By FARNOUSH AMIRI

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was defiant Wednesday in a closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill, blasting a Republican impeachment inquiry into his father and the family’s business affairs as a “house of cards” built on “lies” as he faced a battery of probing questions from lawmakers.

“For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” Hunter Biden said in an opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. He accused Republicans of trafficking in “innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism” and insisted, “I did not involve my father in my business.”

After the nearly seven-hour deposition wrapped, an attorney for the president’s son told reporters that during the testimony Republicans “produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father. Period.”

He added, “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.” The White House echoed their sentiments, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying its the probe is a “stunt” that has “dragged on for months and months.”

But GOP lawmakers remained undeterred by Hunter Biden and his counsel’s repudiation of their investigation. Rep. James Comer, one of the GOP chairmen leading the inquiry, came out late Wednesday to declare that it was a “great deposition,” and said it helped back several pieces of evidence they’ve gathered thus far.

“But there are also some contradictory statements that I think need further review,” the Kentucky Republican said, adding that the next forum for that will be a public hearing with Hunter Biden at a future date.

The deposition of President Joe Biden’s son marked a decisive point for the 14-month Republican investigation into the Biden family. The probe has centered on Hunter Biden and his overseas work for clients in Ukraine, China, Romania and other countries. Republicans have long questioned whether those business dealings involved corruption and influence peddling by President Biden, particularly when he was vice president.

Yet after conducting dozens of interviews and obtaining more than 100,000 pages of documents, Republicans have yet to produce direct evidence of misconduct by the president. Meanwhile, an FBI informant who alleged a bribery scheme involving the Bidens — a claim Republicans had cited repeatedly to justify their probe — is facing charges from federal prosecutors who accuse him of fabricating the story.

Many expected Hunter Biden, who is currently under federal investigation, to spend the duration of the deposition asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. But the 54-year-old facing an indictment on nine federal tax charges and a firearm charge in Delaware did not assert those rights a single time throughout the grueling, hourslong session.

Instead, the few Republicans who spoke to reporters Wednesday said that Hunter Biden provided testimony that was “defiant and dishonest.”

The majority of GOP lawmakers remained quiet as the deposition dragged into the afternoon, with Rep. Jim Jordan, the other Republican chairmen leading the inquiry, declining to answer reporters’ questions in the hallways. He cited the sensitivity of a private deposition and said the release of the public transcript would speak for itself.

Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary Committees came out several times to denounce the deposition, calling it an “embarrassing spectacle where the Republicans continued to belabor completely trivial points.”

“This thing is over. A referee would stop the fight if this was a boxing match. A coroner would pronounce this thing dead,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said about the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

He added that Hunter Biden had “leaned in” and had not been afraid to answer any of the questions. “In fact, he’s challenged a number of Republicans about their baseless theories,” Swalwell said.

The task of interviewing Hunter fell primarily to Comer and Jordan. They first subpoenaed Hunter Biden in November, demanding that he appear before lawmakers in a private setting. Biden and his attorneys refused, warning that his testimony could be selectively leaked and manipulated. They insisted that he would only testify in public.

On the day of the subpoena, Hunter Biden not only snubbed lawmakers waiting for him in a hearing room — he did so while appearing right outside the Capitol, holding a press conference where he denounced the investigation into his family.

Both sides ultimately agreed in January to a private deposition with a set of conditions. The interview with Hunter Biden was not filmed and Republicans have agreed to quickly release the transcript.

Hunter is the second member of the Biden family questioned by Republicans in recent days. They conducted a more than eight-hour interview last week with James Biden, the president’s brother. He insisted to lawmakers that Joe Biden has “never had any involvement,” financially or otherwise, in his business ventures.

Looming large over the interview are developments on the other side of the country in Nevada, where federal prosecutors this month indicted an FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who claimed there was a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the president, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company. Prosecutors in court documents assert that Smirnov has had “extensive and extremely recent” contact with people who are aligned with Russian intelligence.

Smirnov’s attorneys have said he is presumed innocent.

Republicans pressed the FBI last summer over the informant’s claims, demanding to see the underlying documents and ultimately releasing the unverified information to the public. The claim was cited repeatedly in letters that House Republicans sent to impeachment witnesses.

Many GOP lawmakers say they have yet to see evidence of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” required for impeachment, despite alleged efforts by members of the Biden family to leverage the last name into corporate paydays domestically and abroad.

But Comer and Jordan remain unmoved by the series of setbacks to their marquee investigation. Jordan, who is the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said last week that the informant’s indictment “does not change the fundamental facts” that the Biden family tried to benefit off the family name in several overseas businesses. And Comer told Fox News on Tuesday that Smirnov was never “a key part of this investigation.”

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden has no shortage of legal headaches off Capitol Hill as he faces criminal charges in two states from a special counsel investigation. He’s charged with firearm counts in Delaware, alleging he broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. Special counsel David Weiss filed additional charges late last year, alleging he failed to pay about $1.4 million in taxes over three years.

He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Darlene Superville and video journalists Nathan Ellgren and Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.