The committee hearing devolved into a shouting match among committee members, with Republicans railing against Hunter Biden for “a political stunt” as Democrats yelled back that he was present and willing to answer questions under oath in a public setting, as the GOP lawmakers had been demanding.
Partway through the hearing, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began speaking, Hunter Biden got up and left.
“What a coward,” she said.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, told reporters outside the hearing room that his client was willing to testify in a public setting. The president’s son has refused to answer Republican House members’ questions behind closed doors, citing a concern that they would selectively leak his remarks to make him look bad.
Hunter Biden was trailed by reporters and other onlookers — some shouting questions such as “Hunter, what’s your favorite kind of crack?” and “Are you on crack today?” — and he largely ignored the questions.
His appearance came one month after he made another surprise appearance, outside the U.S. Capitol, delivering remarks to reporters about the ongoing Republican attacks on him.
“For six years, I have been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine, shouting, ‘Where’s Hunter?’” he said on Dec. 13. “Well, here’s my answer: I am here.”
The two events mark dramatic public appearances for a presidential son who for years has been the focus of scrutiny from Republicans, who are using his business dealings as a basis for an impeachment inquiry into his father, and from federal investigators, who have charged Hunter Biden with tax and gun crimes.
The events on Wednesday were the latest turn in an ongoing back-and-forth between House Republicans and Hunter Biden’s legal team. The committee in November issued a subpoena seeking testimony from Hunter Biden on Dec. 13.
Hunter Biden responded and said that he was willing to testify but only in a public setting. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committee chairman, declined that offer and said the testimony needed to be in private, with a transcript released afterward.
When Dec. 13 came, Hunter Biden instead appeared outside the Capitol instead. The hearing on Wednesday began the process of holding him in contempt of Congress for defying the subpoena for his closed-door testimony.
If the contempt measure is adopted, it would ultimately be left to the Justice Department to determine whether it wants to indict the president’s son for defying a congressional subpoena. A criminal conviction does not compel an individual to testify but can result in a fine and up to a year of imprisonment.