This week’s Oversight Committee Hearing with Hunter Biden

A game where we all lose

Katie Porter

Jan 13

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Spoiler: No whiteboards attended this week’s hearing. However, I still hope you’ll read about what went down in the Oversight Committee this week.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing about Hunter Biden. Republicans have spent much of their past year in power attempting to investigate various Democrats, including the President’s son. This particular hearing was about a resolution to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing a subpoena to appear in front of the Oversight Committee in a closed-door setting.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers say they refused the subpoena because of concerns Republicans would twist his words and instead offered his attendance at a public hearing. Still, GOP leaders are insisting this should happen in private.

So, on Wednesday, Hunter Biden surprised the committee by showing up. Then it got chaotic.

There is one thing Republicans and Democrats alike had in common on Wednesday. Everyone seemed willing to play the game. At times, both sides were using this hearing to take shots at their favorite political nemeses. This was a game where nobody won. It was Washington at its worst.

Republicans really were acting in an unacceptable manner here. If Hunter Biden is willing to testify publicly, in front of the American people, then we should let him do that. A public hearing provides much more accountability and oversight than a closed-door deposition. Republicans were simply pulling political stunts by insisting their interview occur behind closed doors.

There was no actual resolution on Wednesday, but I have been sad to see the Oversight Committee—a committee that I know can do so much good for the American people—be turned into this. Oversight is supposed to be about gathering information and sharing it with the public, or using that information to enact some sort of good. After all, this is the committee where my questioning of a Trump Administration official led to free COVID testing for every American.

With Republicans in the majority, they have control over our committee hearing agendas. But even at the beginning of 2023, we had some productive ones, including one about unemployment fraud. I’m disappointed to see the turn this committee has taken.

Onward,

Katie Porter

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