In the brief time since Hunter Biden and his team pulled their dramatic stunt on Wednesday, a change seems to have come over the First Son. After initially refusing to obey a Congressional subpoena to appear and testify, Hunter’s attorney is now suggesting that his client might show up for a private deposition before the Oversight Committee, but only if certain conditions are met. Abbe Lowell is still rejecting the current subpoena but said that Hunter might show up if a new one is issued. He’s claiming that the existing subpoena is not valid, creating a curious new legal theory that should really be put to the test in the courts. (Associated Press)
Hunter Biden on Friday indicated a new willingness to testify before lawmakers under certain conditions but held firm against complying with a current subpoena as House Republicans moved to hold him in contempt of Congress.
In a letter to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, seemed to open the door for a private deposition between the president’s son and the Republican chairmen who have been investigating him and his family.
The overture could signal the start of negotiations between the two sides, which have been battling for months over deposing Hunter Biden as he faces an ongoing Justice Department investigation that has resulted in two indictments.
The chutzpah of this guy is astounding. Under America’s legal code, a subpoena is “a written order to compel an individual to give testimony on a particular subject.” It is not optional and a failure to appear is punishable by a fine and/or a term of imprisonment. (It’s the same in British law with an exception made for the monarch, who can not be subpoenaed.) Of course, Hunter has always acted as if the rules don’t apply to him because of his last name. Sadly, that has proven to be correct up until now.
Abbe Lowell is claiming that the original subpoena isn’t valid because it was issued before the full House approved an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. I’m not a lawyer, but that claim is flatly nonsensical. Both chambers issue subpoenas for a variety of reasons all the time. It’s usually a course of last resort after a more informal invitation to appear and testify is declined. Further, while subpoenas may be issued for a full hearing before the House membership, most are issued by committees conducting various investigations. This investigation is being conducted by the Oversight Committee and they issued the subpoena after Hunter refused to appear and testify voluntarily.
There’s a good chance that both Lowell and Hunter know all of this already and they simply don’t care. Hunter Biden is facing multiple criminal charges in court at this point with the possibility of jail time to follow. Being found in Contempt of Congress is not a big deal in and of itself. Nothing will come of it unless the Department of Justice decides to prosecute him and what are the odds of that happening while Joe Biden is the President?
Even if the DoJ did decide to prosecute Hunter for contempt, keep in mind that these are technically federal charges. Joe Biden could still issue a pardon for Hunter, despite having previously said that he would not do so. After all of the times that Uncle Joe has looked into the cameras and lied to the American people, what would one more lie mean to him? I’d like to be wrong about all of this and I’m open to the idea of the Bidens surprising me with a sudden burst of integrity, but I won’t be holding my breath. Both Hunter and Joe Biden have clearly lived their lives believing that the rules don’t apply to them. They’ve been proven correct thus far, and their streak may just continue, as sad as that is for the country as a whole.