House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted a “big takeaway” from a press conference Hunter Biden gave in the nation’s capital on Wednesday after he ignored a congressional subpoena to provide closed-door testimony to select committees.
In an interview with Fox News legacy host Sean Hannity, Jordan noted how the first family’s stories have changed throughout Republican-led corruption investigations ahead of a formal vote to launch an impeachment inquiry.
“We will do a report and mark it up, pass it through the committee, and it will go to the full House,” Jordan said of the next step after Hunter refused to honor the subpoena.
“The big takeaways today were number one, every single Republican voted to move forward with the impeachment inquiry and continue our oversight responsibility. Every single one. We can’t get all Republicans, but a majority of the House is on record in support of the investigation that we have been doing,” he said.
“Second is what you said in the opening line. Joe Biden went from no involvement to he participated in dinners and meetings and phone calls, but they were just talking about the weather,” Jordan continued. “Today, Hunter Biden said my father had no financial involvement. That qualifier is huge. No financial involvement in the business. What a change.
“We would love to have Hunter Biden under oath the way these investigations are supposed to work. The first question is who is the big guy? Who is the big guy, Mr. Biden?” Jordan asked. “The confidential source that it’s Joe Biden. Your partner said it is Joe Biden who is the big guy. What was on the call you made from Dubai at the request of Burisma to get help from D.C.?”
On Wednesday, Jordan responded to Hunter Biden’s decision to defy the subpoena.
“We’re disappointed he didn’t show up. He was just across the way at the Capitol. You’d think he could have come to sit for questions.
“To do an open format now, you’ll get filibusters, speeches, all kinds of things. What we want is the facts. The way you get the facts in every single investigation I’ve been involved is you bring people in for an interview behind closed doors where you can get those facts. Then as the chairman said, we would love for him to come public,” Jordan continued.
“I would say this. Mr. Biden’s counsel and the White House have both argued the reason he couldn’t come for a deposition was because there wasn’t a formal vote for an impeachment inquiry. That will happen in a few hours. We think it will pass,” he continued.
“We think the House of Representatives will go on record with the power that solely resides in the House to say we’re in an official impeachment inquiry phase. When that happens, we’ll see what their excuse is then. They should have been here today. Once we take the vote, we expect him to come in for his deposition, and frankly, we’ll also look at contempt proceedings as we move forward,” Jordan concluded.
