House Republican Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on Wednesday pledged the House GOP would move forward with its efforts to hold Hunter Biden in criminal contempt of Congress if the president’s son reverses course on his new openness to testify behind closed doors. 

It comes one day after the GOP in the lower chamber hit pause on proceeding with a full House contempt vote to allow fresh talks on setting up a closed-door deposition play out.  

What You Need To Know

  • House Republican Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on Wednesday pledged the House GOP would move forward with its efforts to hold Hunter Biden in criminal contempt of Congress if the president’s son reverses course on his new openness to testify behind closed doors 
  • It comes one day after the GOP in the lower chamber hit pause on proceeding with a full House contempt vote to allow fresh talks on setting up a closed-door deposition play out 
  • On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee punted consideration of two resolutions to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress – the next step in allowing the full House to vote on the matter

“If Hunter Biden tries to delay or pull another PR stunt, we can and will move forward with holding him in contempt,” Emmer said during a House GOP leadership news conference Wednesday. 

“If he does go back on his word to appear for a closed-door deposition, the full House will vote to remind him that no one, not even the president’s son, is above the law,” he added. 

As recently as Friday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said the House would hold a floor vote in the full chamber this week.  

But on Tuesday, the House Rules Committee punted consideration of two resolutions to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress – the next step in allowing the full House to vote on the matter – with House Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., citing new, ongoing conversations between House committees and Hunter Biden’s attorneys. 

"I understand that conversations between Mr. Biden's attorneys and the Oversight and Judiciary committees are ongoing and we will not meet tonight on this matter while discussions about his compliance remain open," Cole said during the hearing.

“Should those conversations not prove successful, the Rules Committee may reconvene this week to consider those reports,” he added. 

The new developments come days after Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, notified House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., that the younger Biden would be willing to testify privately if a new subpoena were issued, arguing the summonses from November were not legitimate because they were issued before the full House authorized the impeachment inquiry.

Jordan and Comer over the weekend announced in a letter to Lowell that they would issue a new subpoena soon. 

Hunter Biden’s openness to the closed-door deposition marked a shift from his previous insistence that he would only take questions publicly. Late last year, the president’s son reiterated that point during a press conference outside the Capitol on the day the House GOP asked him to take questions behind closed doors. 

Last week, the House Judiciary and Oversight committees voted to recommend that the full House hold the president’s son in contempt of Congress. Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to Capitol Hill during the hearing. 

Last year, House Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with much of the investigation focused on potential links between the president and his son's foreign business dealings. They have claimed to have substantial evidence but to date have produced no solid proof that the president profited from his son’s business deals or that Hunter Biden’s professional interests influenced the elder Biden’s actions in office.

President Biden has repeatedly denied having any involvement in or knowledge about his son's business affairs. 

Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report