Hunter Biden on Wednesday rejected a request from House Republicans to testify publicly at a hearing next week, with his attorney blasting the planned panel as a "circus act."
"Mr. Biden declines your invitation to this carnival side show," Abbe Lowell, an attorney for the president's son, said in a letter to House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.
Lowell’s letter said his client would consider testifying publicly before the committee if the panel also included “relatives of former President Trump.”
“If they schedule a legitimate hearing that includes Jared Kushner, Hunter will be there,” a source familiar with Hunter Biden’s legal strategy told NBC News.
Comer invited Biden to testify as part of his impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on March 20. Also requested to testify at the hearing are two former Hunter Biden business associates who've been convicted of fraud, and a third whom the younger Biden has called an "incompetent" and an "idiot."
In his letter, Lowell said his client could not attend because he's due in court in California the next day, but "the scheduling conflict is the least of the issues." He said the hearing is not "a proper proceeding but an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended," citing his client's over six hours of deposition testimony in which House Republicans did not identify evidence of a crime.
Lowell also noted that the Republican impeachment inquiry hit a roadblock when an FBI informant central to their probe was charged with lying to the bureau about the Bidens.
In a statement, Comer mocked Biden's response and said he still expected him to appear.
"Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come," Comer said, adding the hearing is moving forward.
Hunter Biden has not been subpoenaed to appear at the hearing, which Comer announced last week. The oversight chair said the hearing is titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office” and that he's invited former Hunter Biden business associates Jason Galanis, Devon Archer and Tony Bobulinski.
It's unclear which of the witnesses will actually appear. A spokesperson for the committee did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
Galanis is serving a 14-year prison sentence for two multimillion-dollar fraud schemes. Archer was convicted in connection with one of those schemes and has been sentenced to just over a year in prison, but has not yet begun serving his time.
Bobulinski and Hunter Biden, meanwhile, have repeatedly disparaged each other publicly. Bobulinski told the committee at a deposition last month that the only reason Biden was able to make millions from a variety of foreign sources was because his father was vice president at the time.
Hunter Biden testified before the committee behind closed doors last month, telling the panel that Bobulinski was a "bitter, bitter man" who has an axe to grind because he backed out of doing a business deal with him.
Hunter Biden, 54, also testified that the central allegation of the impeachment inquiry — that his father was involved with and profited from his business dealings — was baseless. “My father has never been involved in my business. I have never asked my father to be involved in my business. My father has never benefited from my business, and I have never asked anyone — or my father — to do anything for the benefit of anyone I’ve ever done business for,” he said, according to a transcript.
House Republicans have indicated that their support for the public hearing, and the impeachment inquiry overall, is waning, and they may pursue other avenues of investigation as a successful impeachment of the president looks increasingly unlikely.