House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) made the case that it was the Biden family that “got played” by the first son’s surprise appearance during a hearing Wednesday on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress.
“I think that the American people saw the arrogance and entitlement of the president’s son,” the Kentucky Republican said during an interview with NewsNation of Hunter Biden’s 17-minute-long appearance during the oversight panel’s hearing.
The committee voted along party lines to refer a contempt resolution against Biden to the full House.
The contempt resolution stems from Biden’s refusal to comply with subpoenas for his testimony issued last year by the House Oversight and Judiciary committees as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
The 53-year-old first son has demanded that he be allowed to testify in public, while Republicans leading the inquiry insist that he must first sit for a deposition behind closed doors.
“He’s more than welcome to show up for a committee hearing, after a deposition, every investigation, whether it’s a congressional investigation, or whether it’s an investigation by local and law enforcement, they bring people in for depositions at the end of the investigations,” Comer said.
The oversight chairman noted that despite Biden’s stated readiness to answer questions publicly, he largely refused to so Wednesday when the opportunity presented itself.
“He showed up. You heard [Rep. Jared] Moskowitz, which you played the clip there that said, ‘Hunter Biden is here to answer questions.’ Two minutes later, his time expired and I recognized Marjorie Taylor Greene, she was going to ask him questions, he ran out of there,” Comer said.
“So in my opinion, the Biden’s are the ones that got played today,” he argued.
Comer dismissed criticism that the chaotic moment would backfire on Republicans investigating the 81-year-old president’s involvement in his family’s extensive overseas business dealings and lead to more sympathy for Hunter Biden.
“Look, at the end of the day, we have a simple question. What did you do to receive the millions of dollars from our enemies around the world? If he can answer that question, we’ll pretty much be done with him,” the lawmaker said of his committee’s interest in the first son.
“We’re investigating his father, we’re trying to determine whether or not Joe Biden is compromised because of the millions of dollars his family received from our enemies around the world. We have specific questions. They said he came here to answer questions today. The first question he had he bolted out of there. So I mean, they can try to create a narrative that he was there to answer questions, but when I asked him a question, he left,” Comer said.