An attorney for Hunter Biden has sent two top House Republican committee chairmen a letter that appears to destroy their claims of contempt of Congress, declaring the subpoenas they sent demanding the President’s son’s testimony are “legally invalid” – while using their own against them.
“I write to make you aware (if you are not already) that your subpoenas were and are legally invalid and cannot form a legal basis to proceed with your misdirected and impermissible contempt resolution. And you two, of all people, should know that is the case,” Biden attorney Abbe Lowell (photo, right) wrote on Friday to Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, who has a law degree, and Oversight Committee Chair Jim Comer.
House Republicans have been threatening the President’s son with contempt of Congress charges after he agreed to testify but only in public, and not behind closed doors. On Friday, House Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced the full House will vote on whether to send contempt of Congress charges against Hunter Biden to the U.S. Dept. of Justice for criminal prosecution.
“Next week the House will vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for repeatedly defying subpoenas,” Scalise declared on X, in a post complete with alarm emojis. He added: “Enough of his stunts. He doesn’t get to play by a different set of rules. He’s not above the law.”
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But also on Friday, CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen, a former U.S. Ambassador who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment of Donald Trump, declared Hunter Biden’s attorneys had derived a “devastating blow” to the House GOP’s contempt proceedings.
“This new letter from his counsel Abbe Lowell shows that the House GOP walked into a trap,” Eisen writes. He adds that the “subpoena predates the formal impeachment inquiry” into President Joe Biden, which he says means their subpoenas are “a nullity,” or, essentially null and void.
“As if that weren’t bad enough,” he notes, Hunter Biden’s attorney’s “letter also points out that the Oversight Committee has seemingly offered a public hearing but is backtracking on their word.”
“And the coup de grâce,” Eisen continues, “Hunter is offering to negotiate new testimony or deposition. He’s put the committee in a box & criminal contempt will not be enforced by DOJ in these circumstances.”
On Wednesday, Oversight Chair Jim Comer, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, and their committees separately voted to send a contempt resolution to the full House for a vote. That hearing quickly devoted into chaos when U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told the son of the President that he had “no balls” and was the “epitome of white privilege.” Events only got worse when U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) held up large, blown-up images of photos allegedly from Hunter Biden’s ;laptop, showing him in the nude (with a large black bar over a portion of his body) and in compromising positions.
The letter sent to Chairmen Comer and Jordan makes clear: “You proceeded with a contempt process, erroneously claiming Mr. Biden was seeking ‘special treatment,’ despite Mr. Comer’s repeated and public statements about witnesses’ and Mr. Biden’s ability to testify at a deposition or hearing at their choice.”
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During the hearing Wednesday, at least one Democrat offered to have Hunter Biden sworn in and deliver his testimony in public, before the cameras. Chairman Comer, unable to explain why, denied the request.
“Obviously, accepting your unqualified invitation to choose a forum for his testimony is neither seeking ‘special treatment’ nor contemptuous behavior,” attorney Lowell wrote. “Nevertheless, your actions demonstrate that you were not serious about getting facts or the truth, and simply wanted to stage some “gotcha” political theater and create another legal issue for Mr. Biden.”
Lowell’s letter also quotes Chairman Jordan’s statements to further belittle their attempts to obtain a contempt charge.
“As you recount in your contempt reports, in 2019, when the Democrats held the majority, they similarly issued impeachment subpoenas before the impeachment inquiry of former President Trump was authorized by a full House vote.”
“And you, Chairman Jordan, during a House Republican leadership press conference immediately after the actual impeachment inquiry resolution vote finally occurred, stated: ‘I want you all to think about something. This morning, I was in an impeachment deposition, but then had to leave that to come to the floor for a vote on the rules for impeachment. That says it all about this entire process. And it is a sad day.'”
Lowell closes by writing, “You have not explained why you are not interested in transparency and having the American people witness the full and complete testimony of Mr. Biden at a public hearing. If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition. We will accept such a subpoena on Mr. Biden’s behalf.”