House Republicans set Hunter Biden deposition date for late February

WASHINGTON — Two Republican-led House committees announced on Thursday that Hunter Biden will appear for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28 as part of their impeachment inquiry into his father.

“Hunter Biden will appear before our committees for a deposition on February 28, 2024. His deposition will come after several interviews with Biden family members and associates,” said Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan in a statement. “We look forward to Hunter Biden’s testimony.”

Comer, R-Ky., serves as the chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, while Jordan, R-Ohio, is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The two Republicans added that their committees are working with the attorney for the president’s brother James Biden to schedule his appearance as well.

The committees are scheduled to hear from business associates of members of the Biden family later this month and into February.

The White House referred NBC News to Hunter Biden’s representatives when reached for comment.

A source familiar with the discussion between staff on the Oversight and Judiciary committees and Hunter Biden’s attorneys confirmed the Republicans’ statement without explicitly saying that Biden would attend the deposition.

“His team has been in discussion with Committee staff regarding a way for Hunter to provide the facts in a way that addresses his concern,” the source said in an email, reiterating Hunter Biden's willingness to testify publicly.

“His concern has always been a pattern by Republicans to cherry-pick closed-door sessions,” the source added.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said he’s looking forward to Feb. 28 and “getting through with this thing.”

“More and more Republicans are telling me, especially now that their margin is vanishing to almost nothing, that they just don’t have the votes for impeachment,” said Raskin. “And so they have to try to keep the Hunter Biden thing going. The Hunter Biden thing is a distraction from the fact that you have a dozen or so Republicans who just won’t vote to impeach Joe Biden because they’re in divided districts.”

The president’s son had previously said he would be willing to testify at an initial public hearing, an offer Republicans had shot down, arguing they wanted him to appear for a closed-door deposition first. Hunter Biden defied the subpoena for closed-door testimony, instead appearing outside the Capitol for a press conference in December.

“I’m here today to make sure that the House committee’s illegitimate investigations of my family did not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence, and lies,” he said last month to reporters.

House Republicans this week paused efforts to push for a resolution to hold President Joe Biden’s son in contempt of Congress as Hunter Biden's lawyers and the committees began talking about scheduling testimony. GOP lawmakers on Sunday said that they would issue new subpoenas for Hunter Biden.

Comer told NBC News on Thursday that he “absolutely” believed it was the contempt process that persuaded Hunter Biden to come in.

The reversal from Hunter Biden comes as he faced the credible threat of a House vote to hold him in contempt of Congress. Two Republican-led committees had approved that vote and it was expected to pass on the House floor. Had it passed, it would be referred to a U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. to decide whether to prosecute Hunter Biden.

Comer also said he is still committed to letting Hunter Biden testify at a public hearing after a closed-door deposition and promised to release a transcript of the deposition “quickly” after it happens. He predicted the deposition would last about eight hours.

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The GOP-controlled House voted in December to authorize its impeachment inquiry into the president over his family’s business dealings, though Republicans have not produced concrete evidence that the president committed wrongdoing or peddled his influence.

“It’s clear that the Republicans know they’ve not laid a glove on Joe Biden,” Raskin said, adding that Republicans “figure that Hunter Biden has had his name dragged through the mud enough that he’s unpopular, so they can go after him.”