House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer announced Wednesday he plans to invite President Joe Biden to testify in the impeachment inquiry over his alleged involvement in his son Hunter’s overseas business deals.
“In the coming days, I will invite President Joe Biden to the House Oversight Committee to provide his own testimony and explain why his family received tens of millions of dollars from foreign companies with his assistance,” Comer (R-KY) posted on X.
The announcement came as a surprise toward the end of Wednesday’s witness hearing in the impeachment inquiry led by Comer’s committee. The meeting went on for nearly eight hours as Republicans questioned former Biden business associates about the president’s involvement in his family’s business deals, the New York Post reported.
Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter and James Biden, testified the two committed “perjury” during their depositions with Congress last month. This allegation regarded a claim he “met with Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Jim [James] Biden at the Beverly Hilton in May 2017.”
Hunter confirmed the meeting in his deposition, stating, “My dad went and shook hands with Tony.” James said in his deposition that the meeting had “absolutely not” happened.
“I want to be crystal clear: from my direct personal experience and what I’ve subsequently come to learn, it is clear to me that Joe Biden was ‘the Brand’ being sold by the Biden family,” Bobulinski testified. “His family’s foreign influence-peddling operation — from China to Ukraine and elsewhere — sold out to foreign actors who were seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government.”
Jason Galanis, a former business associate of Hunter, said the president’s son was dishonest in his deposition about his father’s involvement in his business deals. By making this claim about Hunter Biden, Galanis said he is putting himself “at grave risk” of harm.
“Our goal — that is, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, and me — was to make billions, not millions,” Galanis said. “The entire value-add of Hunter Biden to our business was his family name and his access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden.”
Archer, another former associate of Hunter, testified last year that Joe Biden spoke at least 20 times with his son’s foreign business partners.
Galanis, who is serving a 14-year sentence for his business deals, testified that Hunter had a “general rule of thumb on business deals,” which he described as “‘Say it, forget it. Write it, regret it.’”
Democrats attempted to discredit the hearing by noting statements from at least 20 witnesses to Congress that Joe Biden was not involved in his family’s business deals. The White House similarly denies the president was involved in his family’s business schemes.
“With any luck, today marks the end of perhaps the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations, the effort to find a high crime or misdemeanor committed by Joe Biden and then to impeach him for it,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said at the hearing.
Comer insisted his committee has proved wrongdoings by the Biden family.
“What is apparent, after over a year of investigation, is that the Bidens do not work in any traditional sense of the word,” Comer said. “They do not work as consultants. Or lawyers. Or advisers. The Bidens don’t sell a product or a service or a set of skills. The Bidens sell Joe Biden,” Comer claimed.
