Table Of Content
- WATCH: Republicans push ahead with Hunter Biden contempt charge after his surprise visit to Capitol Hill
- Foreign governments spent millions at Trump businesses while he held office, Democrats say
- big takeaways from Day 8 of Trump's hush money trial
- Republicans pause effort to hold Hunter Biden in contempt, say they are talking with his attorneys
- More from CBS News
- House Republicans Move To Hold Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress
"There is no precedent for the U.S. House of Representatives holding a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the committee's choosing," said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the oversight committee. The two Republican-led committees voted last week to recommend that the full House hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena in the Republican impeachment inquiry into his father. The younger Biden had offered to testify at a public hearing, and he appeared on Capitol Hill to make a statement in December on the day ordered in his subpoena but did not appear for the closed-door testimony the committees requested. Comer and Jordan late last month demanded that the White House provide any communications it has had with Hunter Biden’s legal team in an escalation of their impeachment inquiry into the president.
WATCH: Republicans push ahead with Hunter Biden contempt charge after his surprise visit to Capitol Hill
The House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees did not comment on Morris’ planned testimony. Morris’ payments to the IRS were not a focus of federal prosecutors, according to multiple sources familiar with the five-year investigation. Morris is mentioned in the federal indictment filed in December as a “personal friend” who provided about $200,000 for Hunter Biden’s rent. NBC News has reported that Morris began advising Hunter Biden in 2020 and arranged to pay about $2 million in outstanding tax obligations to the IRS for him in 2020 and 2021.
Foreign governments spent millions at Trump businesses while he held office, Democrats say
Hunter Biden, Mayorkas, Fauci: House lawmakers return from holidays for a high-profile week - Fox News
Hunter Biden, Mayorkas, Fauci: House lawmakers return from holidays for a high-profile week.
Posted: Mon, 08 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the Oversight committee, and Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary panel, had said in a statement Friday that they were “heartened” by the shift from Hunter Biden’s legal team. The arrival of the president's son at the Oversight Committee, which has been engaged in a yearlong probe, sitting in the audience with his legal team, including attorney Abbe Lowell, sent the panel into chaos. "Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution," Comer said last week.
big takeaways from Day 8 of Trump's hush money trial
The move comes days after an attorney for President Joe Biden’s son indicated a willingness to cooperate with Republicans’ ongoing impeachment inquiry following months of defiance. WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday rejected a long-shot effort from House Republicans to get President Joe Biden to testify before lawmakers in the GOP's stalled impeachment inquiry. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” the president's son said in those remarks. Instead, Hunter Biden appeared on Capitol Hill to deliver a statement to the press, defying that subpoena, and said he would only testify in a public setting. House Oversight Chairman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, said Thursday that a formal impeachment inquiry "strengthens our hand when we go to court against this administration or anyone who refuses our subpoena." The House Oversight Committee informed Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, Tuesday that it would begin contempt of Congress proceedings against Biden if he does not comply with its subpoena to appear for a deposition on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
Republicans pause effort to hold Hunter Biden in contempt, say they are talking with his attorneys
The move comes days after an attorney for President Joe Biden's son indicated a willingness to cooperate with Republicans' ongoing impeachment inquiry following months of defiance. "Mr. Biden’s decision to defy the Committees’ subpoenas and deliver prepared remarks prevents the Committee from carrying out its Constitutional oversight function and its impeachment inquiry," it continues. The federal investigation of Hunter Biden has been underway since 2019, led by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was named special counsel in the probe earlier this year. Weiss indicted Hunter Biden Thursday on nine counts of tax charges, alleging a scheme not to pay "at least $1.4 million" in federal income taxes for the years 2016 through 2019. During this period, Hunter Biden made over $7 million in total gross income, according to the indictment. The push to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress comes after Jordan defied a congressional subpoena by the House Jan. 6 Committee.
White House rejects long-shot House Republican effort to get President Joe Biden to testify
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called him a coward as he left during her remarks. Democratic lawmakers argued that Biden, who has refused to testify to the panel behind closed doors, should be allowed to speak publicly. Lowell told the committee that President Biden's son had made a "choice" to testify only in an open hearing. Further angering Republicans, Hunter Biden did come to the Capitol on the day specified by the subpoena — but not to testify. Capitol complex — a couple hundred feet away from the awaiting GOP investigators — and delivered a rare public statement defending his business affairs and castigating the yearslong investigations into him and his family. One Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, insisted that Hunter Biden be quickly arrested.
“The Department will not shirk from our duty to protect the public’s interest in the integrity of law enforcement work. Please do not hesitate to contact this office if we may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter,” he claimed. Biden’s Justice Department replied Thursday to Comer and Jordan by refusing to hand over the audio, citing a lack of “legitimate congressional need” for it. In his request to the White House, Comer had asked Biden to “explain, under oath,” what involvement he had in the Biden family businesses.
House Republicans Move To Hold Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress
Jordan, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, was one of the few people who spoke with the then-president on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Instead, he responded to their requests with several letters asking questions about what they were in search of. When the committee last week announced its intention to mark up the contempt resolution, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, said his client was not in contempt because he had offered to testify in public. In response to Hunter Biden’s offer to testify publicly, the Republican chairmen of the committees said they would provide him that opportunity under the condition that he testify behind closed doors first. Though it’s illegal to defy a congressional subpoena, the Justice Department has in the past declined to prosecute contempt referrals from the political party opposite the one controlling the executive branch.
Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions,” the reports read. The two committees also released resolutions that will be marked up in committee hearings Wednesday at 10 a.m. If the resolutions pass the committees, they will then be allowed to be voted on by the full House.
While Republicans say their inquiry is ultimately focused on the president, they have taken particular interest in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, from which they accuse the president of personally benefiting. Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations of interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into the younger Biden’s taxes and his gun use. Hunter Biden and his lawyers have repeatedly slammed the GOP-issued subpoena for the closed-door testimony, arguing that information from those interviews can be selectively leaked and manipulated.
The committees' votes, held a day before Biden is due to plead not guilty at his first appearance in court on tax charges in Los Angeles, are the latest in an escalating back-and-forth between the president's son and House Republicans. The markup of the report is set to happen a day before Hunter Biden is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Los Angeles on nine federal tax-related charges, including the felonies of filing a false tax return and tax evasion. The charges were brought by special counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee who previously served as U.S. attorney in Delaware and has been overseeing the federal investigation into the president's son. In the statement, Raskin said “there is no precedent” for the House to hold a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify under oath publicly and on a day the committee chose.
The House has stopped moving forward with a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after Biden’s lawyers and the House Judiciary and Oversight committees renewed their conversations about scheduling a date for the president’s son to appear and testify. Washington — House Republicans on Monday released a resolution recommending that the chamber find Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, after the president's son failed to comply with a subpoena for closed-door testimony. The move sparked outrage from Republicans, who subpoenaed him to sit for a closed-door deposition in their ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The president's son has said he would testify only in a public forum and previously castigated the probe as "illegitimate." Still, attorney Abbe Lowell wrote to House Republicans Friday that his client’s cooperation is dependent on the committee issuing a new subpoena.
Hunter Biden is currently the target of a lengthy prosecution by a U.S. attorney held over from the Donald Trump administration, though it’s unclear if contempt of Congress charges would be added to the tax and gun charges Biden’s already facing. While Republicans say their inquiry is ultimately focused on the president, they have taken particular interest in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, from which they accuse the president of personally benefiting. Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations of interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into the younger Biden’s taxes and his gun use. Hunter Biden and his lawyers have repeatedly slammed the GOP-issued subpoena for the closed-door testimony, arguing that information from those interviews can be selectively leaked and manipulated. At his leadership news conference Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was aware of Biden’s surprise appearance and called for “accountability” in response to his defiance of “a lawful” congressional subpoena.
While the Justice Department in 2022 declined to prosecute Meadows, who was former President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff, the case against Bannon, a former Trump adviser, led to a trial where a jury convicted him on two counts of contempt of Congress. He was sentenced to four months in prison and recently sought to overturn his conviction. "Hunter Biden, you are too afraid for a deposition, and I still think you are today," she said. Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
No comments:
Post a Comment