‘Excuse Me, What Did You Say?’ Eric Swalwell Asked James Comer If He’d Release Hunter Biden Transcript ‘In English or Russian’
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) took a shot at House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer during Hunter Biden’s deposition on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the committee released the transcript as part of its ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden and his father President Joe Biden. House Republicans allege that the elder Biden was mixed up in his son’s business ventures – a charge the Bidens deny. Nevertheless, the GOP-controlled House has been proceeding with a formal impeachment inquiry into the president.
The inquiry took a hit earlier this month when a former FBI informant – whose claims Republicans touted as damning evidence against the president – was indicted for lying to the feds. Alexander Smirnov said Joe Biden and Hunter Biden each received $5 million as a payola from a Ukrainian energy company on whose board the younger Biden sat. According to the Department of Justice, Smirnov said the bribery claims were proliferated by “officials associated with Russian intelligence.”
Shortly after the Oversight Committee convened for Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition on Wednesday, Swalwell and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) quibbled with Comer about when the transcript would be released. During the exchange, Comer informed Swalwell, “I don’t care what your question is” and Swalwell asked the chair whether he would be releasing the transcript “in English or Russian.” The quip irked an aide for Comer:
SWALWELL: Hey, Chairman, about that, parliamentary inquiry, when are you going to release this transcript?
COMER AIDE [NAME REDACTED]: I’m going to get to that in one moment, sir.
SWALWELL: I’m asking the chairman, not you. Chairman Comer, when are you going to release the transcript on this?
COMER: We’re conducting the deposition.
SWALWELL: Yeah, but you’ve got 91 of them buried and —
COMER: I don’t care what your question is.
NADLER: Well, I care what his question is. When are you going to release the transcript? There are 91 transcripts that haven’t been released yet.
COMER: We will release the deposition — the transcripts like we always do when we agree to release the deposition, the transcripts.
SWALWELL: Shouldn’t the witness know?
COMER: Yeah, we want to put the transcript out within a day.
NADLER: Within a day? Very good. Thank you.
COMER: We’ll do our best, yeah.
SWALWELL: In English or Russian?
COMER AIDE: Excuse me? What’d you say?
COMER: We’ve already answered the question, Eric, and we’re not going to tolerate outbursts like we had the last time.
NADLER: He said within a day. That’s fine.
Based on the transcript, Swalwell appeared to enjoy himself during the deposition. Elsewhere during the proceedings, he asked Hunter Biden a series of questions whose unflattering answers did not apply to Joe Biden, but to former President Donald Trump.
