Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Hunter Biden Again Demands Public Deposition With Republicans; Supreme Court to Decide Whether to Restrict Mifepristone Nationwide. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 13, 2023 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The breaking news, we just heard from Hunter Biden, the president's son who spoke on Capitol Hill. He offered to testify in public before House Republicans who issued a subpoena for him. This is part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

We are waiting to hear from a response from House Republicans. They have insisted the testimony be behind closed doors.

Hunter Biden also said, and what really were the most expansive comments he has made about his inquiry, he has said, while he was irresponsible in his financial dealings, it's absurd to suggest it is grounds for an impeachment inquiry into his father. He said his father had nothing to do with the finances of his business. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: 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 Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investment at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist.

[10:00:00]

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 as grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd, it's shameless. There's 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Where is Hunter? Here I am, says Hunter Biden on the steps of the US Capitol. We're covering this from every angle, including waiting on the response from the Republicans about whether they will take his public testimony.

CNN's Evan Perez was right there listening to Hunter Biden. Let's start with him. Evan, that was again more than we have heard to date from Hunter on this subject.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. Look, it was an extraordinary thing to come to the steps here on the Senate side of the Capitol, not on the House side, where the House Republicans have been waiting for him at 9.30 to do that closed door testimony.

Here, he spoke more forcefully and confrontationally, really, about these allegations that Republicans have been making. A lot of this stuff has been done on paper and by Republican members of Congress who are essentially twisting some of the things that Hunter says were in some of the evidence that they've obtained, some of the documents they've obtained.

And here, he confronts a lot of that, saying that they were mocking his addiction, his struggles with addiction, his -- obviously problems he had with his finances and also trying to use this really to try to take down his father.

He says the same committee chairman have engaged in unprecedented political interference in what had already been a five-year investigation of me, and that what he's referring to there is that he believes that the only reason why he's facing nine counts in Los Angeles on tax charges, gun charge in the state of Delaware, federal charges in Delaware is because Republicans have put so much pressure on the Justice Department and have collapsed this plea deal that he had arranged with the Justice Department. As a result, he's now facing trial, the possibility of going on trial in the next year in two jurisdictions.

Of course, we have not heard a lot of this from Hunter personally before. So this was a very meaningful thing obviously to have him come here on the steps of the Capitol to address these allegations.

And the fact is, you know, the Republicans have been pushing forward these claims that there's evidence, but they've not actually produced any of it to prove that the president, his father, actually benefited from any of these financial dealings that Hunter Biden had in Ukraine and in China.

So, now, John, we expect that the Republicans are going to go through with their threat, which is to hold him on contempt, perhaps as soon as today, or begin that process, and then we will go from there.

But at this point, Hunter Biden speaking more, you know, for the first time, really, more fulsome comments we've heard from him in very personal terms about his struggles and about the political impact that this is all happening.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Evan Perez right there outside of Capitol Hill, on the steps of the Capitol right now.

Paula Reid, let me bring you in on this as well. What do you think or are you hearing is the strategy here from Hunter and his legal team in what we just saw?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Kate, over the last year we've been reporting how Hunter Biden, along with his lawyers, Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, they have been employing a much more aggressive strategy when it comes to Hunter's detractors.

Here, Republicans, they wanted Hunter Biden on the Hill. Well, they got him but they didn't exactly get the testimony that they were hoping for.

[10:05:03]

Instead, they got this rare public statement from the president's son that was quite personal. He talked about his addiction, the impact that has had on his life, the role his parents played in helping him recover from addiction, but then he also talked about these Republican-led investigations and the impact that those have had on his family. And he blasted Republicans saying, quote, they have no fairness, no decency.

He reminded us that they showed naked pictures of him at an oversight hearing. He said that they have taken the light of his dad's love and turned it into, quote, darkness. And with the Capitol behind him, he said, look, I'm here. Today is the day that Republicans wanted him to sit for a closed-door deposition. He said he will answer questions, but will only do so publicly.

So, again, this is part of that more aggressive strategy he's sort of trying to call their bluff.

Now, I agree with Evan. I think even though he showed up today, even though he's willing to do this publicly, they will likely proceed with contempt. But in the court of public opinion, this is Hunter getting his story and his message out there, which doesn't happen that often, especially not from him directly.

Now, we'll see how Republicans respond to this. I will expect they will likely bring up the criminal charges that Hunter is facing from the Biden Justice Department and then likely talk about, you know, how they wanted and they subpoenaed him for closed-door deposition, which is not what he did. But it's probably going to take them a while to figure out exactly how to respond to this unexpected move.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Paula Reid, there, thank you so much. Stick around with us.

We are hearing from a ranking House member right now. Jamie Raskin is speaking. I think we're going to be able to go to him to see if we have some reaction here.

Is that what we're doing?

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): -- House floor vote already and their own witness, their own Republican witness said that there are -- from what he has seen, there are not grounds for an impeachment inquiry or rather, frankly, impeachment, in general, of President Biden.

But that has not deterred the Republican side from continuing to try to force through a completely groundless and unsubstantiated -- I won't even call it an investigation. I'll just call it an exercise in futility. What we've seen from this deposition, Chairman Comer himself told Hunter Biden, you choose, whichever you choose come in public and come in private.

Hunter Biden, in an attempt to clear his name from what has been happening publicly, has stated that he is willing to testify to the public. But because the Republican investigation has been debunked, exposed and consistently covered and in -- and exposed as having falsehoods, they decided that they will take back and rescind their offer of a public investigation and will only allow it to happen in private. And they will not even commit to making any of these transcripts or have had a track history of not making these transcripts public either.

So, we know what's happening here. They have devised a story that they cannot substantiate with facts, and so they've decided that they want to invent their own take without evidence and they want to ensure that that evidence remains behind closed doors and away from public view.

We will not accept this. The American people deserve better, and we also deserve better than this enormous waste of time and resources. We have more priorities as a country. We need to lower the cost of health care. We need to tackle the housing crisis and we need to do far more --

SIDNER: All right. You are listening Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is flanked by other high-ranking members. You see Raskin there, you see Swalwell there. She's basically just defending not just Hunter Biden, but the Bidens saying this is basically a witch hunt and that they have found no evidence to Republicans on this committee.

Let us now go to Lauren Fox because we have just heard this remarkable statement from President Biden. I think that cannot be overstated. This is the son of a president, from Hunter Biden standing outside of the congressional hearing that he's supposed to be in and making these really emotional statements about his life, how it's been torn apart and defending his father in no uncertain terms. Have you heard anything from House Republicans about how they may proceed, because while he was talking, he was expected to be giving a deposition behind closed doors to that committee?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We are still awaiting the chairman to come out and discuss what they think of Hunter Biden's statement, how they plan to move forward. Obviously, they had warned that Hunter Biden could be held in contempt of Congress if he didn't come in for this closed door deposition.

[10:10:03]

But you heard from Hunter Biden. He said, if you want to talk to me, if you want to ask questions in a public setting, I'm willing to do it. I'm here today. I'm happy to answer your questions. Of course, that fight, that core fight over whether or not this was going to happen privately or publicly, in a public hearing, that was at the core and really the intent of this major fight that we've seen here on Capitol Hill.

I think it's a major question right now what House Republicans plan to do after this. I also think it's a major question of how this would be perceived given the fact that you have someone who's saying, I want to come forward publicly, I'm willing to answer your questions publicly. Are Republicans going to argue that that is not something they're going to move forward with? Obviously, they wanted this closed door deposition. So I think that that is a major question.

The other question is how some moderate Republicans may view this today. There is a vote expected to happen later today in the House of Representatives to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. And many of the Republicans who were on the fence about this have argued they have to move forward because they think more evidence needs to be gathered and they think that this bolsters their argument in court, if they have a formal vote on the floor of the House today.

I think it's going to be really interesting to ask some of those members who are running in states, in districts that Biden won in 2020 what they think about this moment as well. So, it's not just the chairmen who are leading this investigation that are going to be crucial to hear from, but also just how other Republicans on the Hill are perceiving this today.

SIDNER: All right. We will be waiting to hear from whomever you get on the line about what they're going to do next.

Thank you so much to you, Lauren Fox, there on Capitol Hill, and to our Evan Perez and Paula Reid. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And joining us now is Norm Eisen, CNN Legal Analyst, former House judiciary special counsel during Donald Trump's first impeachment trial.

Norm, you heard what Hunter Biden said. What do you think of his statement, clearly carefully crafted with the help of his attorney, Abbe Lowell, who you know? NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, number one, I do think what he said as a matter of substance is accurate. House Republicans have tried and tried and spent the past ten months attempting to connect Joe Biden financially to Hunter's business.

And on all of these issues, loans, the law firm, the business in Ukraine, with a private Chinese businessman, they've failed. Some of these allegations that they've looked at that have not panned out go back to the first impeachment that I worked on, that Joe Biden somehow ousted a Ukrainian corruption prosecutor, wrongly. No. That was the unanimous consent position to get rid of Mr. Shokin of the European Union and the United States of America. The idea originated there.

So, the investigation has been a bust and it's been so inadequate that there's really not a legal predicate, there's not a basis to open an impeachment inquiry. I have a big bipartisan report, Kate, with a former GOP federal judge, a former GOP member of Congress, saying, look, they haven't met the threshold. So, I have to agree with Hunter on that.

BOLDUAN: On just the issue most immediately at hand, which was showing up for the behind closed doors deposition. Do you think it was the right move that they clearly are not doing that today?

EISEN: Well, from a legal perspective, I think indicating a willingness to negotiate, and putting an exclamation point on that by coming to the Hill and saying, I'm here, probably helps insulate Hunter from the legal consequences. It's called the accommodation process, and we went through it in the impeachment.

BOLDUAN: Norm, hold on. We're going to hear a response now from the chairman of the House oversight committee, James Comer. Let's listen together.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): This is a normal process in the investigation. This has been a serious, credible, transparent investigation from day one. We've published four bank memorandums. We've had countless press conferences. This is an investigation about public corruption at the highest levels. We have accumulated mountains of evidence that's concerning to an overwhelming majority of Americans.

We have specific questions in there, and I think we're going to allow you in there to see the piles and piles of documents, of bank statements, of emails, of text messages that we've worked very hard on in this committee over the last eight or nine months.

[10:15:00]

We expect to depose the President's son and then we will be more than happy to have a public period with him.

With that, I'll turn it over to Chairman Jordan.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Well, I would just echo what the chairman said. We're disappointed that he didn't show up. I mean, he was just across the way at the Capitol. You think you could have come here and sat for questions. You're doing it in an open format now. You're going to get filibusters. You're going to get speeches. You're going to get all kinds of things. What we want is the facts.

And the way you get the facts, in every single investigation I've been involved in, is you bring people in for an interview, behind closed doors where you can get those facts. And then, as the chairman said, we'd love for him to come public.

Finally, I would say this. Mr. Biden's counsel and the White House have both argued that the reason he couldn't come for a deposition was because there wasn't a formal vote for an impeachment inquiry. Well, that's going to happen in a few hours.

We think it's going to pass. We think the House of Representatives will go on record with the power that solely resides in the House to say we are in an official impeachment inquiry phase of our oversight. And when that happens, we'll see what their excuse is then.

They should have been here today. But once we take that vote, we expect him to come in for his interview, for his deposition. And, frankly, we'll also, I think, look at contempt proceedings as we move forward.

With that, we'll take your questions.

REPORTER: Why not just call this bluff? I mean, he's here and he's obviously not wanting to sit for a deposition. This could be one chance to get to hear from him. Why not just call his bluff and see if he's willing to sit?

JORDAN: Because it was the way you do investigations, it was the way you're not. Everyone I've been involved with, from clear back to the IRS targeting conservatives, to Benghazi, to the impeachment, everyone, you do it in a way where they come in for private -- this is what the Democrats did. Don Jr. had to testify twice in a deposition setting. Two different committees, but, oh, somehow it doesn't apply to the Biden family? That's not how it works in our country. It's supposed to be equal treatment, the same treatment under the law.

REPORTER: Mr. Biden said that his father had no involvement in his business dealings, period. How do you respond?

JORDAN: That's not what Devon Archer said. There was telephone -- phone calls, meetings, dinners, you name it. We know what happened with Burisma in Ukraine in that December 4th through December 9th timeframe, where Joe Biden goes and leverages conditions that the American tax money on the firing of the prosecutor who was looking into the executives of the very company Hunter Biden was on the board of. We know those facts.

COMER: Remember, Joe Biden said he never met with any of these people or talked to these people. That was the narrative before we began this investigation. Now, we know he met with and talked to every single one of them. So, the President hasn't been honest about his associations with these people who have been wiring millions and millions of dollars to Hunter Biden and the Biden family.

Look, I think every American has a simple question. What did the Bidens do to receive the tens of millions of dollars from our enemies around the world? That's a simple question.

REPORTER: But, Chairman Comer, do you acknowledge that you have an answer to that question you found no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal conduct?

COMER: We found some very serious evidence that you look -- no, no, no, no, no, the checks. There's two checks to Joe Biden from his brother that the money to give Joe Biden was through influence- peddling. One was through the America -- you had to --

REPORTER: Those checks that you shared with our reporters were loan repayments that we all saw.

REPORTER: They're the loan documents.

REPORTER: We showed you the loan documents.

COMER: You don't understand loan documents. I do, okay? If I wrote you -- if you pay me back $240,000 for a loan repayment, I should have a check going to you for $240,000.

REPORTER: So, you're accusing Joe Biden's attorneys of inventing --

COMER: The law firm that represented all the shell companies, that represented all the shell companies.

REPORTER: You think those lawyers have --

COMER: What do you think? You're defending them. I mean, you're an activist and criminal defense attorney.

REPORTER: That's just a very serious crime to --

COMER: Are you positive that that money came from Joe Biden?

Look, we have a lot of questions. Next question.

REPORTER: Are you going forward with contempt?

COMER: I'll let you.

JORDAN: With the process, you have to follow, you have to file a report. So, we will begin looking at that, both lawyers for the Oversight Committee, lawyers for the Judiciary Committee will move in that direction. But, look, when Congress asked you to come, you're supposed to come and testify.

REPORTER: Devon Archer testified -- COMER: Last thing, we also found checks from one of Hunter Biden's shell companies that were going into an account for Joe Biden. But they said that was a loan repayment. Everything is a loan repayment. Hunter Biden will have an opportunity in deposition to come in and explain this.

REPORTER: But, Chairman, that is memorialized in emails that you guys leaked from Hunter Biden's laptop. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to have asked Hunter Biden about (INAUDIBLE) violations, sex trafficking women across state lines.

JODAN: Thank you all very much. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would have been a good question. You don't seem to care about that.

BOLDUAN: When Congress asks you to come testify, you are supposed to come testify. When Congress asks you to, you're supposed to come testify, that from the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan also defied a subpoena himself coming from the January 6th congressional committee.

We're going to have Adam Kinzinger on a little later in the show, and he can speak directly to that.

[10:20:01]

But you're hearing there Republicans responding to Hunter Biden.

Let me bring back in Norm Eisen. So, Norm, what we're seeing now is a lot of public statements, and this fight is going to continue. I just heard in Chairman Comer said we've got piles of questions and documents in there, even going as far to say, I think we're going to get you in there to see it. Where does this -- where do you think this goes next?

EISEN: Well, Chairman Comer, Chairman Jordan, got some pretty tough questioning from the press. They were not able to answer this key question, Kate.

In all of those piles of bank statements and financial records, where is the connection of Joe Biden to any of the alleged wrongdoing? There has been no financial connection. They talked about the loans, but those were documented transactions. They've criticized this Burisma matter that we were talking about.

But that is just wrong, Kate. That has been looked at for years, and the request to fire that prosecutor, that Chairman Jordan was talking about, came from the European Union and the United States of America. Are we now to suppose that Hunter Biden influenced the European Union to do that? Come on.

So, as a legal matter, two quick points, number one, there's no predicate. It's a low bar, but there has to be some factual predicate. They're not impeaching Hunter Biden. They're impeaching Joe Biden. They haven't met that legal standard.

And, number two, this is just what you and I were talking about when their press availability began. You heard them backpedaling a little bit on whether they're going to go immediately to contempt for Hunter. That's because they made an offer. He made a counteroffer. He showed up. Legally, that's known as the accommodation process. As long as Hunter is attempting to negotiate, very tough to get a court to enforce contempt, so the story will continue.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Norm, thank you so much for sticking around and walking us through this. You've got more experience in all of these goings on in these negotiations than a lot of folks.

So, clearly a lot going on, let's see who makes the next move and what happens next on Capitol Hill.

Hunter Biden responding as the impeachment inquiry looks like it's about to be formalized with a vote today on the House floor from House Republicans.

We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

SIDNER: This morning, the battle for abortion access is intensifying. The Supreme Court says it will consider whether to restrict one of the most widely used abortion drugs, even in states where the procedure is still allowed.

It comes as states like Arizona consider reverting to a near total ban, which dates all the way back to 1864 or upholding the 15-week ban that went into effect last year. Two other state Supreme Courts, New Mexico and Wyoming, also are preparing to weigh the issue.

The subsequent state laws after the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade had a direct and, in some cases, immediate impact on many women, including our next guest.

With me now to discuss all of this is Allie Phillips. She's a Democratic candidate for office in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Your decision to run for office is extremely personal. A law in her state prevented her from receiving a life-saving abortion. So, she was forced to spend thousands of dollars and go outside of her state in her case. First of all, thank you so much for coming and telling your story.

Can you tell me what happened when you became pregnant with your second child?

ALLIE PHILLIPS (D), CANDIDATE FOR TENNESSEE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on this morning. My husband and I, we wanted to expand our family, so we were excited to find out we were pregnant November last year, and everything was going fine up until our routine anatomy scan in late February this year.

I was just about 19 weeks pregnant. And we got the news that no parent really wants to hear. Our daughter, we were going to name her Miley Rose, we found out she had multiple fatal fetal anomalies to the point that she was deemed incompatible with life outside the womb and inside the womb.

And knowing that Tennessee had made that trigger ban into effect just the year before, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get care in Tennessee. But still I asked my doctor, what are my options? And she said I could get an abortion, but I would have to look out of state due to Tennessee's ban, or I could continue my pregnancy and put myself at risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, or if she did survive birth, she'd be put into hospice care to pass shortly after.

But the longer I stayed pregnant, the worse my daughter's body was going to get and the higher risk my health was going to become. And since I have a daughter already here, it didn't make much sense to risk my life when my unborn daughter wasn't going to make it anyways.

SIDNER: So, at some point, I was reading that you met with your state representative as you're going through this, Jeff Burkhart, to ask him for help in creating legislation to try to prevent this from happening to another woman going through this terrible time, extremely emotional, devastating. How did how did he respond?

[10:30:00]

PHILLIPS: About like you would think a pro-life Republican man would.