Hunter Biden has agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees in a closed-door deposition scheduled for Feb. 28. This decision follows his initial refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas and his desire to testify publicly about the impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden. The agreement was reached after the House temporarily halted a vote on holding Biden in contempt of Congress for not complying with the subpoenas. The committees consider Biden a crucial witness in their impeachment inquiry, investigating the business dealings of President Biden and his family.
The Oversight Committee plans to conduct several interviews with Biden family members and associates, including gallerist Mervyn Yan, Biden family associate Rob Walker, former Hunter Biden business partner Eric Schwerin, Biden fundraiser Joey Langston, and Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski over the next three weeks. Additional witnesses may be announced later.
Contrary to Biden’s lawyers’ initial request for a public testimony with questioning from both Republicans and Democrats, the Oversight and Judiciary committees rejected the proposal for a “hybrid process” that would combine a public setting with closed-door rules.
In a related development, Hunter Biden recently pleaded not guilty to nine counts accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2021. These charges stem from a Justice Department investigation into his business dealings, and he also pleaded not guilty last year to purchasing a gun while using drugs.