Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Contempt of Congress of Hunter Biden - Part 2

The House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday along party lines to hold Hunter Biden, the president’s son, in contempt of Congress, hours after he surprised Republicans by appearing unannounced on Capitol Hill, prompting a partisan free-for-all.

The 23-to-14 vote sends the matter to the full House, which is controlled by Republicans. The measure accuses the younger Mr. Biden of failing to sit for a private deposition in the impeachment inquiry against President Biden. It came as the House Oversight Committee continued a lengthy and at times vitriolic meeting on an identical resolution, which also was expected to be approved along party lines.

“We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name,” said Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the oversight panel.

The day began with a dramatic twist: the unexpected arrival of the younger Mr. Biden, who has repeatedly offered to testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry but refused to be interviewed behind closed doors, in the Oversight Committee’s hearing room. Democrats and Republicans immediately began bickering about whether to allow him to be heard.

Democrats on the panel urged the Republicans who control it to let Mr. Biden testify right then and there, but G.O.P. lawmakers insisted he must submit to a closed-door deposition as ordered by their subpoena.

The exchange pitted some of the staunchest supporters of former President Donald J. Trump against the son of his successor and chief political rival, underscoring the bitter polarization that is driving the impeachment investigation.

As Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, was beginning to lecture the younger Mr. Biden, he and his entourage left the room just minutes after arriving, trailed by a gaggle of journalists who had gathered to watch the G.O.P.’s latest move. That prompted Ms. Greene to label him a “coward.”

Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Contempt of Congress of Hunter Biden