Republicans Are Basically Admitting the Hunter Biden Deposition Was a Bust

Republicans are trying to spin the Biden impeachment inquiry forward after an hours-long deposition with his son Hunter Biden on Wednesday. It’s proving difficult, as the closed-door hearing doesn’t seem to have yielded many revelatory details.

Some Republicans are even conceding that Biden performed well under questioning. “I think when the transcript comes out, it’s gonna read well for him, because they did a great job prepping,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told Fox News host Harris Faulkner Thursday.

Sean Hannity on Wednesday night asked three GOP committee chairs involved in the impeachment inquiry to rate how “damaging” Hunter Biden’s testimony was on a scale of 1 to 10. Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jason Smith (R-Mo.) both gave it an 8, while Rep. Jim Jordan only said he thinks “it was very good for us.”

“As I said, I think we got a lot of information that we can use if in fact we have a public hearing as Chairman Comer has talked about,” Jordan said, referencing Comer’s announcement earlier on Wednesday that Republicans will hold a public hearing..

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said following the proceedings that Comer left the hearing pretty early and never asked any questions, which he called “very telling.” Nelly Decker, the communications director for the Oversight Committee Democrats, added that Smith was never in the room for Hunter Biden’s deposition.

Other Democrats who attended the hearing, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), expressed similar sentiments. “What we just witnessed over the last hour was I think a deep sea fishing expedition because the Republican case has completely fallen apart,” she told reporters partway through Wednesday’s hearing.

Hunter Biden is at the center of the Biden impeachment inquiry, with Republicans alleging that his overseas business dealings are part of an influence-peddling scheme involving the president. They haven’t been able to turn up any evidence that this is the case, however.

Last week, the GOP’s star witness in the inquiry, former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, was alleged to have been in contact with Russian intelligence agents. He was also remanded into custody after being charged with providing fraudulent information to the FBI. Republicans similarly scrambled to spin the damning revelations ahead of the deposition with Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden blasted the inquiry in prepared remarks on Wednesday, calling it a “house of cards of lies” and a “destructive political charade.”

More from Rolling Stone

• Hunter Biden Slams GOP's 'House of Cards of Lies' Ahead of Testimony

• Republicans Are Scrambling to Salvage Their Doomed Biden Impeachment Push

• The GOP's Star Hunter Biden Witness Was Getting Info From Russian Intelligence: DOJ

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