Hunter Biden launches a fightback: calls for a public hearing

Republicans have rejected the president’s son offer to testify publicly in congress about his business dealings.

Hunter Biden’s willingness to defend himself publicly in congress reflected a more proactive response to Republican attacks on his dealings. Picture: AFP

The US President’s son has challenged Republicans to let him testify publicly in congress in December to clear his name over allegations of corruption, a surprise, high-stakes move to blunt the GOP’s months-long attempt to associate his foreign business dealings with his father.

Republicans quickly shot down the younger Biden’s request after his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, made public a letter on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that argued a House of Representatives public hearing would “prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits or one-sided press statements”.

“Our client will get right to it by agreeing to answer any pertinent and relevant question you or your colleagues might have, but – rather than subscribing to your cloaked, one-sided process – he will appear at a public oversight and accountability committee hearing,” Mr Lowell said.

It’s a risky strategy, ensuring the Biden family’s business dealings, which even some Democrats acknowledge may have fallen short of best practice, were subject to intense media scrutiny as Joe Biden seeks re-election.

The Republican-led committee earlier this month issued subpoenas for Hunter Biden, the president’s brother James and business associate Rob Walker to appear before the committee in closed door hearing on ­December 13.

The legally binding request followed months of investigation by the house committee that had unearthed evidence showing the Biden family was paid more than $US24m via at least 20 shell companies related to Hunter Biden from entities in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Kazakhstan, during and after his father was vice-president to Barack Obama.

“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with house Republicans,” said oversight committee chairman James Comer, insisting on a closed-door deposition.

“We expect full co-operation with our subpoena for a deposition but also agree that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date,” he added, paving the way for two showdowns.

Longstanding accusations of corruption against the President’s son intensified after the contents of his laptop emerged publicly in late 2020, which referred to Mr Biden Sr as “the big guy” in private correspondence.

They intensified further after Republicans won control of the house this year, setting off a multi­-pronged investigation using the subpoena powers of congress into the Biden family’s business dealings, producing evidence the President knew more about his son’s dealings and associates than admitted publicly.

Kevin McCarthy, in one of his last major acts as Speaker, in September established a special inquiry to determine whether any of the alleged corruption, which the White House, Biden family and Democratic Party strongly deny, would meet the constitutional standard for impeachment.

Hunter Biden’s willingness to defend himself publicly in congress reflected a more proactive response to Republican attacks on his dealings, prompting concern in the White House that it could undermine Mr Biden Sr’s re-election.

A 2020 Biden campaign aide told Politico the White House was “irritated that he’s being more aggressive because he is not clearing the tactics and the strategy”.

More than two-thirds of Americans said the President had either acted illegally or unethically when it came to the overseas business dealings of his son, according to an AP-Norc poll conducted in October.

Senior Democrat congressman Jamie Raskin said Republicans’ “insistence that Hunter Biden’s interview should happen behind closed doors proves … what the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth.”

“The American people have a right to see … if you do this stuff in private, what happens is there’s inevitably bunches of leaks … just do it in public,” senator Josh Hawley said.