According to a Tuesday letter addressed to committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), Biden agreed to testify before the committee on Dec. 13 — as long as the hearing was public. In the letter, Biden’s attorneys quoted Comer’s own demand, issued in November, that given Biden’s “willingness to address this investigation publicly up to this point, we would expect him to be willing to testify before Congress.”

The letter added that open-door proceedings “would prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, or one-sided press statements.”

Republicans would not have it. “Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else,” Comer wrote in a statement. “That won’t stand with House Republicans.”

  • ZeroCool@feddit.ch
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    The letter added that open-door proceedings “would prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, or one-sided press statements.”

    And that’s exactly why they aren’t going to allow him to testify publicly.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      The best bit was at the end:

      “I welcome Hunter Biden finally agreeing to testify,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) wrote on Tuesday. “It’s long overdue for him to come clean in front of the American people.”

      Smith deleted the tweet shortly after he posted it.

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      From how it reads I think comer is saying that everyone is subjected to the selective leaks, doctored evidence ect. And if everyone regardless of party have to work through the unfair and unethical process, why should hunter get off easier by having transparency to prevent all the dirty and dishonest tools used by politicians. It’s insane logic to us because we’re seeing it from the outside and it shows how detached from the real worlds reality these politicians have become.

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    Republicans would not have it. “Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else,” Comer wrote in a statement. “That won’t stand with House Republicans.”

    Are you fucking kidding me right now?

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      Why are you so surprised by whatever Republicans have to say?

      Whenever Republicans open their mouths, all I hear is “blergh, blergh, blergh!”

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      Overt hypocrisy is a display of power. They’re showing that they’re not only above the law, but above rationality itself, they can rule on a whim rather than be consistent.

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        And this is why pointing out, or calling out, conservatives for their blatant hypocrisy is a waste of time and effort. They do not care. Many of them are even doing it on purpose to get people distracted from actual issues.

        They pivot to arguing about semantics and other meaningless bullshit, and it works. So they keep doing it.

    • TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
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      Conservatives don’t operate in good faith. They’ll say whatever will let them pretend the opposition are the ones breaking the rules, and if that contradicts something they said before that’s just a bonus.

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    If you call for a dick measuring contest, you don’t let it be in public if you know you’re going to lose.

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    I think Republicans have set that precedent that congressional supoenas are essentially optional, so Hunter can safely sit this one out if he feels like it.

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      To be fair, you have no way of possibly knowing he’s stayed clean.

      Also, from what I understand, the guy is packing a massive dong, so I’m sure that helps too. Much less embarrassing than it could have been for him due to our societal norms or whatever.

      Edit: not sure why this comment would be controversial. As a “former” addict myself, I know first hand how well some people can hide their use. Anyone who has ever experienced addiction, and relapsed, would tell you that you really can’t know for sure. You just can’t.

      Unless you’re testing hair samples or some shit.

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        The size of the guy’s dong is completely irrelevant and ignorant of the point that, big dong or small dong, Hunter Biden’s privacy and dignity was destroyed by a woman who wanted social media points.

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    They’re so transparently corrupt it’s not even surprising anymore. They’ve become like cockroaches that are no longer afraid of the light.

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      I actively try to avoid killing cockroaches - they’re useful to the ecosystem. Republicans, not so much.

      I doubt I’d extend them the same courtesy.

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      Yes, that is exactly right. That started sometime in the summer of 2016: they suddenly stopped apologizing, and haven’t apologized since. I remember that’s when it changed; some R had some new scandal (no surprise) but his response was basically, “So?” and that was kind of a shock. It’s like the fix was in, and of course now we know that it was.

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      Most of them have seen what he has to force down their throats. Some of them are probably salivating at the thought.

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        I mean, dudes packing heat.

        I hate that I know that but still.

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          I think deep down you know there’s guaranteed hate from a select number of male politicians just straight based on dick envy (assuming I’m understanding the comments right). It sums up our government in better ways than most journalists could nowadays.

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            Marge seems positively obsessed with it. A few of the Karens I know IRL seem to bring up the nudes on the “laptop” at nearly every opportunity. I think I have an idea about just why they constantly talk about it. Most Americans DGAF about Hunter - who doesn’t even hold any office and has zero effect on their lives, but a certain kind of man and a certain kind of woman seem to be unable to stop talking (and thinking) about him and his nudes.

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    Republicans told me he was guilty guilty guilty why don’t they want him testifying in a way that makes it IMPOSSIBLE for him to edit his testimony?

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    They want to attack someone and make sure the defendant has no way to defend themselves in order to preserve their narrative? How republican of them.

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      I think decency went out the window when Marge started showing Hunter’s dick pics to Congress.

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          Does that count as a “pussy pass” or is it just GOP? (The “better” Republicans protect her because they can claim to be clean while she does the stuff they want done)

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    I get he is President Bidens son, but It often feels to me that the waters get muddied to obfuscate any information about WHY he is having legal problems and simply advertise he is HAVING legal problems. (I understand the article eventually gets to that point, but by then I think a lot of people would have tuned out). It just feels like team red use him as an attack vector to hit President Biden, which is kinda sad. The guy has some problems and I dont think being under the media spotlight all the time is good for his mental health.

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      It just feels like team red use him as an attack vector to hit President Biden, which is kinda sad.

      That’s all it ever was. If a similar investigation were conducted into their family members, I’m pretty sure they’d catch a lot more like him. The difference is that Republicans are trying desperately to prove that Joe Biden was actively participating in his son’s schemes, and so far they’ve been unable to find anything. I doubt a similar inquiry into their own affairs would come back clean.

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        These people went after obama’s girls, who were actual children. They have no fucking shame.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      Maybe the only good thing to come of this is that it also publicized what a good dad Joe Biden is