The initial impeachment hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee served as a review of evidence that Republicans have gathered so far about foreign business ventures by Biden's troubled son Hunter Biden, 53, which they say shows that Biden's family members were selling access.
"If Republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol they would be presenting it today. But they've got nothing," said Jamie Raskin, the panel's top Democrat. Democrats prominently displayed a clock counting down the minutes until midnight Saturday, when the U.S. government will enter its fourth partial shutdown in a decade if Congress fails to pass legislation to fund federal agencies.
A fourth witness, former Justice Department official Eileen O'Connor, said she thought the department had soft-pedaled a criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, who now faces gun charges after years of struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Numerous U.S. and foreign officials have said Biden was carrying out official policy to fight corruption in Ukraine.
Comer cited payment records from Chinese nationals to Hunter in 2019, listing Joe Biden's home address in Delaware as the beneficiary address. Republicans have not provided evidence that the elder Biden received the money.