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Hunter Biden will no longer be able to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to silence if he is called to testify before Congress after accepting a presidential pardon from his father, two former House general counsels told the Washington Free Beacon.
The legal argument could give Republicans an opening to subpoena Hunter Biden and elicit new information about his family's knowledge or involvement in his lobbying and foreign business ventures. Those ventures often intersected with President Joe Biden's political roles, including in China and Ukraine.
House Republicans have said they are looking into the legal implications of the pardon and whether it will prohibit the president's son from pleading the Fifth. The matter is likely to be considered by the House Office of General Counsel, a nonpartisan legal advisory office, a House Republican source told the Free Beacon.
The office did not respond to a request for comment. But two former House general counsels told the Free Beacon that they believe Hunter Biden would lose his right to plead the Fifth in relation to the pardon, which covered any federal crimes committed between 2014 and 2024. Under the legal argument, Hunter Biden wouldn't be able to incriminate himself when answering questions about those potential crimes because he can't be prosecuted for any illegal activities during that 10-year timeframe.
"Assuming Hunter Biden accepts the pardon, he won’t be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination as to any potential federal crimes for which he’s been pardoned," Thomas G. Hungar, who served as House general counsel from 2016 to 2019, told the Free Beacon.
Another former House general counsel, who asked not to be named, said he also believes there is a "strong argument" that Hunter Biden would lose the privilege.
House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) stopped short of endorsing that legal view but said he would consult with President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, about the matter.
"I look forward to talking to Attorney General Bondi about this," said Comer during an interview with Newsmax on Monday night. "The White House is still to this day obstructing rightful evidence that we should have obtained."
Lawmakers subpoenaed Hunter Biden in 2023, but he declined to speak before an open hearing. After Republicans moved to hold him in contempt, the president’s son agreed to sit for a closed-door deposition with the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
President Biden announced the pardon on Sunday in a major reversal from his repeated promises that he wouldn’t legally absolve his son. Hunter Biden was facing prison time after he pleaded guilty to federal tax crimes and was convicted on felony gun charges. He was scheduled to be sentenced for the tax convictions later this month.
Hunter Biden has also faced congressional investigations into his lobbying work and lucrative foreign business interests, which often overlapped with his father’s portfolio as vice president.
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