Republicans on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees advanced a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena last month.
The votes took place after hours-long, fiery hearings.
At the same time, the House Homeland Security Committee held its first impeachment hearing into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Meanwhile, both House and Senate lawmakers are racing to craft spending bills to avoid a partial government shutdown in less than 10 days. Plus, border talks are heating up in the Senate.
It’s already been a bustling and unexpected day on the Hill; follow along with live updates below.
Two House panels on Wednesday separately voted to advance a contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden, teeing up a full House vote and the potential for criminal charges for the president’s son.
The votes by the Oversight and Judiciary committees came hours after Biden made a surprise appearance in the Oversight markup, teeing up a string of criticism from GOP lawmakers and fiery exchanges between members.
The House Oversight Committee voted to approve a resolution holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after he failed to show for a deposition following a subpoena.
The resolution passed with a 25-21 vote.
It will now go the the full House for consideration.
—Rebecca Beitsch
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he would “guarantee” that Hunter Biden could publicly appear before the panel after he is deposed.
“Hunter Biden is more than welcome to come for a hearing – after the deposition,” Comer said.
Amid a push from Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) to guarantee that, Comer agreed.
“After the deposition I guarantee it,” Comer said.
— Rebecca Beitsch
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced the resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.
The vote included 23 members in favor of the resolution and 14 against it after a more than six-hour hearing.
This tees up a full House floor vote on the matter along with the potential for further criminal charges for the president’s son.
Miranda Nazzaro
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) said Hunter Biden “thinks he’s an American prince,” when it comes to appearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
“The left wants us to treat him [Hunter Biden] with kid gloves and this man in 50 years old,” Hunt said, adding later, “He should not be given a sweatshirt because he thinks he’s an American prince and I don’t mean ‘Purple Rain,'” a reference to singer and songwriter Prince.
“A witness does not get to decide his preferred method of appearing before the committee, the committee that subpoenaed the witness does, that’s how this place works,” Hunt added.
Hunt compared the circumstances to the argument by many Democrats that former President Trump, who faces four criminal indictments, is not “above the law.”
“I guess what they mean is that no one’s above the law, except for when it comes to President Biden’s son Hunter,” he said. “And Hunter Biden should not be given special treatment.”
Miranda Nazzaro
House Republicans on Wednesday opened a series of hearings dedicated to impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, embarking down the road of removing a Cabinet secretary for the second time in history.
In many ways the hearing was like any other the House Homeland Security Committee has held over the past year, focusing on the “havoc” immigration has created in the heartland, a nod to a popular Republican refrain that every state is now a border state.
But in a shift, the witnesses were asked to be experts on impeachment, with members squaring off over whether Republicans had found any evidence to back the constitutional standard of removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) gave a more than 20-minute opening statement, a lengthy departure from the usual five-minute allotment, walking through what he said is the evidence that supports “pursu[ing] the possibility of impeachment.”
Rebecca Beitsch
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) called out Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) over the Democrat’s opposition to holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.
“We all have to obey the rule of law or should be and so my colleague, my colleague, Congressman Swalwell. He’s a member of Congress, that matters. We have a responsibility and he flouts and tours that he went around with Hunter Biden who openly, defiantly, literally disobeyed the rule of law,” Van Drew said.
“But he [Hunter Biden] thought once again, as he has over and over and over again, the way he’s made his money, the way he’s been treated in his criminal charges. He thought,’I’m gonna do it again. I’m gonna say I’m a special guy. The rules don’t apply to me. They apply to every other American but dammit, I can do what I want.’ And Eric Swalwell supports that,” he continued.
“I can’t believe that. Ladies and gentlemen, this is raw politics, it’s abusive politics, it’s harmful politics,” he continued.
Swalwell throughout the hours-long contempt was a fierce critic of the contempt resolution and took aim at Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for his focus on the president’s son.
Miranda Nazzaro
A band of House conservatives tanked a procedural vote on Wednesday in a rebellion against the spending deal Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struck with Democrats, which members of the right flank have sharply criticized.
Thirteen Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against the rule for a trio of bills, preventing the chamber from debating and voting on the measures, which are unrelated to spending.
Mychael Schnell
Rep. Rebecca Balint (D-Vt.) on Wednesday claimed witnesses who have appeared before the Judiciary committee have faced threats following their testimony.
“Not only are the chairmen’s investigations a cynical waste of time, but they have put the lives of regular people in danger,” Balint said Wednesday. “Witnesses that have appeared before this committee have testified that House Republicans have spread dangerous conspiracy theories about them. And it has led to threats against their families and against them.”
Balint said one witness, who was nine months pregnant at the time, was forced to get a restraining order against a man who repeatedly doxxed her family after Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) posted an edited video of her on X, formerly Twitter.
“Witnesses who are members of law enforcement have testified that they’ve been doxxed, that they have gotten threatened not just at work, but at their homes as well,” Balint said.
Miranda Nazzaro
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) got heated during the Judiciary hearing about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots after earlier conversations in the hearing referenced the insurrection.
Acknowledging the Jan. 6 attack was not the subject of the Judiciary’s hearing on Hunter Biden, Spartz noted, “We need to stop…accusing people who disagree with the government.”
“They’ve been very corrupt and oppressive, to actually come here and express peacefully that dissatisfaction and there are always some bad players and who knows who they are, but they don’t call people insurrectionists. This is just un-American to do it and I’m sick and tired of the other side costly doing it because I knew a lot of people that were there in the crowd,” she said.
Miranda Nazzaro
The White House wouldn’t say if the president was informed that the younger Biden would be making his surprise visit to Capitol Hill.
When he made remarks outside the Capitol in December, President Biden was “familiar” with what his son planned to say.
Jean-Pierre also said she wouldn’t respond to Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) comments that Hunter Biden should be arrested.
Alex Gangitano
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) criticized Republican colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee for making comments that “slander” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they embark on a series of hearings to mull his impeachment.
“You’re certainly welcome to disagree with how he executes his job. You’re welcome to criticize him. You’re welcome to make the case to the American people as to why Secretary Mayorkas in executing President Joe Biden’s immigration policy should be removed from office at the ballot box. But to come in here over and over and over again, and to personally attack and slander without any evidence a cabinet secretary who has committed so much of his life to this country … you should be ashamed of yourself,” he said.
“It’s enough.”
Rebecca Beitsch
House Democratic leaders are going after Republicans this week for their focus on contempt and impeachment, accusing GOP leaders of taking up issues “that no one cares about” because they can’t unite their party behind anything else.
“The only common denominator among the House Republican conference are censures, impeachments, Merrick Garland, General [Lloyd] Austin, [Alejandro] Mayorkas,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Wednesday during a press briefing in the Capitol. “These are the things that bind the Republican conference together. It’s the only thing that they have 218 votes for, so that’s why they continue to go down this rabbit hole.”
Democrats say the combination of disciplinary measures is designed to distract voters from strong economic indicators, including record low unemployment and a record high stock market, which affect people far more directly.
“Instead of focusing on helping the American people, they’re focusing on issues that no one cares about,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
“I can guarantee you, no American family during the holidays was sitting there thinking, ‘Hey, that Hunter Biden, he agreed to testify publicly in front of Congress, but he really should be doing a closed-door deposition. That’s why we need to hold him in contempt.’ No American family was thinking about that at all.”
Mike Lillis
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, circled back to Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) remarks at the beginning of the markup and criticized her for saying that Hunter Biden showing up at the Capitol represented “white privilege.”
“I just want to run it back though to the very beginning because this is something that I just can’t get over. I just can’t get over the gentlelady from South Carolina talking about white privilege. It was a spit in the face, at least of mine as a Black woman, for you to talk about what white privilege looks like, especially from that side of the aisle,” she said.
Crockett went on to paraphrase former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from last month when he reflected on the makeup of Congress during the 2019 State of the Union address, when he said Democrats “look like America” and Republicans “look like the most restrictive country club in America.”
“Ya’ll don’t know what white privilege looks like,” Crockett said.
Mace defended herself, noting that she was formerly the ranking member of the Civil Rights Subcommittee and saying “I take great pride as a white female Republican to address the inadequacies in our country.”
She then yielded to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who said, “Let’s be very clear, this isn’t about Hunter Biden’s white privilege, it’s about Hunter Biden’s Democrat privilege.”
— Mychael Schnell
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) took a swipe at the House GOP’s request for Hunter Biden to testify behind closed doors, suggesting House Republicans may have something to hide from the American people.
“They’re [House Republicans] doing these stupid proceedings, and it’s particularly stupid because Hunter Biden showed up today to testify publicly under oath,” Lieu said. “Why are the Republicans scared to let him testify publicly? What are Republicans hiding from American people? What don’t they want Hunter Biden to say publicly?”
Lieu argued Hunter Biden’s offer to publicly testify shows “substantial compliance” with the House’s subpoena.
— Miranda Nazzaro