On Wednesday, Hunter Biden testified before two GOP-led House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition that his father was not involved in his various business deals.

In a copy of his opening statement, Hunter Biden said his father was never involved in his business: “I am here today to provide the committees with the one incontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.”

The two House committees have alleged that the Biden family, including the president, financially benefitted from Hunter Biden’s business dealing overseas, despite having direct evidence. The committees subpoenaed Hunter Biden and threatening him with contempt of Congress when he at first refused to testify in private, while he said he preferred to testify in public instead. After negotiations, Biden agreed to the private deposition voluntarily, arguing that his testimony was a “critical component” of their impeachment inquiry, which has centered around allegations that the president profited off of his family members’ foreign business dealings while he was vice president.

Hunter Biden said in his prepared statement: “For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face. You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any.” While Biden acknowledged he “squandered” opportunities afforded him during his addiction, he said that those “shortcomings are my own and not my father’s.”

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