In a recent reply to a push from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) for the president’s son Hunter Biden to participate in a public hearing later this month, the younger Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell pushed instead for investigative focus on Jared Kushner.
Kushner is the close relative of Donald Trump whose investment operation led after leaving Trump’s presidential employ received billions of dollars from a Saudi fund led by the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This figure is the same high-ranking official from the country connected by many to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Some have questioned if the Saudi money supporting Kushner’s business represented some kind of positive payback for work done by the Trump relative in power, where Kushner was part of steering the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
Lowell, in his letter, quoted a portion of the transcript from Hunter Biden’s recent hours-long deposition in Congress in which Comer appeared to indicate a willingness to ask questions about Kushner. “When we’ll deal with influence peddling, we’ll ask,” Comer said in the deposition. (Kushner also came up in that earlier context, with even Hunter himself reminding his questioners of the questions surrounding Kushner.)
“It was you, Mr. Comer, who said that,” Lowell wrote. “If you are serious about pursuing this oversight purpose in a legitimate and bipartisan fashion, you would hold a hearing with relatives of former President Trump about whom you indicated you “would ask.” If you do, Mr. Biden would consider an invitation for that event.”
For now, Lowell also cited a scheduling conflict demanding that both he and Hunter be in court across the country (literally — in California) the day after Comer’s sought public hearing. Lowell also more broadly questioned the underlying investigation’s continuance at all. It’s an impeachment probe targeting the president in which Republicans have tried connecting the older Biden to alleged corruption in business involving Hunter, who said during his Congressional deposition that the president was not involved in his business activities.
