House GOP Plans a Hunter Biden Contempt Vote ‘Soon’ and More Witness Interviews, as Impeachment Process Moves Forward With Haste

The House Oversight Committee plans to vote “soon” this month to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, setting up a subsequent vote of the full House, which could lead to criminal charges and imprisonment for the president’s troubled son. Last month, Mr. Biden fils refused to comply with a subpoena requiring him to give a closed-door deposition to Oversight Committee lawyers about his business affairs. In addition to holding Mr. Biden in contempt, an Oversight Committee source tells the Sun that the committee will hear from multiple witnesses in its impeachment inquiry this month. One leading GOP congressman, Jim Jordan, previously said that he would like to see a vote on impeaching President Biden by the end of this month, but that timeline may now be too optimistic.The Oversight Committee source tells the Sun that the panel “will soon mark up a resolution holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for defying a lawful congressional subpoena.” The source also said that the Oversight Committee “has secured several witness interviews for January” and is “in communication with other witnesses’ attorneys about scheduling a time for them to appear.”Punchbowl News is reporting that one of those witnesses is Mr. Biden’s art dealer, George Bergès, who was subpoenaed in November. Mr. Bergès’s gallery has successfully marketed and sold paintings by Mr. Biden for prices considered high for a self-taught, nascent artist. The Oversight Committee chairman, James Comer, previously sought records from the art dealer but was rebuffed. Other key witnesses for the impeachment inquiry include the president’s brother, James Biden, and one of the younger Mr. Biden’s art patrons, heiress Elizabeth Naftali of Los Angeles, a major Biden campaign fundraiser. The Oversight Committee source would not comment on the prospect of an interview for the president’s younger brother or Ms. Naftali. In an interview with “Deadline” to promote her new podcast, Ms. Naftali, who has not agreed to comply with the subpoena, still claimed she is cooperating with the committee.The first son — already facing two criminal trials and more than a decade in prison should he be convicted — refused to sit for a closed-door deposition with the Oversight Committee in December after he had been subpoenaed by the panel. With congressional subpoenas, members can require public testimony, an appearance for a deposition, or the production of documents. When it came to Mr. Biden, the committee required that he appear for a deposition, which he is refusing to do. During an appearance on the Senate side of Capitol Hill in December, Mr. Biden said that he would only sit for public testimony before the full Oversight Committee, which would allow the panel’s Democrats to mount a defense of the Biden family, as members are only afforded five minutes for questioning. “In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances,” he told reporters on December 13. “But to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless. There’s no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen.”After Mr. Biden’s press event, Mr. Comer told reporters that he would move to hold the first son in contempt of Congress, much like Democrats did after President Trump’s sometime chief adviser, Steve Bannon, and his former trade czar, Peter Navarro, defied subpoenas from the Select January 6 Committee. Should the House, in fact, hold Mr. Biden in contempt, it will be up to the Department of Justice to prosecute. The maximum penalty for contempt of Congress is one year in federal prison and a fine of $100,000. Mr. Bannon was convicted of the charge and sentenced to four months in prison — a conviction he is now appealing. Mr. Navarro, also convicted, is due to be sentenced on January 12. The House could also invoke archaic laws to arrest and imprison Mr. Hunter sui generis.

House GOP Plans a Hunter Biden Contempt Vote ‘Soon’ and More Witness Interviews, as Impeachment Process Moves Forward With Haste

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