Attorneys for Hunter Biden told lawmakers on Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s son will not attend a public hearing on the House impeachment inquiry into his father that is scheduled for next week.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, wrote in a letter to House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., that his client “declines your invitation to this carnival side show” and will not appear at a March 20 public impeachment hearing. Lowell said: “I must confess my surprise by your hasty request. After that six-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024, along with the realization that your inquiry was based on a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars and a charged Russian spy, I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead.”

Lowell said that Republicans requested that Biden appear the day before he is to appear in court in California on a criminal tax charge, citing federal charges against Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who prosecutors said lied about the Bidens’ involvement in Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov was re-arrested after prosecutors asserted there was a strong risk Smirnov would use Russian intelligence contacts to flee before his trial. Said Lowell: “Your blatant planned-for-media event is not a proper proceeding but an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended.”

Comer said in a statement that the hearing will proceed, and Republicans expect Hunter Biden to participate: “The House Oversight Committee has called Hunter Biden’s bluff. Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come.” Comer added that Hunter Biden confirmed “key evidence,” but contradicted testimony from former business partners who appeared before House investigators:  “The American people demand the truth and accountability for the Bidens’ corruption.”

Comer’s request for Hunter Biden to appear in public comes after he testified behind closed doors in a six-hour deposition on February 28 before members of two House panels. Biden said in an opening statement at the time that he never involved his father in his businesses.

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