'Pure congressional mayhem': Analyst left shocked by scenes in House contempt hearing
A congressional hearing ended in "mayhem" as Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in contempt for not complying with a subpoena to sit for a closed-door deposition.
President Joe Biden's son had agreed to testify in a public hearing last month, which Republicans rejected, and Hunter Biden briefly appeared Wednesday morning at a hearing of the House Oversight Committee before abruptly departing as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed her allotted time.
"Excuse me, Hunter, apparently you're afraid of my words," said Greene, one of the loudest proponents of impeaching the president over his family's foreign business dealings, as the younger Biden got up and walked out of the hearing.
"I think it's clear and obvious to everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong, conservative Republican women because he can't even face my words as I was about to speak to him."
Hunter Biden walked into the Capitol hallway trailed by reporters, and his attorney Abbe Lowell gave a statement outside the hearing room.
"They issued a subpoena for a behind-closed-doors deposition, a tactic that the Republicans have repeatedly misused in their political crusade to selective leak and mischaracterize what witnesses have said," Lowell said.
"Last fall [Oversight] chairman [James] Comer made an explicit offer that people like Hunter and -- give him the option to attend a deposition or a public hearing, whichever they chose. Hunter chose a hearing where Republicans could not distort, manipulate, or misuse that testimony."
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"Honor and then ignoring that invitation and proving once again that they cared little about the truth and wanted only to, quote, 'move the needle of political support,' which was a quote chairman Comer confessed was his true purpose," Lowell added. "The Republican chairs today then are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. The question there is what are they afraid of?"
The hallway news conference then ended, and reporters shouted questions to Hunter Biden and his attorney as they headed toward the exit.
"What you have been watching, pure congressional mayhem," said CNN "News Central" host John Berman, summing up the chaotic scene.
"The House Oversight Committee was holding a hearing to find Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for not agreeing to appear for a deposition. The thing is, Hunter Biden showed up at the hearing, apparently surprising all the Republicans, including the committee chair, and just set off a theatrical explosion. You just saw Hunter Biden and his lawyer leaving that building right there — quite a moment."
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