Below is my column in the New York Post on the confirmation that Hunter Biden will finally appear before Congress on December 13th. After years of delays and denials, Biden will now be faced with questions not from an enabling media but an investigating committee. While he once pledged to do “exactly what the Chairman wants,” he is about to face another chairman in James Comer who wants something that Hunter has previously refused to supply: answers.
Here is the column:
“The Bidens are the best at doing exactly what the Chairman wants.”
Those words from Hunter Biden to a Chinese businessman came at the height of the alleged influence peddling by the Biden family.
After years of delay and denials, the House is about to confirm exactly what the Bidens were so good at doing . . . and what foreign figures wanted so much that they were willing to pay the Bidens millions.
Hunter Biden is now scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Dec. 13 to answer questions about what is alleged to be the largest influence-peddling operation in history.
Despite being subpoenaed, Hunter is still demanding conditions for answering questions.
His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, previously said Hunter would testify only when “the time is right” and is now saying that Hunter would testify in public, not the scheduled private session.
Republicans rejected that demand.
Biden has long shown a sense of entitlement when asked about his past.
Even with supportive journalists, Hunter has snapped at questions and instructed them to “say it nicer.”
The House Oversight Committee historically is that place where nice went to die. Hunter will now have to answer questions on the pain of perjury after years of protection from the media and Democratic-controlled houses.
For decades, the Bidens (including Hunter’s uncles) have cashed in on their connections to Joe Biden when he was a senator, vice president and later president.
Despite that history, the Bidens have been able to largely avoid inquiries into their alleged corrupt practices. This was facilitated by an obliging media that long dismissed the scandal. Recently, media figures are admitting that Hunter was indeed selling influence, but insist that it was an “illusion.”
When witnesses detailed how Joe Biden would call into meetings or dinners and be put on speakerphone with foreign associates, Democratic members like Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) insisted it was merely “niceties.”
The committee will now be able to ask Hunter Biden for specific answers on millions in transfers from foreign sources using dozens of shell companies and accounts. This money found its way to a variety of Bidens, including grandchildren.
There were diamonds as gifts, lavish bank accounts and a sports car to account for. There were massive payments that Hunter claimed as “loans” without any written schedule for repayment, any contract, or interest.
There are emails where Hunter discusses paying the bills of his father and accounts (and credit cards) used jointly, including paying for prostitution.
There are messages like the one to the Chairman openly threatening the displeasure of Joe Biden if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
‘Man sitting next to him’
Hunter will now have to answer for exactly what the “man sitting next” to him was prepared to do if money did not continue to flow to the Biden family.
There are other specific communications that will likely be raised with Hunter. For example, Devon Archer reportedly recounted how, in 2015, Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharski, two executives of the corrupt Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, pressed Hunter to “get help from D.C.” to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma for corruption. Archer said that Hunter, Zlochevsky and Pozharski stepped away to make the call.
Hunter can also address communications with government officials on behalf of foreign clients. His access to top officials was clearly due to his family name and influence.
The irony is that the long delay in bringing Hunter to this moment could prove his undoing. The committee has waited until it collected a massive amount of data and records on these financial records. It has interviewed witnesses on the influence-peddling operation.
Hunter must now address highly specific questions and evidence under oath. If he is found to have lied, he can be charged with a criminal felony.
The threat of prosecution is real. Hunter has benefited from the Justice Department limiting its investigation and inexplicably allowing the statute of limitations to run on key charges.
False statements on any of these questions could result in new charges and pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute. After all, Trump officials were prosecuted for contempt of Congress under Garland.
Hunter is likely to cite his past drug use and the passage of time for failing to remember details. He continues to vacillate on whether the laptop itself is really his or, as he has suggested in the past, possible Russian disinformation.
The use of his drug addiction as a defense was successful with the media, but is likely to be less so with Congress. During periods where he claims to have been a hopeless junkie, he was a key player in a global influence-peddling scheme netting millions through a complex labyrinth of accounts.
Hunter will have to testify at his own peril for the first time under oath and leave the niceties behind.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
It remains to be seen whether Republicans at the hearing want answers from Hunter. Most of the time at these hearings they make speeches and accusations and do not give the witness time to answer anything.
Jonathan: Why the overkill? This is your second column in 2 days re Hunter Biden. The problem with all your columns on Hunter is that you are forced to admit that everything is “what is alleged to be the largest influence-peddling operation in history”. The key qualifier is “alleged” because Chairman comer has yet to come up with anything to tie Hunter’s business affairs to his dad.
As pointed out in my previous comments “influence peddling” is not a crime. If Hunter traded on the family name to make money the record so far doesn’t indicate Joe Biden, as VP, acted to facilitate his son’s businesses. The deposition of Devon Archer confirms that Joe Biden’s call-ins to Hunter during business meeting were personal in nature and Biden was not involved in business discussions.
You say the “House Oversight Committee is that place where nice went to die”. Under Comer’s Chairmanship of the Committee it’s where the “truth” goes to die. When Comer released Archer’s testimony he cherry-picked it. He left out extensive part where Dan Goldman elicited from Archer that he was not aware of any wrong
I agree with this —->
Derrick Evans
@Evans4WV
I don’t want Biden impeached. I don’t want his resignation.
I want him dragged out of the White House in handcuffs.
Country club Republicans are weak & all talk.
These government officials deserve to be thrown in the same prisons where they are holding J6 Prisoners.
Hunter Biden is merely a distraction, a foil….so the people do not pay attention to what Biden’s authoritarian fascist regime is doing to law abiding citizens ——>
@MZHemingway
As part of his war on Trump, Jack Smith collected info on any American who retweeted or favorited Trump tweets. This is such a dystopic nightmare, as is the way it’s calmly accepted by so much of the country.
————————————————
Derrick Evans
@Evans4WV
Wow!
DOJ Targets Trump Supporters on Twitter – Demands List of All Users Who Retweeted, Liked, or Mentioned President Trump’s Twitter Account.
Yesterday it was J6 Prisoners such as myself. Today they’re going after Trump. Tomorrow they are coming for every single conservative.
Dear Prof Turley,
I read Abbe Lowell’s letter. No one knows what it means. It’s not clear, from the letter, if Hunter Biden will show up for anything, anywhere at anytime – a master work of legal obfuscation, misdirection and non-commitment. That’s why Abbe Lowell gets the big bucks.
If Chairman Comer doesn’t like it, he can always call AG Merrick Garland and implore him to appoint a Special Counsel to look into the matter. (Hur may be free soon.)
Mr. Lowell is saying, depending upon your understanding of the English language, that Hunter would testify in public at the Committee’s earliest ‘mutual’ convenience. Whatever that means.
Imho, Chairman Comer should schedule that public hearing with Hunter Biden for in the morning 9a.m. .. Sharp.
*better late than never.
My mom told me when she was in college and didn’t want to go out with some guy on Saturday night, she’d say, “No, I have to wash my hair then.” I generally wash mine around 9 a.m.
I hope Dr. Turley’s scenario plays out more or less as presented. But we are more likely to get another “FBI DIRECTOR Jim Comey” recall lapse. Just as the bidens have perfected the art of influence peddling, the biden crime family will now demonstrate their mastery of the “fifth-amendment-memory-crash” defense.
The Biden Regime has perfected the get out of jail card, it’s in their DNA.
The only question remaining is what with the Swamp Republicans get in exchange for that card.
Come on, this is all just theater. Nothing is going to happen that will result in actual justice being served. Most importantly because we’ve reached critical mass where enough people are in the right positions to make the rule of law an afterthought.
This system needs people to want it to work equally for everyone. We haven’t had that for quite some time.
The Senate will never impeach anyone. The FBI will not conduct serious investigations. The DOJ won’t prosecute legitimate crimes. The media will do their part to continue gaslighting the public.
Unless the constitution prohibits the president from issuing pardons prior to removal from office, then Hunter could confess to everything and walk.
Former Director of the CIA and then SecDef Robert Gates stated he thought Joe Biden had been on wrong on every foreign policy decision for over forty years.
Today, one wonders why that might be beyond mere incompetence and stupidity considering the amount of money that has flown. into Biden Family financial accounts.
Biden was the dissenting vote on Obama’s decision to take. out Osama bin Laden.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/robert-gates-thinks-joe-biden-hasnt-stopped-being-wrong-40-years/356785/
Let’s not forget what Robert Gates said about Trump: “He is stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government, and temperamentally unsuited to lead our men and women in uniform. He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief”
16 of Trump’s Cabinet members & advisors also called Trump unfit for office. General John Kelly said Trump is “a person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about…A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
Good point about the sentiments of presidential advisors, Ralph.
Perhaps everyone is right, but the qualified dude, i.e., Biden, presided over the Belarussians interfering with an international flight that had American citizens on it, a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, ridiculous statements that purported to green light Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, crazy anti-white racism in the armed forces.
We had prosperity & PEACE in the world under Trump.
Biden has brought chaos.
Let’s not forget how wrong most of these people were. Trump hit the nail, while many so-called experts were wrong.
Trump proved himself very qualified for the job at this time in history.
Biden was never qualified for the job; today, the little he had going for him is gone. Biden has already made a mess of the world; only the non-thinkers haven’t realized it.
“Truth” is a concept that Republicans,, including Turley, do not understand.
Turn out the lights, the party is over. The up coming financial collapse will see to that.
All this other trash will be insignificant.
I’ll join in with the cynics. I doubt anything will come of it. I suppose the best we can hope for is that people are paying attention and decide they’ve had enough. Not betting on that, either, but time will tell.
James,
Well said.
We have at least half if not more who see the corruption of the BCF.
Sure, there is a loud minority that says corruption is not illegal.
But we still see it for what it is, the most corrupt admin in US history.
“Hunter has snapped at questions and instructed them to ‘say it nicer.’”
Every word he speaks drips with: Don’t you know who I am? (And what my father can do to you?)
The question is, have we had enough?
Margot,
I have.
Voting Republican, no matter who the candidate is.
Wake me up when anyone with the last name Biden is held accountable for anything.
AND… We knew what nillary did and she’s free as a bird.
My prediction: nothing will come of this. He will plead the fifth, not recall or evade.
Plenty of money flowed into the Biden family. The question remains whether Joe Biden did anything for the paymasters. Where are the documents about Shokin Comer demanded from Blinken? Where is the follow-up to the 1023? Unless and until evidence is uncovered that Biden used his office to help his family’s benefactors this goes nowhere.
“The question remains whether Joe Biden did anything for the paymasters.”
All one needs to do is document the countless pro-China policies enacted by him and his administration. Start with Chinese banks, then TikTok, then . . .
AG Merrick Garland has already decided that any of Hunter’s possible “mis-statements” under oath are simply drug-related memory issues from his many years of drug & alcohol addiction. Sound about right Jonathan ???
President Eisenhower famously warned us to beware of the military-industrial complex. That complex included then and includes now many members of Congress and our President. There has been no serious accounting of the taxpayer funds that our elected officials have given so generously to the Ukraine war. When and if that day comes, there is every reason to believe that much of the money has made its way into the bank accounts of the notoriously corrupt Ukraine politicians as well as the industrial entities that have profited so greatly because of the war. Too deep a probe into the nefarious activities of Hunter Biden could reveal the extent of our own leaders’ involvement from the President on down, Democrat and Republican. How vigorously the Committee pursues the answers to the questions we all have– regardless of where they lead– will show how pervasive the influence of the military-industrial complex remains today.
It’s more than pervasive, it is a growing cancer infecting the entire government, both parties, and our embedded bureaucrats. It’s so massive I’m not sure given how entrenched this is if we have enough politicians to stop this
Nonsense! The US and Ukrainian governments have extensive, documented safeguards on aid money. The irony is when they crack down on the rare crook, the media makes it look like corruption is the standard instead of safeguarding being the standard. Keep in mind a significant portion of aid to Ukraine is to keep government services and finances solvent during the war–the money just doesn’t go for tanks and bullets. And would you rather have the military industrial complex be booming, or the Ukrainian (and later American) funeral home business be booming?
Honestlawyermostly,
Well said.
To forever wars, and beyond!
I would also add The Medical Industrial Complex.
To vaccines, flu shots and beyond!
I’m from Missouri!! Show me. I’ll applaud when the fat man finally sings and the curtain comes down on him…and the rest of that sordid, morally and ethically bankrupt family.
Why would he not exercise his 5th Amendment privilege not to testify? He has open charges, including a possible violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. I cannot fathom why he would waive the privilege and testify.
The scapegrace son-of-a . . . certainly has the right to plead the 5th Amendment. Which, at a time when his father is openly mocked by the very Chinese Communist Party leaders the family used to brag about serving, when Biden Sr. is obviously incapable of physical or mental coordination, losing in the polls to any of the top 3 potential Republican candidates, would be a very bad look and would certainly be used to extend the smudges of his filth over the entire family.
Will he duck with the 5th for self-preservation, thereby throwing his father under the wheels of a bus which he can’t navigate or “pivot” away from, or will he take the fall for the home team?
Either way, it is to be hoped Faux Joe and the rest of his criminal enterprise (DC Mafia) are soon to be very burnt toast.
Well it’s painfully obvious to anyone who seeks truth that the entire Biden family, most notably Joe, has used his position to enrich themselves on the taxpayer dime. Will anything ever come of all this? Who knows, but I’m not holding my breath.