Two House committees vote to advance Hunter Biden contempt proceedings hours after surprise visit

A pair of Republican-led House committees voted Wednesday evening to approve a report recommending a contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden for his failure to comply with a subpoena, hours after the president’s son made a surprise visit to Capitol Hill.

The resolution will next go to the House floor for a vote by the whole chamber. It’s not clear when that vote will be held.

In a surprising turn of events Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden made a short appearance right as House Republicans were starting their two committee meetings.

Both the House Oversight and House Judiciary committees, which subpoenaed the president’s son for his testimony as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, held separate markups of the contempt resolution.

READ: Text of Hunter Biden contempt resolution and report

On Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden entered the Oversight committee room, creating a tumultuous scene inside and outside the room as lawmakers debated what to do.

“You are the epitome of White privilege,” GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told Hunter Biden from her committee seat. “Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls.”

Biden and his lawyers sat down for around 10 minutes before departing.

The allegations at the core of the Republican-led investigation stem from unproven claims that the president was involved in or financially benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings, making the president’s son a crucial witness for their probe.

Hunter’s appearance was reminiscent of how he approached the subpoena last month. Instead of sitting