Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning. Mr. Biden is going to have a statement to make and will not be able to take any questions today. We appreciate you all being here.
Mr. Biden (00:15): Good morning. I'm here today to answer at a public hearing, any legitimate questions Chairman Comer and the House Oversight Committee may have for me. I'm here today to make sure that the House committee's illegitimate investigations of my family did not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence and lies. And I'm here today to acknowledge that I've made mistakes in my life and wasted opportunities and privileges I was afforded, for that I'm responsible. For that, I'm accountable, and for that I'm making amends. But I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for their political purposes. I am first and foremost a son, a father, a brother, and a husband from a loving and supportive family. I'm proud to have earned degrees from Georgetown University and Yale Law School. I'm proud of my legal career and business career. I'm proud of my time serving on a dozen different boards of directors, and I'm proud of my efforts to forge global business relationships. (01:40) For six years, MAGA Republicans, including members of the House committees, who are in a closed door session right now, have impugned my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family, and my friends. They have ridiculed my struggle with addiction, they belittled my recovery and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass and damage my father who has devoted his entire public life to service. For six years, I have been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine, shouting, "Where's Hunter?" Well, here's my answer. I am here. Let me state as clearly as I can. My father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Barisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist. (02:58) During my battle with addiction, my parents were there for me. They literally saved my life. They helped me in ways that I will never be able to repay, and of course they would never expect me to. And in the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that his grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd, it's shameless. There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen. James Comer, Jim Jordan, Jason Smith and their colleagues have distorted the facts by cherry-picking lines from a bank statement, manipulating texts I sent, editing the testimony of my friends and former business partners, and misstating personal information that was stolen from me. There is no fairness or decency in what these Republicans are doing. They have lied over and over about every aspect of my personal and professional life, so much so that their lies have become the false facts believed by too many people. (04:30) No matter how many times it is debunked, they continue to insist that my father's support of Ukraine against Russia is the result of a non-existent bribe. They displayed naked photos of me during an oversight hearing, and they have taken the light of my dad's love for me, and presented it as darkness. They have no shame. These same committee chairman have engaged in unprecedented political interference in what would've already been a five-year investigation of me. Yet here I am, Mr. Chairman, taking up your offer. When you said, we can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose. Well, I've chosen. I'm here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee's legitimate questions. Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I'm here. I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (06:03): Hunter, are you willing to go across the street? Why don't you?
Speaker 4 (06:06): [inaudible 00:06:09].
Speaker 5 (06:08): Why did you-