In testimony, Hunter Biden calls GOP impeachment inquiry a 'charade' based on 'MAGA-motivated conspiracies'

WASHINGTON — During a highly anticipated hourslong closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Hunter Biden and his legal teamdisputed claims by House Republicans that President Joe Biden was involved in his son's business dealings.

After the deposition, Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell said Republicans focused part of their questioning on his addiction, which the first family has openly discussed.

"It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client's addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry," Lowell told reporters, adding that Biden's more than six hours of testimony did not produce evidence to support Republicans' claims.

The deposition was conducted by the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, two GOP-controlled panels that have been leading an impeachment inquiry into the president.

The deposition at times became "heated," and there were some "kerfuffles" between Republicans and Democrats regarding interruptions during lines of questioning, according to sources familiar with the deposition.

"I am here today to provide the Committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business," Biden said in his prepared opening statement. "Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never."

In his opening remarks, Biden also sharply criticized the Republican-led inquiry as a "baseless and destructive political charade" based on "MAGA-motivated conspiracies."

"For more than a year, your committees have