House Republicans ask White House for records on Hunter Biden deposition

House Republicans were surprised by Hunter Biden’s press conference outside the Capitol earlier this month. And now, they are hunting for potential details on the backstory.

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday, requesting records related to Hunter Biden’s deposition with the House investigators. The president’s son had been subpoenaed to appear behind closed doors on Dec. 13. But he did not, reiterating that he was willing to testify publicly instead.

The two chairs are requesting documents and communications sent or received by Executive Office of the President employees related to Hunter Biden’s scheduled deposition.

“In light of an official statement from the White House that President Biden was aware in advance that his son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas, we are compelled to examine as part of our impeachment inquiry whether the President engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of Congress,” Comer and Jordan wrote in the letter to White House counsel Edward Siskel.

Read the full letter.

A person close to Hunter Biden’s legal team told POLITICO earlier this month that the president’s son had huddled with his attorney, Abbe Lowell, and attorney Kevin Morris to plan his remarks.

Two people familiar with Hunter Biden’s appearance at the Capitol also told POLITICO earlier this month that Hunter Biden notified the president in advance of his plans. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre separately told reporters that “the president was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say,” but referred questions about if Hunter Biden should comply with the subpoena to his legal team.

“I’m just not going to get into private conversations, because what you’re asking me is actually a private conversation. I’m just not going to get into it,” Jean-Pierre added when asked if Joe Biden attempted to talk his son out of his plan.

House GOP investigators said they were given no heads up that Hunter Biden would not attend their deposition — though his attorney, in statements and letters, had rebuffed a closed-door meeting and countered with a public hearing. Investigators also said at the time that they were not given a heads up that he intended to speak outside the Capitol.

House Republicans view Hunter Biden as a key witness in their sweeping impeachment inquiry into his father. And Wednesday’s letter is the latest sign that Republicans are eyeing obstruction as a potential article of impeachment, even as they likely remain well short of the votes to recommend booting Joe Biden from office.

Republicans are hoping to decide as soon as late January about whether or not to pursue articles of impeachment. But the House GOP is still facing skepticism within its own ranks despite a vote earlier this month to formalize their investigation.

GOP lawmakers have poked holes in previous statements made by the president and the White House, and found evidence that Hunter Biden used his last name to try to bolster his own influence. But they’ve struggled, so far, to find a smoking gun linking actions taken by Joe Biden as president or vice president to his family’s business deals.

In addition to questions about Hunter Biden’s deposition, the two House investigators are also requesting records related to comments President Joe Biden made on Dec. 6 regarding the business deals of his family members.

At the time, a reporter asked Joe Biden why he “interacted with so many of your son and brother’s foreign business associates.” The reporter also cited an Associated Press-NORC poll from October, which found that nearly 70 percent of Americans believed the president acted either illegally or unethically in regard to his son’s business deals.

“I’m not going to comment on that. I did not, and it’s just a bunch of lies,” the president said in response to the question.

Devon Archer, a former Hunter Biden business associate, previously told House investigators that Joe Biden attended dinner with or was put on the phone with Hunter Biden’s business associates. But there is no evidence business was discussed during those meetings.

Betsy Woodruff Swan contributed to this report.