(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Hunter Biden has declined an invitation to publicly testify as part of the Republican impeachment probe of his father, a reversal of his offer to do so last year.

In a letter to the House Oversight Committee, Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell said his client will not appear at a hearing later this month, citing conflicts with a court hearing in one of Hunter’s federal criminal cases. But Lowell also suggested Hunter Biden would not appear for what he called a "carnival side show."

"Your blatant planned-for-media event is not a proper proceeding but an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended," Lowell wrote Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chairman of the Oversight Committee panel.

That’s a reversal of Hunter Biden’s offer last November to testify in public in exchange for avoiding a congressional subpoena. Lowell offered a public hearing rather than a closed-door deposition, claiming the latter "could be manipulated."

Comer invited Hunter Biden and three of his former business partners to attend a March 20 hearing on "Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office" as part of an inquiry into the president’s involvement in his son’s business affairs.

Republicans last year opened an impeachment probe of President Biden over his involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings. The president denies having any involvement in his son’s affairs, but eyewitness testimony and other evidence shows he attended meetings with his son and his son's business partners.

Hunter Biden sat for a deposition on Feb. 28 in which he claimed his father had no involvement in his business dealings. He acknowledged that he and his father met in California with businessman Tony Bobulinski. Hunter Biden and Bobulinski, one of the witnesses invited to the hearing this month, were negotiating a deal at the time with CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy conglomerate linked to Chinese military intelligence.

Hunter Biden told congressional investigators he could not recall whether his father attended other meetings with CEFC China Energy officials.

Longtime Biden family associate Rob Walker told Congress and the FBI that the Bidens attended a meeting in 2017 with executives from CEFC China Energy. The company later paid $6 million to Hunter and Jim Biden, the president’s younger brother, for consulting and legal work.

"Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come," Comer said in a statement.

Comer said the hearing is moving forward and that he "fully expect[s] Hunter Biden to participate."

Source link