House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Sunday that Republicans will move forward with a vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt, unless they reach a deal with his team for an interview.
Scalise’s comments — made during a call with the House GOP conference — come after Biden’s legal team made a U-turn on Friday and said that the president’s son would take part in a closed-door deposition if Republicans issued new subpoenas.
A contempt vote is currently on the House schedule for Thursday. Both the Judiciary and Oversight Committees passed reports and resolutions last week recommending that Biden be held in contempt after he skipped a closed-door deposition last month. Hunter Biden and his legal team countered at the time that they wanted a public hearing, over concerns that his testimony would be selectively leaked.
Republicans will need near unity in order to make a referral to the Justice Department that Biden be held in contempt of Congress. A swath of GOP lawmakers indicated last week that they hadn’t yet made a decision on how they would vote and Republicans are dealing with absences.
Scalise is working remotely until February as he undergoes treatment for blood cancer. And the Louisianan said during Sunday’s conference call that Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) will be absent as he recovers from a car crash, according to an individual on the call. That will give Republicans 218 seats — the thinnest of majorities.
Republicans have conditioned that they are moving forward with the contempt “for now” — indicating that if they can reach a deal for a closed-door deposition that the floor vote will be canceled.
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Hunter Biden’s legal team on Sunday, saying that they will issue new subpoenas for Hunter Biden’s closed-door testimony. Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, had asked them to do so in his letter last week.
“The Committees welcome Mr. Biden’s newfound willingness to testify in a deposition setting under subpoena. Although the Committee’s subpoenas are lawful and remain legally enforceable, as an accommodation to Mr. Biden and at your request, we are prepared to issue subpoenas compelling Mr. Biden’s appearance at a deposition on a new date in the coming weeks,” they wrote on Sunday.
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