US House Republicans ask Hunter Biden to testify in open March 20 hearing

[March 07, 2024]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives committee asked President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden to testify in an open hearing on March 20, as it continues its impeachment probe of his father, the panel said in a Wednesday statement.  

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs following a closed deposition with members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee conducting an impeachment inquiry into the president, at the O'Neill House Office Building in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The House Oversight Committee has focused on Hunter Biden's work for businesses based in countries such as Ukraine and China while his father served as U.S. vice president from 2009 to 2017. So far they have turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by the elder Biden.

The panel also invited three of Hunter Biden's former business associates to testify.

"Mr. Biden’s counsel received Rep. Comer’s letter late today and will respond in writing," Hunter Biden's legal team said in a written statement on Wednesday evening.

James Comer is the chair of the Oversight Committee.

Hunter Biden, who has worked as an investor and lawyer and sold his own paintings, testified in a closed-door interview last month as part of the inquiry. He had initially said he would only testify publicly, but reversed course after lawmakers threatened to hold him in contempt.

In the hours-long interview that at times turned contentious, he said repeatedly that his father had no involvement with and drew no benefit from his own business activities.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward, Makini Brice and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Beech, Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)

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