The White House would undoubtedly have done without this media outing. Hunter Biden, the son of the American president, held a rare press conference on Wednesday to clear his father of any involvement in his controversial affairs, scrutinized by the Republican opposition. He also indicated that he would refuse to testify before elected officials behind closed doors, wishing to do so in a public session, which could lead House Republicans to recommend that he be indicted for “contempt” of Congress, pushing Joe Biden’s Department of Justice to decide on possible prosecutions.
“Let me say this as clearly as possible, my father was never financially involved in my affairs,” the fifty-year-old declared, his tone serious, before the American Congress.
“Not when I was a lawyer, not when I was on the board of directors (of the Ukrainian gas giant) Burisma, not when I did business with a Chinese man, not when I made investments here or at abroad, and certainly not when I was an artist,” he enumerated.
The Ministry of Justice as arbitrator?
Conservatives, a majority in one of the two chambers of the American Congress, accuse Joe Biden of having used his influence when he was Barack Obama’s vice-president (2009-2017) to allow his son to do questionable business in China and in Ukraine. For this reason, they opened an impeachment inquiry in Congress, which they intend to formalize on Wednesday afternoon. The president, the Democrats, and his son deny these accusations outright.
Indicted for illegal possession of a firearm and tax evasion, Hunter Biden refused to participate in a closed hearing organized by Republicans on Wednesday, insisting that this hearing be public.
In response, Republicans threatened to initiate “contempt” proceedings against Congress. If they win the vote in the House, they would recommend that Hunter Biden be indicted, but it is the Department of Justice that would have to decide. Former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon, in particular, was prosecuted after refusing to respond to elected officials, and was sentenced during a trial to 4 months in prison, a decision which he appealed.