Top Republican on House Oversight Committee says he's ready to subpoena Hunter Biden

Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, says Republicans are prepared to subpoena Hunter Biden and records of his business dealings if and when they take control of the House. Comer, who is likely to chair the committee, said Republicans are going to "press forward with an investigation of the president of the United States" related to his son's business dealings. 

The Kentucky congressman made those remarks in an interview with CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge Friday, as control of the House remains undecided but, CBS News estimates, leans Republican. 

"We're prepared to subpoena Hunter Biden," Comer told Herridge. "We would certainly hope that he would want to come before the committee and clear his name."

"What Joe Biden said is, 'Our son is innocent.' If I were Hunter Biden, I'd want to come clear my name and make some Republicans look bad," Comer added. "So we're gonna ask Hunter Biden to come before the committee. If he refuses, then I suspect that he would receive a subpoena." 

Comer said he believes the Biden son's business dealings abroad may have "compromised this White House."

"Therefore, it's a national security concern," Comer said. "And we take that very seriously, and we're going to press forward with a credible, formal investigation of the president of the United States." Comer said there will be public hearings as part of the probe.

The U.S. attorney's office in Delaware has been investigating Hunter Biden since at least 2019, as CBS News has reported. A federal subpoena from that year, obtained by CBS News, sought Hunter Biden's bank records dating back to 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president. Investigators have examined whether the younger Biden owes taxes on income from a controversial stint, during his father's vice presidency, as a board member for Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, according to sources familiar with the matter. 

It's long been expected that Republicans would make investigating Hunter Biden and the Biden family a key focus if they take control of the House. Comer insisted Republicans will also focus on kitchen table issues like addressing inflation and crime. 

Not all Republicans are eager to pursue Hunter Biden investigations. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, of Utah, appeared to encourage the party to avoid such types of hearings, and instead, focus on things like inflation, the debt, spending, and entitlement and immigration reform. 

"Two roads diverge before this potential GOP majority," Romney wrote Thursday. "The one 'less travelled by' would be to pass bills that would make things better for the American people. The more tempting and historically more frequented road would be to pursue pointless investigations, messaging bills, threats and government shutdowns."

Comer said he thinks Republicans will end up with "somewhere around 220" seats, which would only be two more seats than Republicans need to take the majority. Such a narrow GOP majority in the House would complicate Republicans' agenda, to put it one way. Still, Comer said, a win's a win. 

If former President Donald Trump is going to announce a third presidential bid, Comer would "prefer" that he wait until after the Georgia runoff race Dec. 6, but said that "obviously," the former president is going to do as he pleases. 

"I just think that the focus needs to be on trying to flip the Senate," Comer said. Besides Georgia, there are two more Senate races to be decided, and Republicans must win two out of the three to take control of the Senate. He added that getting "America on the right track" means "we need a Republican Senate, too."

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.

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