Hunter Biden said he was drunk or on drugs when he pretended his father was sitting next to him in a successful effort to convince a Chinese company to pay the family $5.1 million, he told Congress today.
The president’s son was testifying behind closed doors today during Congress’ impeachment inquiry into his father’s business ties when he made the stunning admission.
“Hunter admitted that he was high or drunk when he sent the WhatsApp message ‘sitting here with my father’, sent to the wrong recipient, and is now ashamed of the message,” read a readout of his testimony.
Within 10 days of his threatening message, $5.1 million flowed from the Chinese company CEFC into accounts linked to Biden, according to information in a 2020 report from Republican-led Senate committees.
Hunter Biden and attorney Abbe Lowell arrive for closed-door testimony at the House Oversight and Judiciary committees
The WhatsApp message to CEFC was cited by IRS whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley last year as evidence of a Justice Department cover-up against the Bidens after they were denied permission to investigate.
It later emerged that Hunter Biden was not with his father the day it was sent, but at Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Before appearing before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, Hunter accused House Republicans of spreading “baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracy theories” about his father’s involvement in his business dealings.
“I am here today to provide the committees with the one indisputable fact that will put an end to the false premise of this investigation: I did not involve my father in my affairs,” he said in a statement.
‘Not when I was a lawyer, not in my investments or transactions at home or abroad, not as a board member and not as an artist. Never.’
But the president’s son will have to deal with one The public hearing after his six-hour closed-door deposition revealed “many discrepancies” about Joe’s involvement in his son’s shady business deals, Republican Rep. James Comer said.
Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is leading the investigation into whether Joe Biden used his position and “brand” to enrich his family in a complex $20 million “influence peddling” scheme.
He told reporters after Hunter’s six-hour statement “proved several pieces of our evidence,” adding, “we will have a public hearing after this.”
“I think a public hearing will hopefully clear up some of the discrepancies between some of the statements made by some of the employees and what we heard today.”
The chairman added that he is “very optimistic and very excited” about the statement and promised to release the transcript of the interview in the coming days without disclosing further details.
Hunter left Capitol Hill after a grueling day of questioning with a slight grin on his face, but did not respond to shouted questions about whether he will participate in an expected public hearing.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said today’s statement showed Republicans have “no evidence.”
“The Republican majority ends the day where they started. “They have not presented any evidence to support the idea that there were any financial transactions involving Hunter during his father period,” he told reporters after the statement.
“It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client’s addiction than on … anything having to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry.”
However, Republicans believe the impeachment went well.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters that Hunter lied in the statement about his involvement with Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm that worked with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Hunter held a position on the board.
“One thing that was interesting to me is that he lied when he talked about Blue Star Strategies,” she told reporters. “He denied any involvement until we gave him proof to his face that he was indeed involved.”
When asked if the closed-door meeting uncovered any serious crimes and misdemeanors, Greene replied: “Distributing influence… We can see that he sold his father’s name and business.”
The president’s son, a recovering drug addict, also sidestepped a loud question about whether the cocaine found in the White House last summer was his.
Hunter fiercely defended his father to Republican investigators, forcefully stating, “I did not involve my father in my affairs,” according to his opening statement obtained by DailyMail.com.
He explained how Joe, who “saved” his life, was present during his “darkest days of addiction,” which have been politicized by the Republican party to use in their “sham” impeachment.
“You have no evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there is none,” he continued.
He further blasted Republicans, saying their “house of cards” is “built on lies” during testimony in Congress.
Meanwhile, Democrats called the impeachment inquiry an “embarrassment” for Republicans, adding that their pursuit of the president’s son is nothing more than a “wild goose chase.”
However, Democrats have repeatedly called the impeachment inquiry a sham and a waste of time.
“It’s just so embarrassing that Republicans are continuing this wild goose chase for President Biden,” progressive Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said Wednesday morning before issuing the statement.
“I mean, they’re acting like Hunter Biden is running for president.”