“Thanks to his father’s pardon, Hunter Biden has waived his Fifth Amendment protections,” Biggs wrote on X on Tuesday. “I look forward to bringing Hunter back in to [the House Judiciary Committee] — under oath — to get some real answers from him. He can run from the truth, [but] he can’t hide forever.”
President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son spelled the end of immediate legal troubles for him — but it has a catch. The flipside to the pardon is a change in rules that could spell trouble for Hunter Biden. Given he can’t be prosecuted for crimes over the past 11 years, he can no longer claim his Fifth Amendment protections to avoid answering questions by Congress or a grand jury, legal experts say.
A testimony from him without Fifth Amendment protections could prove damning to his close associates and even possibly the president. If he defies attempts at questioning, he could face criminal charges.
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Several Republicans and lawyers had raised the prospect, but this appears to be the first time a lawmaker has pledged to follow through with it.
On Sunday night, Joe Biden announced a “full and unconditional pardon” for Hunter Biden on all “offenses against the United States, which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in” over an 11-year period. The pardon was unique for its sweeping nature, the kind which hadn’t been seen since President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. It also came after the president repeatedly said he wouldn’t pardon his son.