House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has stated that Hunter Biden’s scripted speech from outside Congress may have implicated his Democrat president father for having “been involved” in his illegal business dealings.
Jordan noted that Hunter made a “huge change” to the narrative by saying President Biden was “not financially involved” in his business dealings.
As Slay News reported earlier, Hunter Biden defied his subpoena on Wednesday morning and refused to be deposed by congressional committees.
Instead, Democrat President Joe Biden’s son held a press conference to make his pitch to the corporate media.
Particular attention has been drawn to the moment that Hunter Biden maintained that his father “was not financially involved” in his business.
The first son claimed that there is “no evidence because it did not happen.”
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Since the statement, social media has been flooded with critics who commented that Hunter emphasized the point that Joe Biden was “not financially involved” in the shady foreign deals.
Many argue that this suggests he was involved in some other way.
Also, the allegations that Hunter and Joe Biden took millions of dollars in illegal bribes would not qualify as being part of Hunter’s legitimate businesses.
Jim Jordan was among those who found the comment suspicious and argues that it also marks a “huge change” in what the Bidens are telling the public about the scandal.
The White House and Joe Biden have maintained that the president was “never in business” with his son.
Biden has also said he never spoke to his son about his business dealings.
However, Republicans have uncovered evidence to contradict those statements, including email records and testimony from Hunter Biden’s former business partners.
Shortly after Hunter’s public appearance, Jordan pointed out Biden’s changing narrative.
“I would just point out that I’ve had a chance to review what Hunter Biden said in his press conference,” Jordan said.
“I think he made an interesting statement.
“He said his father was not financially involved in the business.
“And I think that qualifier, the word ‘financially’ is important because once again, it shows another change in this story.”
Jordan continued, “First, it was no involvement.
“Then, ‘no one ever, never talked to anyone,’ and then we find out about the dinners, the meetings, the phone calls, everything else.”
“Now, it’s okay, he wasn’t involved in the business financially,” Jordan continued.
“I think that is important. It’s one of the reasons we want to talk to Hunter Biden.”
Jordan said the “biggest takeaway” from Hunter’s appearance was that statement about President Biden not being “financially” involved.
Jordan notes that the choice of words, which Hunter read from a pre-prepared statement, indicates President Biden may have been involved in his son’s business dealings in other ways.
“That is a huge change, which means — sort of means he’s involved,” Jordan said.
“I think that’s how anyone with common sense would read it.”
Jordan described the change as indicating President Biden has “been involved, just not financially.”
Jordan said that “is a huge departure from everything they’ve said now for the last three and a half years.”
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BREAKING: GOP Congressman @Jim_Jordan says Hunter Biden just told another blatant lie during his press conference that President was not financially involved in his business, warns that "lIf he doesn't testify, "We're going to move forward with contempt proceedings." WATCH pic.twitter.com/Y0wOLeD9C7
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) December 13, 2023
President Biden, dating back to August 2019 on the 2020 campaign trail, said he “never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period.”
A month later, Biden said he had “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
The next month, Biden said, “I don’t discuss business with my son.”
This summer, however, the White House made a change and began saying Biden was not “in business” with his son during his vice presidency.
“As we have said many times before, the president was not in business with his son,” White House counsel’s office spokesperson Ian Sams said in a June 29 statement.
During a July 24 briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made a similar assertion.
“The answer remains the same,” Jean-Pierre said.
“The president was never in business with his son.
“I just don’t have anything else to add.”
Jordan, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), and Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) wrote a letter to White House Counsel Stuart Delery in July to seek clarity on the shifting message.
Their July 27 deadline was ignored, however.
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell, who also served as Bill Clinton’s impeachment lawyer, has also denied President Biden was linked to the deals.
In September, Lowell said he could “categorically” declare that President Biden was not involved in his son’s previous business dealings and did not profit from any of them.
“I can tell you that Hunter did not share his business with his dad,” Lowell told CNN in September.
“I can tell you that he did not share money from his businesses with his dad.
“And as the evidence out there, his dad, like all good parents, tried to help Hunter when Hunter needed that help.”
Meanwhile, Comer and Jordan last week threatened to hold Biden in contempt of Congress if he defied the subpoena and failed to appear for his deposition.
Comer and Jordan had vowed to release the full transcript of Hunter’s deposition if he did participate.
They also vowed to follow up by scheduling a public hearing for the president’s son to testify in a setting for the American people to hear from him directly.
Meanwhile, Comer and Jordan spoke to reporters, defending their “lawful subpoena of the president’s son.”
“This is a normal process in an investigation,” Comer said.
“This has been a serious investigation since day one — an investigation about public corruption at the highest level.”
Comer said he still expects to depose the president’s son.
“And then we will be more than happy to have a public hearing,” Comer said.
Jordan said if a public hearing took place first, as suggested by the first son, members would filibuster and delay lines of questioning.
“The way you get the facts is you bring people in for an interview behind closed doors,” Jordan said.
Lowell and the White House have argued that the subpoena was not valid because the House impeachment inquiry was never formalized by the full House of Representatives.
However, a vote to do so is expected later Wednesday.
“We think it is going to pass,” Jordan said. “We’ll see what their excuse is then.”
However, Jordan did say that once that vote takes place, he and Comer will, as promised, “move forward with contempt proceedings” against the first son.
Comer said that the committee has tens of thousands of documents prepared in the room where Hunter Biden was expected to testify.
He added that the committee has “specific questions for the president’s son,” and said the American people want this investigation.
