James Comer defends not subpoenaing Hunter Biden yet: ‘It’s very difficult’
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer indicated his panel hasn’t subpoenaed Hunter Biden yet due to the legal complexities of going after a presidential family member.
“He could fight the subpoena in court. It’s very difficult. I think if it were easy to get a president or their son in front of a House committee that the January 6 committee probably would have done that with Donald Trump,” Comer (R-Ky.) told Newsmax.
Ultimately, the January 6 committee did in fact subpoena former President Trump for testimony.
Just before the 2022 midterm elections, the panel slapped him with a subpoena demanding testimony by mid-November of that year, but the former president refused.
Comer’s panel has fired off a slew of subpoenas aimed at procuring financial and other records pertaining to the first son over recent months.
But Comer’s powerful Oversight Committee hasn’t subpoenaed testimony from the man himself.
“Hunter Biden is more than welcome to come to the committee,” Comer added. “If he wants to clear his good name, if he wants to come and say, ‘You know, these were 20 shell companies, they actually did stuff,’ he’s invited.”
The Oversight Committee has relied on voluntary cooperation from witnesses such as Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer, who testified in July.
Notably, the January 6 committee also subpoenaed individuals very close to the Trump family such as Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.
At one point, it issued a subpoena for Eric Trump’s records.
Although the January 6 committee did hear from some of former President Trump’s children like Ivanka Trump directly, it did so via voluntary appearances.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he was ordering an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over alleged ties to his family’s business dealings.
As part of that undertaking, Comer, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) will take point.
McCarthy’s move came after he previously vowed to hold a floor vote on whether to initiate the probe. After a handful of Republicans became squeamish, likely indicating the motion would fail, he did it unilaterally.
The speaker defended the move, arguing that he was merely following a precedent set by his predecessor, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pelosi unilaterally commenced an impeachment probe into Trump in 2019 to scrutinize an alleged quid pro quo bid with Ukraine.
The Trump administration’s Justice Department later concluded that her lack of a formal vote invalidated the inquiry — an opinion that Biden’s DOJ could cling to. Pelosi later held a formal vote.
With an impeachment inquiry, congressional Republicans will enjoy heightened powers to investigate the Biden family.
Biden’s allies blasted the move.
“House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn’t have support. Extreme politics at its worst,” White House spokesman Ian Sams posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
