Democrats have arranged for Lev Parnas, a former aide to Rudy Guiliani who was convicted, to be their witness at a Republican-led hearing on Wednesday to examine Hunter Biden's financial activities during his absence.
Parnas is the most recent addition to an unusual group of witnesses after Biden chose not to attend a House Oversight Committee hearing called “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office.” He is set to appear in court in California the next day for his case related to not paying taxes.
Republicans have gathered two witnesses who are likely to be hostile towards Biden: his short-lived business associate Tony Bobulinski, who Biden has requested an investigation into, and Jason Galanis, who is currently in prison and who Biden says he has met once.
Devon Archer, Biden’s former business partner who was indicted alongside Galanis and convicted, declined an invitation to appear.
Democrats view Parnas as a contrast to Bobulinski and Galanis, as he was previously involved in Trump's circle but has since spoken out about his involvement with Guiliani. Parnas now says he was never able to find any negative information on the Bidens while tasked with investigating the matter in Ukraine, and accuses the Trump team of spreading false information.
A source from the Oversight Committee Democrats stated, “Parnas will be able to share firsthand evidence about Donald Trump and Republicans’ efforts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and their willingness to promote any source no matter the credibility, from corrupt former Ukrainian officials to crooks and Russian agents.”
“The lies may change but the playbook remains the same. Republicans will exploit any lie from any source to attack Joe Biden and help Trump, even a Russian or Chinese agent, a discredited business partner, or a serial fraudster.”
Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes and was released in September.
In the intervening months he’s been critical of Republicans for pushing the narrative that the president took any action in Ukraine to benefit his son.
“Throughout all these months of work, the extensive campaigns and networking done by Trump allies and Giuliani associates, including the enormously thorough interviews and assignments that I undertook, there has never been any evidence that Hunter or Joe Biden committed any crimes related to Ukrainian politics,” Parnas said in a July letter encouraging the GOP to drop their investigation into the Biden family.
He said Giuliani and all others involved in the matter “knew that these allegations against the Bidens were false.”
“Never, during any of my communications with Ukrainian officials or connections to Burisma, did any of them confirm or provide concrete facts linking the Bidens to illegal activities. In fact, they asked me multiple times why our team was so concerned with this idea,” he wrote.
Parnas will be appearing alongside Bobulinski, who had a short-lived business relationship with Biden. The two briefly worked together on a venture with a Chinese energy company, though Bobulinski does not appear to have been a major player in the deal. Still, he has suggested an email chain he was on referencing “the big guy” was a nod to the president.
Bobulinski was later asked to join the presidential debates by former President Trump and is represented by Stefan Passantino, who represented several Trump administration officials before the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee.
Biden, through his lawyer, has called for an investigation into Bobulinski, including whether he lied to the FBI.
Galanis will appear remotely from a federal prison in Alabama, where he is serving time for his role in two fraud schemes, including one defrauding a tribe.
Galanis was indicted in the schemes alongside Archer.
It’s not clear to which extent Galanis has any insight into Biden’s activities, though he told the Oversight Committee that he once witnessed Biden put his father on speakerphone while at a meeting with business associates.
Biden in his own closed-door deposition said he hardly knows Galanis.
“I think that 10 years ago, for 30 minutes, I was introduced to Jason Galanis, and that’s only ― the only time I ever recall meeting him,” Biden told lawmakers.
Archer declined an invitation for the hearing, with his attorney telling GOP staff they simply did not give enough notice, apparently failing to send along the March 6 hearing invitation when it was first announced.
“I write in response to your end-of-day e-mail from Friday, which asks whether Mr. Archer ‘intends to appear at the hearing on Wednesday.’ The answer is no, Mr. Archer and I are not available to meet on Wednesday; Mr. Archer is out of state and not even in this time zone at the moment,” his attorney wrote Monday in a letter obtained by The Hill.
“Providing such short notice for a witness’s public appearance before the Committee on a matter of national importance is patently unreasonable.”
Biden’s attorney likewise complained of timelines when the hearing was announced, saying that Republicans did not reach out to inquire about his availability before scheduling the hearing.
“I must confess my surprise by your hasty request. After that six-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024, along with the realization that your inquiry was based on a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars and a charged Russian spy, I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead,” Abbe Lowell wrote, nodding to Biden’s closed-door testimony last month.
“Even before Mr. Biden testified, witness after witness undermined the central premise of your partisan charade. President Biden has done nothing wrong and certainly nothing, even in your misapplication of the impeachment provisions of the Constitution, to warrant further proceedings.”
