House Republicans have paused a vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt as attorneys for the president’s son have begun negotiations with the House Oversight Committee for him to sit for a closed-door deposition.
The House Rules Committee has pulled consideration of a contempt resolution for now, with Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) saying in a statement that if conversations between the House Oversight Committee and Hunter Biden’s lawyers are not successful, the committee may reconvene this week on the matter.
“I understand that conversations between Mr. Biden’s attorneys and the Oversight and Judiciary committees are ongoing, and we will not meet tonight on this matter while discussions about his compliance remain open. However, should those conversations not prove successful, the Rules Committee may reconvene this week to consider those reports,” Cole said at the hearing.
Hunter Biden was first subpoenaed in November to sit for a deposition in December as part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, but he defied the subpoena and did not sit for his deposition and instead read a statement to the media outside the Capitol saying he would only testify in a public hearing.
This made the House Oversight and Judiciary committees move to hold Hunter Biden in contempt. But after they advanced the package, Hunter Biden’s lawyer sent a letter to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) saying he would sit for a deposition if they sent a new subpoena saying the original one was invalid because the full House hadn’t voted to authorize the impeachment inquiry yet.
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This happened on Sunday when the committees sent Hunter Biden a letter saying they would issue a new subpoena requesting his testimony in a deposition.
“Following an exchange of letters between the parties on January 12 and January 14, staff for the committees and lawyers for Hunter Biden are working to schedule Hunter Biden’s appearance. Negotiations are ongoing this afternoon, and in conjunction with the disruption to member travel and cancelling votes, the House Rules Committee isn’t considering the contempt resolution today to give the attorneys additional time to reach an agreement,” a House Oversight spokesperson said.