Hunter Biden did not deny he shook down a foreign business client with his demand for a $5.1 million payment as his father Joe Biden was seated next to him; instead, he “played the drug card” that he was “high or drunk” when he sent the text he now regrets.
“Hunter admitted that he was high or drunk when he sent the ‘sitting here with my father’ WhatsApp message, sent it to the wrong recipient, and is now embarrassed by the message,” according to a reported readout of Hunter Biden’s official closed-door testimony Wednesday before the House impeachment investigators, the New York Post and Daily Mail reported.
The shakedown of the Chinese state-linked CEFC China Energy is at the crux of the Biden family “foreign influence peddling” case put forward by House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., alleging Hunter Biden profited off his father’s political clout, making now-President Biden potentially connected to an impeachable high crime or misdemeanor.
Extortion is the crime of forcing payment by threats or misuse of authority and Hunter Biden’s reported testimony provides at least the appearance of that through the foreign business dealings.
“He played the drug card a lot,” Comer told Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” hours after the nearly seven-hour closed-door testimony.
“Rules of the deposition does not allow us to go into too much detail about what was said in the deposition. We’re going to release the transcripts very soon, but I can tell you this: It was very contentious.”
For the past year-plus, Comer has been making the case, through around 20 “shell companies” tied to Hunter Biden, the first family enriched itself off foreign business clients due to the former VP Biden’s political influence.
“The money, the business, the brand – Devon Archer said they were ‘selling the brand,’ and the brand was Joe Biden – 20-some different companies, $15 million over the course of a few years coming in from all these foreign interests; that’s what’s going on here,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Newsmax’s “Eric Bolling The Balance” on Wednesday night.
Despite the reported admission of the shakedown text that led to a $5.1 million payment to a shell company tied to him, the defiant Hunter Biden denounced the “MAGA-motivated conspiracies” as a “baseless” case.
“For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” Hunter Biden’s opening statement before the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means committees investigators Wednesday.
“You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any,.”
The hearing lasted nearly seven hours, as investigators asked Hunter Biden, 54, about his business activities, including his role with Chinese firm CEFC and on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and his personal life.
“The Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client’s addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do what they call their impeachment inquiry,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement afterward.
Hunter Biden has publicly discussed his past struggles with cocaine addiction, and he apparently is using it as either the excuse or an alibi for the alleged extortion scheme using the threat of the influence of his former VP father “sitting” with him as he demanding the reported $5.1 million payment.
Comer called the closed-door fact-finding testimony a success, but admitted it left a few contradictions and holes for investigators. A public hearing is next up to get it all before Congress and the American people to hear, he added.
“I think this was a great deposition for us,” Comer said.
“So this impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase, which is a public hearing.”
House Republicans allege Biden, a Democrat, and his family improperly profited from policy decisions Biden participated in as vice president during President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009-17.
Hunter Biden and the White House deny wrongdoing and say the probe is politically motivated.
“We’re going to go through and see what doesn’t add up; there’s a lot there,” Comer told host Rob Schmitt, rejecting Democrats’ claims the impeachment inquiry needs to end.
“They can say this investigation needs to be over. It’s not going to be over until the American people get the truth. We’ve been pulling truth out like pulling teeth.
“We’ve fought the DOJ, we’ve fought the IRS, we’ve fought the Biden legal team, we’ve fought the White House. We’re going to continue fighting, getting the truth to the American people.
“And I the American people to see, to see Hunter Biden and those associates and see who they believe, because it doesn’t add up.”
It is not clear when or if House Republicans will make a decision on whether to draft articles of impeachment against the president.
“The Bidens still have taken in nearly $30 million from our adversaries around the world, and we still don’t know what they did; we still don’t know what business they were in,” Comer added to Schmitt.
“We still don’t know what products or services they provided to get the $30 million from our enemies around the world, and that’s what the American people want to know and that’s what this investigation is all about.”
Hardline Republicans have publicly called for the impeachment of Biden and other Cabinet officials. Earlier this month, the House approved the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s top border official, accusing him of failing to enforce border laws. The Senate has not yet taken it up.
Hunter Biden faces other legal challenges. Prosecutors have levied charges related to tax fraud and for illegally owning a firearm as a drug user. The younger Biden, who has spoken publicly about previous substance abuse issues, has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
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