Hunter Biden appears before Congress as impeachment inquiry reaches its climax

Hunter Biden is set to appear Wednesday before Congress in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into his father, over what investigators allege is a multifaceted effort by the first family to peddle their influence and get rich off of their politically influential family name.

Biden’s closed-door interview follows closely behind that of his uncle, presidential brother James Biden, who became the first member of the Biden family to give testimony to the committee last week.

In recent weeks, Democrats have renewed their criticisms of the probe after a former FBI informant, who provided information to the agency suggesting Joe and Hunter Biden were recipients of a bribe from Ukrainian energy company Burisma, was arrested by the Department of Justice and charged with providing false statements.

After the informant’s arrest, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, argued that the impeachment inquiry is “essentially" over, effectively undermined by these new revelations.

“It appears like the whole thing is not only obviously false and fraudulent, but a product of Russian disinformation and propaganda,” Raskin said recently. “And that’s been the motor force behind this investigation for more than a year.”

Yet, Republicans argue that the Democrats are too quick to dismiss the concrete evidence the impeachment inquiry has carefully assembled in the past year which does not rely on any information from the informant. This evidence includes bank records and witness testimony which speak to Hunter Biden’s efforts to enrich the Biden family and show transfers from his and his uncle’s accounts to the family patriarch, labeled as “loan repayments.”

The inquiry has also uncovered significant evidence in the form of witness testimony that Joe Biden personally met with most of his son’s foreign clients, including oligarchs from Russia and government-connected businessmen from China – countries widely considered to be two chief adversaries of the United States. These meetings were often in close proximity to major payments or agreements in Hunter Biden’s business ventures with the foreign associates.

“The House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committees have unearthed a record of evidence revealing Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ his family sold to enrich the Bidens. Joe Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from these schemes. Joe Biden attended dinners, spoke on speakerphone, showed up to meetings, and had coffee with his son’s foreign business associates,” Oversight Chairman James Comer told Just the News on Tuesday.

“In fact, we’ve documented how Joe Biden has met with nearly all of his son’s foreign business associates as they were collectively funneling millions to the Bidens. Our committees have the opportunity to depose Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, about this record of evidence,” he added.

Just last week, the latest former Biden business partner to be interviewed by the committee delivered an explosive opening statement to impeachment investigators, shedding light on the Biden family’s plans: organizing a multibillion-dollar hedge fund marrying foreign investors with the “globally known political name” of Biden, Just the News reported on Monday.

Jason Galanis, who partnered with Hunter Biden and Devon Archer under a group called Burnham & Company to build the hedge fund, told the committee last week that Hunter Biden even planned for his father to join the company after leaving the vice presidency in 2021.

In fact, he told investigators, this proposition was one of the main selling points for a joint venture between Burnham and Chinese businessman Xuejun “Henry” Zhao. Zhao had previously partnered with Hunter Biden to form another entity, BHR Partners, which boasted several Chinese-state owned enterprise investors, including the Bank of China.

CNN reports Hunter Biden’s deposition will be different from the other impeachment witnesses. His lawyers and the committee negotiated special terms, including a prohibition on videotaping the interview. The Republican and Democratic members of the committee have also reportedly agreed to specific terms for the transcript release, to avoid leaks.