‘Mr. Gaetz, Look Me in the Eye’: Hunter Biden Had Tense Exchange with Florida Republican During Deposition

Hunter Biden’s closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee got testy on Wednesday, as indicated by the transcript the committee released the following day.

The Republican-led committee is probing Hunter Biden’s business dealings and is trying to determine whether his father President Joe Biden benefitted in some way. The Bidens maintain that Joe was not involved, but Republicans have been alleging for more than a year that the elder Biden was getting enriched and illicitly so. However, they have yet to furnish proof to sustain that explosive charge.

Nevertheless, the House is continuing with its formal impeachment inquiry into the president.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee that is also investigating Hunter Biden, interrogated the presidential son about his business activities during Wednesday’s deposition. At one point, the lawmaker homed in on Biden’s service on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. Gaetz questioned Biden’s qualifications, namely his apparent lack of experience in the energy sector before taking the job:

GAETZ: What need did you fill?

BIDEN: What they — I’m not finished. What they needed was someone like Cofer Black, who had a wide range of experience in foreign policy and in that area of the world. What they needed was like — someone like President Kwasniewski, who had a real understanding of the issues and the pressures that they were under at the time, none of which were energy executives. And I don’t — I would challenge you to look at the Fortune 500 companies.

GAETZ: What need did you fill, Mr. Biden? What need did you fill?

BIDEN: What need? Was corporate governance. And I was an of counsel to Boies Schiller, one of the best law firms in the world at the time, and I, you know, specialized in corporate governance. I was the chairman of the corporate governance on the Amtrak board.

Gaetz then asked Biden, a recovering drug addict, if he was on drugs while serving on the board. The question prompted Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell to chime in. During the exchange, the witness challenged the congressman to look him in the eye:

GAETZ: Were you on drugs when you were serving as the Burisma board member?

LOWELL: I’m not objecting to that. Hold on. One of the things that I spoke to staff that you just asked about as to whether it’s outside the bounds. If you want to spend the next part of the last hour you have asking about his drug use, go at it. It’s outside the scope. It certainly has no relevance to an impeachment inquiry nor does it have anything to do with oversight of ethics legislation that may address family members of Presidents or Vice Presidents. So go at it, but it’s outside the scope and you’re wasting your time.

GAETZ: Were you on drugs when you were on the Burisma board?

BIDEN: Mr. Gaetz, look me in the eye. You really think that’s appropriate to ask me?

GAETZ: Absolutely.

BIDEN: Of all the people sitting around this table, do you think that’s appropriate to ask me?

GAETZ: Yeah. Are you going to answer it?

LOWELL: You don’t have to answer it.

BIDEN: I’m not going to answer it. I’ve been explicit about —

GAETZ: So you’re telling me —

BIDEN: I will answer it this way: I have been absolutely transparent about my drug use. Again, I spoke to you all earlier this morning about that. I’m sorry; I’m an addict. I was an addict. I have been in recovery for over 4 and a half years now, Mr. Gaetz. I work really, really hard at it. Let me answer. I work really hard at it, under an enormous amount of pressure. Was I an addict? Yes, I was an addict. What does that have to do with whether or not you’re going to go forward with an impeachment of my father other than to simply try to embarrass me?

Elsewhere in his testimony, Biden offered a window into the origin of a message to a Chinese businessman in which he claimed Joe Biden was sitting next to him waiting for the businessman to commit to a deal. Hunter Biden told the committee his father was not with him at the time and that he was likely “drunk and probably high” when he sent it.

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