defiant and angry, hunter biden on capitol hill and the president's son is not holding back ignoring a subpoena from congress calling for the impeachment inquiry into his father shameless and sing republicans are going after him only to embarrass and damage his father. plus, the supreme court will weigh in on a keith abortion pill. a decision that could guarantee access to the drug -- or ended even in states where the procedure is still alive. a deal to save the climate, an unprecedented call to move away from fossil fuels but, there is a catch. we are following these developing stories and more coming into cnn news central. thank you for joining us this afternoon. today, house republicans are set to formalize an impeachment inquiry into president joe biden. this morning, the man at the center of it all, hunter biden, called them out just steps outside the capitol, facing a deadline to comply with the congressional subpoena, he offered to testify but buckley. republican makers are demanding a closed-door interview first. in his remarks, he singled out some of the republicans for what he says is an absurd rope. >> in the depths of my addiction, i was extremely irresponsible with my finances. but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond absurd. it is shameless. there is no evidence to support the allegations my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen. james comber, jim jordan, jason smith, and their colleagues have distorted the facts. republican leadership says contempt of congress is on the table but their first order of business hours away is a vote to formalize the biden impeachment inquiry. we are tracking this with -- and the cnn senior justice correspondent. how have republicans reacted on the hill and has it factored into the vote later today? >> they expect to have enough support to move forward with this impeachment inquiry regardless of what hunter biden decided to do today. we do expect contempt proceedings to happen probably stretching into the new year over hunter biden's decision to defy the congressional subpoena. thing, there is the impeachment inquiry into joe biden himself. in order to get this through, the speaker of the house needs to get a majority of the house to support this meaning he can only lose three republicans along party lines and at the moment, we expect him to have the votes in large part because multiple republicans are endangered republicans who had before had been concerned about voting to authorize an impeachment inquiry say they are in board to allow the investigation to go ahead even though when i caught up with several of them they may clear they are not yet there on actually charging the president with high crimes or misdemeanors saying there's a lot more evidence they need to gather. >> you sound like you are not sold yet on whether to actually support removing, charging and then removing a president from office. >> that is a different level, the inquiry is the beginning of it and worry end up will have to figure out when we get there but what we are talking now is an inquiry. >> i did not come to congress to expel a member of congress or impeach a president that i have a constitutional responsibly to provide oversight and accountability. >> do you think there is evidence he acted improperly to benefit his son? >> i do not dive into that piece of it. that is not what i guess gets me going on it. i look at the border and afghanistan as the things that really upset me and i would like to see that be included in the inquiry but it is too early to tell. >> a lot of the republicans simply say they have not seen evidence yet to show joe biden acted correctly to help his son's overseas business dealings. they need to see the evidence before they are willing to vote to impeach and that will be the challenge for speaker mike johnston. he said he is not made a decision about whether or not to move ahead and impeach joe biden over these issues but there are republicans that set for impeachment and that will be a challenge for mike johnson. how far do they go, do they decide to pull back in anyway. huge questions as they moved down this road that will take them into 2024. >> as you were speaking we are watching live video from the house for where jerry nadler is right now debating the premise of the impeachment inquiry where the house is set to vote leader tonight on the impeachment inquiry of joe biden. let's go to evan perez. republicans are set to initiate contempt proceeding for hunter biden. what are they saying and what happens next? >> the republicans are upset because hunter biden did not show up for the deposition that they said he was supposed to show up for at 9:30 this morning. instead, what we had was he kept them guessing right up to the minute he was supposed to appear and instead appeared over on the senate side just outside the capitol where he had the very extraordinary public statement he made it to the cameras where he really squarely took on the allegations . we have not heard from him much but we are now hearing from him a little more recently on more personal terms he talked about how republicans are essentially appetizing, marking his struggles with addictions but he also addressed the big question that republicans have been making. he says there is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen. that is of course, what republicans say they are still investigating, they are demanding or documents. they wanted him to come behind closed doors. he said he was prepared for a public hearing which is why he did that on the senate side of the capitol. we do not know what happens next. we know that republicans are threatening to hold him in contempt. that will be a drawnout process. in the meantime, hunter biden has real legal problems he has to show up in court in california where he is facing tax charges. he also has federal charges in delaware on a gun that he purchased. those are more real things for him to have to address in the coming months. all of this, of course, you know, is draped in the politics of it all because we have a campaign ongoing. that is what republicans are focused on and hunter biden says they are simply doing this to try to hurt the president and his campaign. >> if the impeachment inquiry is formalized, there is likely going to be another deadline and potentially another attempt to negotiate testimony? >> you can probably expect they will still try to say to hunter biden, you can come at any time and resolve this problem. i think that is exactly what to expect to see happen. the other thing that is happening behind the scenes is that republicans are going to be talking to white house counsel to try to get access to some of the documents they say they have been denied. the white house for its part says they have provided plenty of documents and republicans simply have no evidence for the allegations they are making. >> i'm going back to -- because we are learning more about the talks underway in the senate about the battle over immigration and ukraine, israel aid. it seems like there is movement on that front. >> this is a hugely significant issue. this negotiation over how to secure the border, changing immigration policies, the republicans say that it needs to be resolved before they agree to billions of dollars in emergency aid that president zelensky of ukraine came here yesterday to push for as well as aid for israel. we are hearing the white house has made major concessions to move toward a republican position for more restrictive policies including giving the president more authority to expel migrants at the border and they are moving according to republicans and democrats toward serious progress toward a deal. there is no -- he is not ready to sign off on this that he wants even more concessions from the white house. democrats, meanwhile, many are outraged at the concessions so far but this is a significant issue they are trying to resolve to move forward on this massive aid package as ukraine and israel wait for those resources. >> thank you for the reporting. let dig deeper, former nixon white house counsel john dean and cnn presidential historian -- great to see you both. what do republicans get by formalizing this inquiry with a vote, does it make a substantial difference from what they are doing right now? >> it really does not. what they are doing is abusing the process. i must say, i started my career as a counsel to the house judiciary committee which handles impeachment. very familiar, i have watched it for 60 years. i have never seen or abusive use of this process that they are totally politicizing with baseless charges to try to make it difficult for a president and to honor donald trump's request he be able to charge biden in next year is election with also having been impeached. that is what this is all about. >> i want to bring tim in on this. democrats say the impeachment inquiry is a fishing expedition as you know, republicans say it is a fact-finding mission. in essence, that means both sides agreed to probe thus far has not uncovered anything that reaches the threshold for impeachment. historically, has congress investigated a president in this manner before? >> congress has a constitutional obligation to engage in fact- finding. there is nothing surprising about that. it is when you turn it into an impeachment inquiry that historically, you are supposed to reach a different threshold. impeachment inquiries have to have some basis in alleged high crimes and misdemeanors by the federal official. right now, the investigation is about ask that joe biden is alleged to have done when he was vice president and when he was a candidate for president. he is neither of those things right now. the idea that you would use this constitutional provision, it is a serious one, to investigate activities why someone who is no longer in the federal position that interest you is, let us put it this way, is just as john said, an abuse of a constitutional weapon. we have never seen anything like this before. i think it matters that the house passes a resolution because, once you turn something into an impeachment inquiry, historically, you have more power to investigate. that we have not reached the threshold were such a resolution would be justifiable. >> i want to ask about hunter biden. i want to go to john on this. hunter biden was subpoenaed for a deposition. he showed up today just steps outside making a statement outside saying he is happy to do a public hearing. are the grounds here for a contempt referral to the department of justice here? >> i do not think there are for the following reason. what hunter is not willing to do is go to a closed session for he knows well that this committee has a history, the people behind the committee have a history of taking closed- door testimony, distorting it, licking it and portraying it as something it is not. if he has a public hearing, they cannot do that. if they have a public hearing, the thinness of their pursuit of a crime is going to be quite evident. i think he is very smart in doing what he is doing. i cannot envision that the department of justice would ever bring this to court will vote for contempt i am not sure i can even get a contempt citation on the floor of the house from somebody like jim jordan who is, himself still in defiance of a january 6 committee hearing subpoena. >> john, if he were to testify in some form to the house, do you think his answers might factor into his criminal cases? >> they could. he is not going to, if they go into his tax and other problems his gun registration problem, they will obviously be trying to influence his case. he might be forced to take the fifth, he does not have to come up to congress and testified about that. it has been the tradition cannot force people to go to capitol hill to take the fifth amendment. if they say, if their lawyer says they're going to do it, you do not come up and try to embarrass them. if they do that, they are really trying to influence his the middle case. that could result in a judge saying listen, you cannot have one leg of the government doing one thing and the other leg doing something else. we treat the federal government as an entity in in an entirely so they had to be careful what they do with this. >> what about the irony here of jim jordan pushing for contempt of congress for hunter biden when he himself violated a congressional subpoena? >> of course, once again a sign to the american people that the rules do not seem to apply to everyone. one thing that is going to be interesting, is whether or not the committee, the digital committee will take a contempt citation to the floor. i am not sure that speaker johnson has enough votes actually to pass a contempt citation against hunter biden and hunter biden has offered to testify under oath before congress. it will be very interesting to see what, if anything the committee does wanted vote to hold him in contempt. >> okay, thank you so much. right here on your screen you are watching live pictures from the house. we will be right back. just in to cnn, we are monitoring the debate on the house floor right now. democratic congressman dan goldman of new york is giving his two cents on the potential impeachment inquiry vote of joe biden, west -- let's listen in. >> -- even though their supervisors have. just this morning, hunter biden showed up to the capitol ready to provide evidence. the republicans refused to take his testimony. how can you sit there saying you need more evidence when you prevent the central witness in the investigation from giving you evidence? what are you afraid of? i yelled back. >> members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair. gentleman from oklahoma is recognize. >> thank you very much. i yield one minute to my good friend this thing was gentleman from south carolina mr. -- >> gentleman from south carolina is recognize for one minute. >> americans have lost faith in the impartiality of the biden administration. we have ample evidence that the -- americans deserve to know the truth and congress has a duty to investigate. the question is simple, what did president joe biden know about his family , mental enterprises and went. that is the question. that is why the inquiry is necessary. we have already uncovered that the biden family missy 25 million dollars in payments from foreign adversaries. -- the vice president travels to the foreign country, vice president biden leverages u.s. influence to force favorable african -- the biden family and their fee. that is the scheme. the proof of concept with -- and they replicated it again and again. if president joe biden was complicit in our national security is. his administration stonewalling will the president repeatedly lies about his involvement. i believe the evidence we have uncovered thus far demands further investigation. this vote is the only logical next step. i urged a yes vote. back. gentleman from oklahoma reserves, the gentleman from massachusetts is recognize. >> yield one moment to the gentleman from florida. >> gentle lady from florida is recognize. >> rise to oppose this perverse, a legitimate effort to do donald trump's political dirty work. this resolution is nothing more than a extreme lyrical stunt based on zero evidence of political wrongdoing. it does prove that republicans are focused on the wrong parties. the resolution clearly has nothing to do with protecting the constitution from high crimes and misdemeanors. had we know? a year of investigation, piles of documents and a heard of republican witnesses confirmed there is zero evidence of wrongdoing. instead, the republicans wasteful witchhunt confirms that president joe biden is a good and humble man. what this resolution does is cover up a full year of do- nothing rebooking policies that ignored our family needs and neglected an array of global threat to democracy. worse, this resolution tries to obscure the corrupt and criminal acts of the former president and want to be dictator, former president donald trump. this extreme political stunt is built 16, twisted extra missing of house republicans and totally unmasks their complete absence of an agenda helping the american people. i urge a no vote on this resolution. >> the child from massachusetts reserves, jennifer and -- thank you mr. speaker, i yield to minutes to my good friend, the distinguished government -- mr. fry. >> gentleman from south carolina is recognized. >> i rise today in strong support of house resolution 918. this , house republicans have conducted a methodical investigation into the alleged action of the biden family including joe biden himself and his family foreign is next dealings and foreign paddling schemes. as a member of the house judiciary and oversight committees i can say our investigation has peeled back layer upon layer of biden family scandals and has exposed the safety nets designed to insulate the biden family and joe biden from impending accountability. there is an old legal saying mr. speaker that is you do not have the facts, you argue a lot if you do not have the law you argue the facts and if you have near, you pound the table. what we are seeing from the other side today is they want to talk about former president donald trump, they want to talk about january 6 and a perceived lack of transparency. they want to talk about how nothing is happening out in the open. let me assure you, we have done this for months, we have done more in 10 months then law enforcement agencies have done in five years. let's talk about the facts. $24 million have flowed to members of the biden family. 20 corporate entities. nine numbers of the biden family have received this money. a $40,000 direct payment to joe biden himself. a $200,000 direct payment to joe biden himself. we have messages, pseudonyms, fake email addresses and 22 meetings in which joe biden himself met with hunter biden and his business associates. we have been stonewalled, we have even seen us today as hunter biden paraded onto the senate side and did not come to a lawfully issued subpoena deposition in front of the house oversight committee. now is the time for impeachment inquiry. thank you. >> gentleman from oklahoma deserves. >> you are listening to the debate on the floor there at capitol hill from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing what they view from the democrats we have heard from say they're staunchly opposed to an impeachment inquiry investigation into joe biden and republicans saying they want to move forward. we know later today there is expected to be a vote formalizing this impeachment investigation into president joe biden. we will be right back. we are following breaking news at of california. these are images taken moments ago from 110 freeway in los angeles officers are beginning to take protesters into custody after about two dozen people walked onto the lanes and halted traffic in an effort to amplify their message calling for a permanent cease-fire in gaza during the israel war with hamas. we will continue to follow these images and bring you the latest. a short time ago, president joe biden met at the white house with the families of the americans kidnapped by hamas on october 7 and still being held in gaza. the white house says at least eight u.s. citizens are captive and all but one of them are men. this comes one day after the u.s. and israel were among 10 nations to oppose a united nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease- fire. >> are seeing? emerge between the two countries and public marks, president biden said israel is starting to lose global support over its quote indiscriminate bombing campaign in gaza. want to go to the white house now the cnn