WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden on Wednesday declined an invitation from Republicans in the House of Representatives to appear next week with former business partners for a public hearing, an investigation his lawyer dismissed as a “carnival sideshow.”
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Abbe Lowell, the attorney for the president’s son, denounced Republicans’ efforts to bring his client before a public hearing after he delivered a nearly seven-hour deposition last month.
“Your latest step – this March 6 invitation – is not a serious oversight proceeding,” Lowell said in the letter. “It is your attempt to revive your Conference’s dying research with a circus act made for the right-wing media.”
The invitation sent last week by Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, included three former business associates of Biden, all of whom are currently facing their own legal challenges.
“Your idea of congressional ‘fact-finding’ is, astonishingly, to make Mr. Biden appear with the discredited ‘witnesses’ you continue to promote,” Lowell continued.
The committee’s fourteen-month investigation into the Biden family has focused mainly on Hunter Biden’s overseas work in countries such as Ukraine and China. While lawmakers have exposed ethically questionable behavior by the president’s son and other family members, Republicans have yet to provide evidence of misconduct by Joe Biden while in office.
The rejection of the invitation comes after Hunter Biden and his lawyer insisted late last year that he appear for a public hearing instead of the private deposition, citing concerns that Republican lawmakers would distort his interview. The two sides ultimately agreed to first provide testimony, followed by a public hearing.
But Lowell said his client would only appear for a hearing if it was a “legitimate exercise of congressional authority,” which would also look into efforts by relatives of former President Donald Trump to trade on their father’s name while he was in office. White House was.
