martha is next. >> martha: i'm martha maccallum. it has been an action-packed day on the hill since the early hours of this morning. we're now awaiting a house vote that would officially trigger an impeachment inquiry in to president biden. >> this stupid investigation is keeping us from getting any real work done for the people of america. >> you have a politician that does certain things, the actions benefit his family financially and there's an effort to sweep it under the rug. >> why does the maga ring want this political stunt? donald trump. >> joe biden, you participated in and benefitted from his family cashing in on the biden name around the world. >> martha: that is ongoing live at this hour. those accusations of cashing in include hunter biden. this is hunter biden earlier this morning. he was supposed to be sitting for a closed-door deposition today with the committee. he rolled up to capitol hill, got out, stood in front of a podium, gave a speech and got back in the car and went home. >> i was extremely irresponsible with my finances during my addiction. to suggest it's grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. it's shameless. there's no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen. >> martha: lots to unpack there. peter doocy trying to get answers from the president himself. watch this. >> president, peter, we're going to keep moving. >> are you worried about being impeach? >> martha: i think we're going to make our way out. let's bring in ari fleischer, james freeman, assistant editor of the "wall street journal" editorial page. they're fox news contributors. the briefing is ongoing. if peter doocy gets a question in, we'll do back and find out what he has to say. james and ari, great to have you with us today. just going back to the sound bite that we heard there from hunter biden. he says, you know, in the depths of my addiction -- i'm not quoting him exactly. this is the gist of it -- i made some errors. that's not grounds for an impeachment. those two things are not linked from what i can tell in this inquiry at all. so why would -- why did he say that? because i was addicted and made mistakes, you cannot impeach my father. that's not what is at issue here. >> it's a dodge and deflection. his father knew what he was doing, that he was tied to the business and that the e stood to gain 10% on one business transaction and that hunter biden complained that his father received significant amounts of money as a regular way of paying him to pay his bills. so that's the evidence that now needs to be inquired act. this is about his father. it's not about hunter and his drug addiction and spending on prostitutes. it's about ties to his father that lied when he denied knowing of his son's business transactions or being in business with his son. there's all kinds of pictures of his father meeting with his son's business partners. >> martha: so it has evolved dramatically the way that they have addressed this. initially when we covered the debate during the 2020 presidential elections, i remember clearly the president stood on the stage and said i have nothing to do with my son's business. he said this is ridiculous. i never had any involvement. then we heard he had not been in business with his son. in other words, my name is not on these deals. i'm not in business. today it got more specific. hunter biden said very clearly. hunter biden said my father was not involved in the business. he didn't act as an attorney or on the board of burisma, which we know that. what is the difference here, james, he's now making that detailed sort of limitation, putting parameters on it? wasn't financially involved? >> that might be a way of acknowledging what we know. the heart of this business is joe biden. doesn't work without joe biden cooperating. allowing hunter to come on air force 2 as they go to different places around the world to do business without allowing hunter to welcome guests and have the president schmooz them or contact them. we've seen e-mails with joe biden and the hunter biden business associates. so it looks like they're trying to finesse their way to, okay, maybe joe biden was the door opener, the enablers, the special sauce that made all of this money happen, but the money actually went in to someone else's account, hunter or one of the other hunter biden family. >> martha: we heard from devin archer that was financially involved in these deals when asked in the testimony, you know what were they selling? he said the brand was joe biden. it's very interesting to me, ari, the roots of this goes back to questions that were raised by the banks. they had 150 suspicious activity reports. they're watching this money come in from china. they're seeing where it's going. it's getting distributed to these shell companies. the banks raised the alarm on what was going on here initially, right? >> and his father denied he did business with china. now we have bank statements showing he made millions from china. so why lie? why would joe biden lie? why would hunter biden lie unless there's something there? that's what bothers me about their behavior here. and hunter biden today said that his information had been stolen from him. he's referring to his laptop, which he dropped off. he talked about editing and changes to what his partners have said. no, it was faithful testimony about what his partners said including in the case of devin archer. he claimed that joe biden got on a phone call with business partners to make an introduction. talked about the weather to hunter's business parters. >> martha: absolutely. i want to ask you guys a quick question before we go about the politics of this. there's indications that some republicans are not comfortable with this road they're going down. they might be voting for the inquiry. james, let's start with you. what does this do politically? >> the republicans say we need this vote. we need the authority to get documents to get information the bidens won't give us. hunter defying the subpoena, refusing to give a deposition. he seems to be basically confirming their case. practically inviting the house to go down this road. do they think this will end well for this? i don't see it. most people think that this -- this doesn't look better the more you learn about these deals. >> martha: so you think it's not a bad move. so strikes me there's other cases, it's like he came in there and gave an opening statement and then pled the fifth. i'm back in my car. i said what i want to say but i don't want anyone questioning me about these things, which is an interesting trick to pull off this morning. good plan or bad plan for these gop members? >> i think it was foolish by hunter biden today. he's bought his father an impeachment inquiry by his behavior today. >> martha: thanks, gentlemen. great to have you with us today. hunter biden also in that statement today hammered maga republicans. he blamed them for his problems, for what he said is a crusade to bring down his father, to bring down his family, to ridicule him and he said it was manipulated with evidence and lies. >> there is no fairness or decency in what these republicans are doing. they have lied over and over about every aspect of my personal and professional life. so much so that their lies have become the false facts believed by too many people. >> martha: republican congress woman nancy mace of the oversight committee would like the opportunity to question him. she will give her response next. there's an old saying in the navy that the toughest job in the navy is a navy wife. and if you've made the deployments and you've been the wife at home, or you've been the spouse at home, you understand what i'm talking about. your spouse has earned the right to apply for a va home loan. the newday 100 loan allows you to borrow up to 100% of your home's value. so if you're in a situation where you need some help financially, give us a call. with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ahh, -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein 30 grams protein, one gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients for immune health. (♪) i've struggled with generalized myasthenia gravis. but the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. >> the first briefing since hunter was indigited in los angeles. why doesn't the president pardon him? >> the president -- >> and in the last 24 hours, 10,000 illegal crossings at the border. would you admit the biden border policy so far has not worked? >> what i will say is that we have known for decades, for decades, that the immigration policy is -- the immigration system is broken. we've said that over and over again. that he's a been republican administration and democrat administration. that is not unheard of, that is what we have seen the past couple decades. the president has put forth an immigration, comprehensive immigration policy, legislation, on his first day to deal with this issue. republicans refuse. they refuse to deal with this issue. it's been three years since he put forth that legislation. so we're going to do what we can do from here, but we have said this is something that needs to be dealt with in a bipartisan way. in a bipartisan way. >> about 1,000 of these illegal border crossers every day are getting away to parts unknown in the u.s. does the president think that is a national security risk? >> here's what i'll say. one of the ways that we have to look at this is what congressional republicans have refused to do. they have refused to support previous requests from the president. what they have asked to do hurts the issue, hurts the problem we're seeing at the border. they said no to border agents, no to new technology to fight fentanyl, said no to additional troops and they voted on eliminating 2,000 customs and border patrol agents. that's what republicans have done. the president is asking to do this in a bipartisan way, to find some compromise to deal with the issue that hasn't existed, existed for decades now. i'll take one more question. >> has there been -- >> martha: okay. karine jean-pierre talking about the border crisis that is going on. essentially her answer is that the white house has pushed for more people, more money, more resources to process people at the border. but she did not allow that they have proposed or the president has proposed a plan to keep people from coming in to the country or to create a barrier that would prevent the numbers that we see crossing. that's where you see the two sides very much add odds over this issue. so back to the hunter biden part of the story today. he showed up on capitol hill, told his side of the story in front of a microphone and podium and his own sort of structure ability to speak to the press and then he hopped in his car and left. they were expecting to talk to him behind closed doors. they insisted that they wanted the closed door deposition, which is typically what comes before the hearing that you might see on tv. that's been the process for a long time. he didn't want to do that. he wanted to make his case straight to the media and not be underquestioning. watch this. >> for six years, maga republicans, including members of the house committees that are in a closed door session right now, have impugned my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family and my friends. they have ridiculed my struggle with addiction, they belittled my recovery and they have tried to dehumanize me all to embarrass and damage my father who has devoted his entire public life to service. for six years i have been the target of the unrelented trump attack machine shouting where's hunter? here's my answer. i am here. let me state as clearly as i can, my father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of burisma, not in my partnership with the chinese private business man, not in my investments at home for abroad. certainly not as an artist. >> martha: certainly not as an artist. notice he said his father was not financially involved. more on that with nancy mace and sol wisenberg. we'll ask him about the legal merits here and the way that hunter biden handled this situation this morning. first though let's go to mark meredith who joins us live with the very latest from the white house. hi, mark. >> good afternoon to you. you're right. hunter biden jumped in to the spotlight this morning the comments on capitol hill. he did not testify under oath before lawmakers as we expected for that to happen. what will be next? that's the question the white house has faced. we broke in to tell you about peter. before that happened a few moments ago, the white house gave its most direct response to what hunter had to say. take a listen. >> look, younow, the president was familiar with what his son was going to say. i think what you saw is from the heart from his son. and you heard me say this, you heard the president say this when it comes to the president, the first lady, they're proud of him continuing to rebuild his life. they're proud of their son. >> so what we have heard from the press secretary, what about the president's reaction. we have not heard from the president on this matter. my colleague, peter doocy, tried to get the president to weigh-in. take a listen now. >> did you watch hunter this morning, mr. president? >> so the president not responding to peter's question there. what is clear is this issue won't go away for the first son but politically for the president who has we know is up for re-election next year axios says no issue will anger or sadden president biden than attacks on his son according to people close to the president when there's bad news about hunter. will we see this dominate the headlines going forward or will the white house shift the strategy over the holiday weeks ahead. we also heard from the press secretary that the president was familiar with what hunter biden was going to say before the cameras. the white house not saying the president went through it line by line. we have still yet to hear whether or not he watched it on television. martha? >> martha: thanks, mark. so let's bring in a member of the house oversight committee, south carolina republican nancy mace. congress woman, good to have you with us today. >> good afternoon. >> martha: when you watched that this morning and saw that you were not going to get an opportunity to ask any questions that he was on the hill only to make his own statement and not be questioned, what went through your mind? what do you think about that? >> well, what he said, we impugned his character. the only person that has impugned hunter biden's character is hunter biden himself. he accused us of lying. the only people that have been lying throughout this whole thing, this whole episode has been hunter biden, joe biden and the joe biden white house. you know, i was just stunned to see my colleagues this morning, democrats on the left, who enforce subpoenas against republicans in present years therefore going forward today and defending defying a subpoena today because the guys last name was biden. all i see are hypocrites on the hill. i'm one of the few republicans up here who have holded to hold republicans in contempt when they don't follow-through with a subpoena. all i'm seeing is hypocrisy and lies today. >> martha: watch this. >> this goes on for hour after hour after hour. we want to get all of our questions answered and you can't do that in a live format. >> martha: you know, it's clear that there's a lack of consistency here, congress woman. >> absolutely. >> martha: i want to play this. take a look. this is what hunter biden said about -- there's -- you know, the focus on addiction and on ridicule, i'm trying to figure out where that fits in with the investigation that you all are doing. i think everyone is sympathetic to family members. i don't know what the connection is between the millions of dollars made by these foreign entities and the fact that hunter biden said this in an e-mail. he said "i can tell you -- excuse me. he basically says i hope you don't have to do what i did and -- hope you can do what i did he said to his daughter and pay for everything, for this entire family for 30 years. it's really hard. don't worry. unlike pop, i won't make you give me half your salary. >> right. i was going to mention it, martha. he tells us in his e-mails and texts how joe biden benefitted and profited from hunter biden's businesses. we know that joe biden was involved. he was at dinner meetings, lunch meetings, oval office meetings when he was vice president, et cetera. he was fully involved here. it's lies and we're seeing it over and over and over again. he needs to come in. what is telling to me is that there's a process. you're supposed to be deposed. when the left had trump family members, multiple trump family members hours and hours and hours over 24 hours of depositions, that was okay then. but because his last name is biden, we can't do that now. we can't follow the law or follow precedent because his last name is biden. that's wrong. >> martha: nancy mace, thanks. good to have you with us today. >> thank you. >> martha: let's bring in sol wisenberg, former deputy independent counsel during the investigation of president clinton and a fox news contributor. sol, very good to have you with us today. top line, i want your reaction to how hunter and his team, his attorney, how they handled this thing this morning when this committee expected them to show up and answer questions behind closed doors. he made what amounted to a huge opening statement and high-tailed it out of there. >> yeah, he kind of did what lois learner did when the irs was being investigated. but the difference is, she did that in a committee hearing. she said it and then she invoked the fifth amendment and walked out. actually, that's what i pected hunter to do, something like that. what really is important here is there is no legal defense for his position. he's been properly subpoenaed to a closed-door deposition. he has to appear. so it's vitally important that the full household him in contempt and send it to the department of justice. this settle is absolutely no different than steve bannon who as you know was held in contempt and was referred to the department of justice and was indicted by the department of justice. in fact, his position is weaker than steve bannon because steve bannon had an opportunity telling him you don't have to go under the law. you don't even have to go and show up. now, as it turned out, other people disagreed with that. here's there's no legal defense to this. so if that subpoena is going to be taken seriously, if the rule of law is going to be taken seriously, congress must act, must hold him in contempt and must send it to the department of justice. of course, that means sending it to u.s. attorney for d.c. matthew graves. you remember him. he's the one that refused to partner with david weiss in the investigation of hunter biden. >> martha: yeah, there's a lot of questions for david weiss and for the handling of all of this. we know that the two long-time irs employees that became whistle-blowers in this said this case was handled in a way that they had never seen before, they were pushed off of it, asked to put it on the back burner when they got anything close to the president or his property. very interesting the words that he chose. hunter biden talked about his father not having any financial involvement in his business dealings. let's play this. i want to hear what you thought about it. >> let me state as clearly as i can, my father was not financially involved in my business. >> martha: so he went on to say he wasn't an