(The Hill) — Hunter Biden is willing to testify in public before the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating his business dealings as part of an impeachment investigation into his father President Joe Biden.
The letter proposing a public hearing comes from Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and serves as a response to a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, led by Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), sent earlier in November.
The committee had sought a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, but Lowell wrote that it did not trust Comer and Republicans to provide a truthful account of such an event.
“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door,” Lowell wrote in a letter to Comer on Tuesday. “If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings.”
Lowell noted that Comer has previously said that Hunter Biden is “more than welcome” before the committee.
“Accordingly, 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,” Lowell said.
It is not clear whether the House Oversight Committee will accept Hunter Biden’s offer to testify publicly rather than behind closed doors. The committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lowell’s letter.
House Republicans on the Oversight panel, along with the House Judiciary Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, are investigating the foreign business activities of Hunter Biden, President Biden’s brother James Biden, and other family associates as part of an impeachment inquiry into the president.
The multi-pronged inquiry is investigating claims of improper influence peddling while Biden was vice president, whether any money flowed to President Biden’s pocket from his family’s foreign business dealings, and claims that the tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden was improperly slow-walked or stymied by the Department of Justice.
The Judiciary panel, led by Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), heard from special counsel David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware who is investigating Hunter Biden, in a voluntary interview earlier in November.
The White House has repeatedly denied wrongdoing by the president and has dubbed the impeachment inquiry “congressional harassment” for political purposes.
In addition to Hunter Biden, the House Oversight subpoenaed a swath of other Biden family members earlier in November, including the president’s brother James Biden; Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen; and Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden.
Hunter Biden’s legal counsel has tore into the Oversight Committee’s investigation, writing that Comer’s probe is “turning up only dry holes.”
“A public proceeding would prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, or one-sided press statements,” Lowell said in the letter.
“Your empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources. It should come to an end. Consequently, Mr. Biden will appear at such a public hearing on the date you noticed, December 13, or any date in December that we can arrange,” Lowell continued. “From all the individuals you have requested depositions or interviews, all you will learn is that your accusations are baseless. However, the American people should see that for themselves.”
