Hunter Biden made an unannounced appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and briefly visited the House Oversight Committee, where lawmakers were conducting a hearing on the vote to hold him in contempt of Congress.
His appearance came as a surprise to Republicans. The president’s son took no questions as he entered the room, but upon leaving roughly 30 minutes after he arrived, he remarked to reporters about the controversial conversations he had with his business partners while his father, President Joe Biden, was also on the phone.
“Do you have a dad?” Hunter Biden said. “Does he call you? Do you answer the phone?”
His appearance during the committee hearing stirred up strong reactions from lawmakers in the room.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) slammed Hunter Biden, calling him the “epitome of white privilege.”
“I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail,” Mace said.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) interjected and called for order, calling disruptions “absurd and inappropriate” and telling his colleagues to “not act like a bunch of nimrods.”
The hearing came after the committee subpoenaed the first son to appear for a deposition on Dec. 13, 2023. Hunter Biden instead appeared in Washington, D.C., and delivered remarks outside the Capitol building, saying he was only willing to testify at a public hearing.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden was flanked by his attorney Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, an entertainment lawyer who has loaned the first son millions of dollars to help him pay his unpaid taxes and other bills.
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Upon leaving the hearing room, Lowell told reporters that the purpose of his client’s appearance was to serve as a witness to testify publicly, which House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has declared a nonoption.
Republicans say they want Hunter Biden to appear for a closed-door deposition because in that setting, experienced committee lawyers lead the proceedings, and questioning is not broken down into five-minute chunks for each lawmaker as it is during public hearings.
Reese Gorman contributed to this report.
