Republicans clear path for key Joe Biden impeachment witness Jason Galanis to testify from PRISON after Hunter refuses to participate in public hearing
In an unusual format, former Hunter Biden aide Jason Galanis will testify remotely from prison at a congressional hearing as part of Biden’s impeachment inquiry.
Oversight Chairman James Comer wrote to Majority Leader Steve Scalise requesting permission to have Galanis testify virtually and Scalise’s office told DailyMail.com they will approve the request.
The Bureau of Prisons has already agreed to allow Galanis to give his testimony by video camera during a hearing titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office.”
Galanis will testify alongside former Hunter business partner Tony Bobulinski in a hearing that Hunter himself was invited to but declined to participate. Devon Archer was also invited to give public testimony but has not yet confirmed his attendance.
Jason Galanis will testify via video at a hearing Wednesday while in custody in Alabama
Galanis is currently in an Alabama prison for defrauding a Native American tribe.
He has told Republican impeachment investigators that the “Biden lift” was why he went into business with the first son, claiming it helped seal deals they believed would make billions.
The “Biden lift” we talked about was access. Access was intended for us at the time because we were in the process of acquiring other companies, to convince third parties to do business with us,” Galanis explains in transcripts recently made public.
Galanis has claimed he has been targeted by the justice system and denied house arrest that would have allowed “full and unfettered access to congressional investigators.”
It was unlikely that Hunter Biden would ever appear alongside his former aides, who have since turned against him.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s attorney, wrote to Chairman James Comer on Wednesday, saying the invitation “does not constitute a serious oversight proceeding.”
“It is your attempt to revive your Conference’s dying research with a circus act created for the right-wing media,” he added.
Hunter also has a hearing the next day in California, but the scheduling conflict is the “least problem,” Lowell says.
“Your blatant event planned for the media is not proper procedure, but an obvious attempt to give a Hail Mary pass after the game is over,” Lowell continued.
All four men have already given transcribed interviews to Congress, where members questioned them about Hunter and Joe’s alleged influence.
Meanwhile, Comer says his committee has “called Hunter Biden’s bluff” and that next week’s hearing is going as planned.
During Hunter’s private deposition, he insisted that his father did not profit at all from his business dealings and that they were all earned through his own earnings – not his surname.
Tony Bobulinski did business with Hunter Biden and claimed Joe Biden was also involved in a May 2017 deal with China
“Hunter Biden has stated for months that he wanted a public hearing, but now that it is being offered alongside his business partners with whom he has worked for years, he is refusing to attend,” Comer told DailyMail.com.
He says the hearing is critical to understanding why parts of Hunter’s testimony “contradict” that of Archer, Galanis and Bobulinski.
Hunter initially insisted he would only testify publicly before Congress, fearing Republicans would twist his words behind closed doors. But after the threat of criminal contempt proceedings, he agreed last month to come and give a transcribed interview that lasted six hours.
Hunter and Bobulinski are feuding after his ex-partner came forward with allegations that Joe was involved in their deal with Chinese company CEFC in 2017.
He also admitted that he had invited his father Joe to lunches with business associates and “friends” many times over the years, but insisted he was not involved in his shady dealings with the Chinese, Ukrainians and others.
Republican James Comer says the hearing will examine “inconsistencies” between the testimony of all four witnesses behind closed doors to “get to the truth.” Devon Archer (far left) is seen playing golf in the Hamptons with Hunter (far right) and Joe (next to Hunter)
“I’m surprised my dad hasn’t called me by now, and if he did, I’d put him on speakerphone to say hello to you, Congressman Raskin, and everyone else in the room. It’s literally nothing nefarious,” Hunter said.
Meanwhile, Bobulinski unequivocally claimed that Hunter was taking advantage of his last name and that Joe was involved.
In 2020, Bobulinski published a May 2017 email detailing a proposed stock split for a Chinese investment — the 10 percent for the “big guy” note — and first claimed the “big guy” was Joe.
He also told impeachment investigators that “it is also no coincidence” that CEFC used the Biden family’s “weakest link,” Hunter, to funnel tens of millions of dollars.
But Hunter last week disputed that his father is the “great man” being referred to and blasted Bobulinski for spreading lies about his family.
“My father was not involved,” he explained.
‘I think it was a pipe dream. As if Joe Biden is not in the office. Maybe we can get him involved,” Hunter testified.
“I want to be crystal clear: From my direct personal experience and what I have subsequently learned, it is clear to me that Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ sold by the Biden family,” Bobulinski said in his opening statement.
He continued to say that Joe was “more than a participant” in the family business, but rather “a facilitator, despite being buffered by a complex scheme to keep deniability plausible.”
“The Biden family business was Joe Biden, period,” he said. In addition, he described how the Chinese energy company CEFC “successfully tried to infiltrate and compromise” the Obama and Biden White House.
Bobulinski also previously suggested that he would testify publicly before Congress along with Hunter, Jim Biden and Joe Biden.
Archer testified about Hunter’s role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, for which he was paid more than $80,000 a month.
Archer testified last summer that Burisma CFO Vadim Pozharskyi and CEO Nikola Zlochevsky put “constant pressure” on Hunter in 2015 to get his father to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.
Hunter Biden, along with Zlochevsky and Pozharski, reportedly “called DC” to discuss Shokin.
In March 2016, Joe Biden reportedly threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine if Shokin was not fired for corruption.
Galanis and former Hunter employee Devon Archer were both convicted of fraud for convincing a Native American tribe to issue economic development bonds and then using the money for personal use. Hunter Biden was never charged under the scheme.
Galanis is part of a notorious crime family in New York. His father, John Galanis, was a target of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani during his crackdown on crime in the 1980s. Galanis, 76, is also currently in prison for his involvement in his son’s scheme.
Galanis is currently pushing for house arrest, claiming he was sexually abused in prison.
‘I have pleaded guilty. “I spent eight years in federal custody reflecting on my actions, and I am deeply sorry for my role,” he said.
Galanis has already been denied house arrest once, alleging he was assaulted by a member of prison staff.
Galanis told investigators that he was approved for home confinement under the Covid-era CARES Act by the Pensacola warden in February 2023, and on June 9, 2023, Bureau of Prisons California staff confirmed their approval of my home confinement in an email to FPC Pensacola staff.”
Days later, on June 12, the Oversight Committee announced it would subpoena Galanis’ associate Devon Archer, “which I believe would undoubtedly expose the dealings of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and me.”
A day later he says that the approval of his house arrest has been revoked.
Galanis said: “I have formally appealed the reversal. At each appeal stage, the BOP reason for my denial changed. For example, the first was that there was too much time left for my punishment. This is not a valid reason for the refusal.
Subsequently, the CARES Act expired on May 10, 2023. This reasoning is fabricated and contradicted by its passage on June 9, a date after the alleged May 10 expiration date. Additionally, BOP policy is that all CARES Act applications submitted by May 10 must be processed, which I witnessed firsthand when inmates were released well into late summer. I was treated differently.’
On March 19, Oversight Chairman James Comer, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a member of both committees, asked BoP Director Collette Peters and Assistant U.S. Attorney Negar Tekeei for all to hand over documents relating to Galanis. ‘ application for house arrest and its subsequent approval and withdrawal, as well as all documents and communications relating to his allegations of sexual abuse.