WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden's attorney indicated in a letter Friday that the president's son would comply with a congressional subpoena if House Republicans issue a "new" and "proper" one.
"If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition. We will accept such a subpoena on Mr. Biden’s behalf," said the letter obtained by NBC News.
The letter was sent to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Hunter Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, argued that the subpoenas issued to the president's son have so far been "legally invalid," especially because they were issued before the House voted to authorize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, which it did in mid-December.
"I write to make you aware (if you are not already) that your subpoenas were and are legally invalid and cannot form a legal basis to proceed with your misdirected and impermissible contempt resolution," Lowell wrote. "And you two, of all people, should know that is the case."
Lowell noted in one of the letter's footnotes that during the Judiciary panel's markup on Wednesday, Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., suggested a procedure for a hybrid process in which Republicans could hold a public deposition or hearing with alternating rounds of questions by Republicans and Democrats, as it's done in a closed-door deposition. Lowell said four Republicans voted in support of such a process.
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Comer and Jordan responded to Lowell's letter, chastising Hunter Biden for previously refusing to sit for a closed-door deposition while also indicating a willingness to find a new date to speak with him privately.
"While we are heartened that Hunter Biden now says he will comply with a subpoena, make no mistake: Hunter Biden has already defied two valid, lawful subpoenas," the two chairmen said in a joint statement.
"For now, the House of Representatives will move forward with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress until such time that Hunter Biden confirms a date to appear for a private deposition in accordance with his legal obligation," they added. "While we will work to schedule a deposition date, we will not tolerate any additional stunts or delay from Hunter Biden."
Also Friday, Comer, Jordan and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, asked the head of the National Archives, Colleen Shogan, to testify publicly about why the Archives has not turned over information they've requested dating back to Joe Biden's time as vice president.
In a letter sent Friday, the trio said that the Archives has turned over more than 60,000 pages of documents but has failed to turn over thousands of others at the direction of the White House. "NARA has responded that the White House has authorized production of only certain tranches of documents. Those documents, in the Committees’ view, include only those that reflect favorably on the President or that are without substance. This is unacceptable," the letter said.
Among the documents the chairmen are seeking are correspondence where Biden might have used various pseudonyms, his Air Force Two travels and communications with "various Biden family associates."
The letter asks that Shogan appear on Jan. 31 and calls her testimony "critical to understanding whether and how the White House is obstructing the Committee’s investigation."
NBC News has reached out to the National Archives and the White House for comment.
A senior House Democratic aide said the National Archives has repeatedly told the House Oversight Committee that the agency is "producing the responsive documents in the order which they were prioritized by Committee Republicans."
“Despite receiving the documents that they themselves prioritized, Republicans are desperately spreading disinformation because they have failed to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” the aide said.
The House is preparing to vote next week to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for not complying with the subpoenas already issued. Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a post on X Friday, "Next week the House will vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for repeatedly defying subpoenas. Enough of his stunts. He doesn’t get to play by a different set of rules. He’s not above the law."
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee said Friday that Hunter Biden "is giving Republicans exactly what they have been demanding" and that Republicans should "call off this truly absurd and wasteful contempt proceeding and finally take yes for an answer." He pointed to an interview Jordan gave on Jan. 8, in which he told a radio station that the panels would "certainly" lift the contempt charges if Hunter Biden offered to come in and testify, though at the time he said he didn't see "any offer like that coming."
Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committees voted Wednesday to formally recommend to the full House to hold Biden in contempt.
Biden and Republicans have been in a standoff since last year over how to move forward with their investigation into him. The president's son has repeatedly expressed his willingness to testify before Congress publicly while opting not to sit for a closed-door deposition, demanded by the House GOP, because he and Lowell have said it wouldn't be a fair process.
Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rebecca Shabad reported from Washington, Dareh Gregorian from New York.
