules, the transcript will first require review by Mr. Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and the approval of the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. If the latter does not give his approval, the committee will vote on the document’s release.
Contempt Resolution Sidelined
The initial subpoenas the committees issued Mr. Biden in November compelled him to testify privately in a Dec. 13 deposition. When that date arrived, he defied the orders and held a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps instead, decrying the impeachment probe as “illegitimate.”
A month later, he sent the House Oversight Committee into an uproar when he abruptly walked into a Jan. 10 meeting where members were finalizing a resolution to hold him in contempt. He sat for a few minutes, watching silently as infuriated Republicans raked him over the coals before he got up and left.
At the time the subpoenas were issued, the House had yet to hold a formal vote on the impeachment inquiry—a fact Mr. Lowell cited in defense of his client’s noncompliance.
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