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By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter
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Lawyer Harry Litman told CNN's John Berman on Wednesday that Hunter Biden can expect a "very aggressive set of questioners" during his closed-door testimony in his father, President Joe Biden's impeachment inquiry.
The Context
Joe Biden is under an impeachment probe carried out by House Republicans for his alleged involvement in his son Hunter's foreign business dealings. The White House has repeatedly denied that the president had anything to do with his son's dealings.
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After Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, subpoenaed Hunter in November, the president's son agreed to public testimony, which was shot down by House Republicans. Hunter has refused a closed-door meeting, defying his subpoena, until today.
Hunter will answer questions before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Wednesday that relate to claims that his father personally benefited from and influenced his foreign business deals in China and Ukraine while his father was vice president under the Obama administration.
Hunter, meanwhile, is currently facing three federal gun charges, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to. The charges relate to his lying about his drug use on a federal form to purchase a handgun in October 2018. He is also facing tax charges from the Department of Justice in a case that alleges that he evaded at least $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019. He has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges, as well.
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What We Know
Berman asked Litman, a former U.S. attorney under the Bill Clinton administration, on CNN News Central on Wednesday: "I have never been under federal indictment as far as you know, but were I to be, I'd be pretty reluctant to answer any questions to a congressional committee when what I could say could ultimately be used against me in a different trial. So, what I'm getting at here is, I know there's a lot of anticipation about this, but how much is Hunter really gonna answer?"
Litman responded: "You're totally right. He's under indictment for two different crimes. Those will both be off-limits. And his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, will jump in and say we can't talk about that; he's under indictment. What does that leave?
"For them, the motherlode...would be anything about Joe Biden's business dealings with him. I think that's gonna be a dry hole. Nine witnesses have already testified there's nothing there. This will be the 10th, he'll say so. He's already made public statements to that effect.
"What does that leave for a gang that wants to get at anything? Stuff about Hunter's career, his art. Any way he's gotten money. And there will be sort of sneering questions about his art career in an attempt to just insinuate that he's been exploiting the Biden brand...How far will that go? How aggressive will it get? It will depend somewhat on Abbe Lowell, but he can expect a very aggressive set of questioners today," Litman said.
The Views
The vitality of Biden's impeachment probe has been questioned since the start of the investigation but has been a serious concern following the indictment of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov earlier this month. Smirnov, a crucial source in the impeachment inquiry, was charged with making false statements and manufacturing false records concerning the Biden family's business dealings in Ukraine.
Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has maintained that Smirnov's indictment doesn't change the fundamental facts of the case against the president.
Meanwhile, representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who is a ranking member on the Oversight Committee, said that the probe into Biden has "essentially ended."
Following Smirnov's indictment, the president told reporters that the impeachment inquiry against him "should be dropped, and it's just been an outrageous effort from the beginning."
What's Next?
Hunter Biden agreed to the closed-door meeting with the conditions that it would not be filmed and that a transcript of the testimony would be quickly released following the interview.
In Hunter's opening statement during his testimony, which was given to Newsweek by his legal team, the president's son said: "I am here today to provide the Committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions, domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never."
Comer, a Kentucky Republican, has signaled that the impeachment inquiry is far from over.
"Our committees have the opportunity to depose Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, about this record of evidence," Comer told the Associated Press. "This deposition is not the conclusion of the impeachment inquiry. There are more subpoenas and witness interviews to come."
Update 2/28/24, 10:27 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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