Hunter Biden declines request to appear at public hearing

President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, won’t appear before Congress at a slated March 20 hearing, with his attorney telling House Republicans that he “declines your invitation to this carnival side show.”

The letter to House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) comes after he apparently set a hearing date without first consulting Hunter Biden for his availability, arranging for his testimony alongside some former business partners who have been critical of the president’s son.

Attorney Abbe Lowell said Comer’s invitation came “with no prior communication” and set a hearing date the day before Biden is set to make a court appearance in California in connection with charges for failure to pay taxes.

Lowell portrayed Comer’s hearing as “an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended,” pointing to the arrest of a former FBI informant on charges related to lying to the agency with allegations the president accepted a bribe.

“I must confess my surprise by your hasty request. After that six-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024, along with the realization that your inquiry was based on a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars and a charged Russian spy, I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead,” Lowell wrote, nodding to Hunter Biden’s closed-door testimony last month.

“Even before Mr. Biden testified, witness after witness undermined the central premise of your partisan charade. President Biden has done nothing wrong and certainly nothing, even in your misapplication of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution, to warrant further proceedings.”

Comer’s request for a public hearing was in line with earlier demands from Biden to appear publicly before the panel.

Biden, as well as Democrats and other past witnesses who have been deposed, have accused Republicans on the committee of releasing cherry-picked exchanges from interviews or mischaracterizing their statements.

Biden had initially skirted an earlier scheduled deposition, instead holding a press conference on the Senate lawn demanding a public hearing. That spurred lawmakers to mull a contempt referral, a process that ended when he later agreed to meet behind closed doors.

In organizing his deposition, however, Biden arranged for the swift release of the transcript, laying out lengthy testimony in which he consistently denied his father had any insight into his business activities or took any official action to benefit his son.

“I am here today to provide the committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never,” Biden said in his opening statement.

“My testimony today should put an end to this baseless and destructive political charade,” he later added. 

Comer said in a statement that the committee “has called Hunter Biden’s bluff.”

“Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come,” Comer said.

Comer said some of Biden’s closed-door testimony offered insight into how his father intersected with the business ventures of his relatives while other testimony contradicted that of the other invited witnesses.

“Next week’s hearing with Hunter Biden and his associates is moving forward and we fully expect Hunter Biden to participate,” he added. 

But Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, criticized Comer for scheduling a public hearing after he and other Republicans, like House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), weren’t present for much of Biden’s deposition.

“Mr. Comer was not there for a lot of that hearing, and Mr. Jordan left that hearing early. I was there for the whole time and [Biden and his attorneys] were willing to keep staying for as long as members wanted to keep asking questions. And there were no other Republicans who wanted to ask questions, and so it was over,” Raskin told reporters Wednesday.

“And so the idea of calling them back now seems within the realm of theater, and bad theater at that.”

Comer’s initial hearing invite, titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office,” gave insight into his hopes for the appearance.

Comer had also invited Tony Bobulinski, a spurned associate of Biden’s who was only briefly involved in his business dealings and later became involved with former President Trump’s campaign.

Biden has called for an investigation into Bobulinski, whom he has accused of lying about their relationship. 

The GOP also invited Jason Galanis, a former associate of Biden business partner Devon Archer who is serving time in federal prison on charges related to defrauding a Native American tribe. 

Biden said last month he had minimal connection to Galanis.

“I think that 10 years ago, for 30 minutes, I was introduced to Jason Galanis, and that’s only ― the only time I ever recall meeting him,” he said during his deposition.

Mike Lillis contributed. Updated at 11:56 a.m. ET