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Hunter Biden agrees to face Republican committee in impeachment probe
Hunter Biden breaks silence, agrees to testify in impeachment inquiry against his father, President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, has finally agreed to appear before a Republican-led committee that is conducting an impeachment inquiry against his father.
The House Oversight Committee announced the decision on Thursday, after months of resistance from Hunter to testify in any closed-door hearing.
The impasse had pushed Hunter, 53, to the edge of being charged with contempt of Congress.
The committee said the hearing would take place on 28 February.
However, it is not clear where and how Hunter would give his testimony.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Republicans postponed their plan to hold Hunter in contempt this week as they negotiated his testimony.
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“His deposition will follow several interviews with members and associates of the Biden family,” said Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in a joint statement.
“We are eager to hear from Hunter Biden.”
They added that they were still in talks with the lawyers of the president’s brother, James Biden, to secure his testimony.
AP also reported that Hunter’s legal team had confirmed the news.
Hunter declined private testimony, citing GOP history
A source close to the first son told the Washington Post that he had previously refused to attend a private deposition because Republicans had a “history of selectively leaking closed-door sessions”.
The president’s son caused a stir last week when he unexpectedly showed up at one of the hearings, disrupting the session and infuriating Republicans.
He entered the oversight committee’s hearing shortly after it started with his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, and remained quiet with his arms folded as a number of lawmakers attacked him.
In a written statement, Lowell repeated that his client declined to testify in private so that Republicans “could not twist, exploit, and abuse his testimony”.
Lowell also accused the Republican party of using Hunter “as a proxy to target his father”.
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The younger Biden was charged last month with nine criminal offences, including not paying his taxes on time from 2016 to 2019, submitting false tax returns in 2018 and tax evasion.
He could face up to 17 years in jail if found guilty of these charges.
Hunter is also facing federal charges over illegal gun possession, to which he has already pleaded not guilty.
