alert. >> we are tracking three major breaking stories tonight. now it is official, a formal impeachment inquiry into president biden has been approved by the us house of representatives. >> now we are now one step closer to accountability. pretty soon, biden could be the fourth president in american impeached by the house. meanwhile, good news for donald trump. >> this afternoon, a federal judge paused. the doj days witch hunt against trump pending a decision on the former president's immunity claims. and now democrats hope for a trial the day before super tuesday. that whole well isn't real jeopardy. we have a full report tonight straight ahead. but first, a sob story on capitol hill today. hunter biden wants you to know that he's a poor, helpless victim of what is a new, vast right-wing conspiracy and that neither he nor his father should ever be held accountable pretty much for anything. today, hunter was legally required to attend what is a closed door deposition inside the capitol complex as part of the ongoing corruption investigation against his father. instead, hunter stood outside, kind of cowardly, refusing to go in, defying a house subpoena and delivering one of the most, frankly, pathetic, unhinged rants of all time. this is worthy of your time. take a look. >> for six years maga republicans, including members ,the house committees who are in a closed door session session right now, have impugned my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family and my friends. for six years i have been a target of the unrelenting trump attack machine shouting where's hunter james colmer, jim jordan, jason smith and their colleagues have distorted the facts. 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 . all right. let us be very clear tonight. hunter is no martyr is facing felony charges over a major multi million dollar tax evasion scheme. he is facing more felony charges, gun crimes. he abandoned his own infant child until. an arkansas court forced hunter to take a paternity test. and according to the doj, he spent millions of dollars on drugs and and clothes and sports cars. instead of paying his taxes or supporting his family. so let's be clear the way hunter made millions of dollars is highly unusual, to say the least. i'm sure a lot of you out there would love to make millions and millions of dollars in some field of endeavor in which you have no experience at all. now, based on testimony about, quote, the biden brand, it appears that hunter was selling access and influence to his father, then vice president joe biden. this is a very key component of the gop's impeachment probe. and by the way, a deposition that is a standard legal tool used during these investigations. as a matter of fact, donald trump jr. he complied with five congressional subpoenas during the democrats witch hunts. now, trump's adult children, son in law, they faced hours upon hours of closed door sessions, members of congress. they showed up. meanwhile, two former senior trump staffers, steve bannon, peter navarro, they both defied congressional subpoenas. they were quickly prosecuted by the doj. bannon was sentenced to four months in prison. navarro has yet to be sentenced, but he could face up to two years behind bars. so now will garland, joe biden's attorney general, prosecute hunter biden, or will we see yet another blatant example of america's corrupt, two tiered system of justice? remember, 2021, president biden demanded criminal prosecutions for those that defy congressional subpoenas. he actually said it. >> let's listen in. thank you. goodbye. congressional subpoenas on the january six committee. i hope that the committee goes after them and hold them accountable. >> they were prosecuted by. i do, yes, he does think they should be prosecuted. >> so does biden stand by those remarks? do those remarks apply to his own son or if something changed and if hunter and joe have done nothing wrong, why didn't hunter show up and clear the air? earlier today, chairman colmer already granted hunter's for a public hearing. after the closed door deposition, as is, by the way, standard operating procedure again jr. was subpoenaed five separate times. he always complied. hunter biden. is he somehow above the law? well, it's just the latest chapter of the bidens families. unusual. in fact, we now have a new wrinkle. and what we are calling the evolution of a lie. the lie started with i never once talked to my son, my brother, or anybody for that matter, about the farm business deals. then it changed and it changed again. and it changed again and then it changed again today. take a look. if you're vice president, how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings? i've never spoken my son about it. >> in the period that the white house and the president still stand behind his comment that he's never been involved and has never even spoken to his son about his. so i've been i've been asked this a million times. the answer is not going to change. the answer remains the same. the president was never in business with his son, hunter may have put his father on the the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings. it was all casual conversation, niceties, the weather, why you interacted with so many of your son, your brothers, business associates. i'm not going to comment and i did not. and it was just a bunch of lies. it interacts with a lot decisions. i did not realize my father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of burisma, not partnership with a chinese private businessman, not my investments at home or abroad, and certainly not as an artist . but the question is what qualified hunter to make all these millions of dollars and nine other biden family members, all these millions dollars, and they had no experience. we have idea whatsoever whether any services were rendered. so in less than one term, we went from joe biden's saying that he never once talked to business talk business with hunter, his brother, or anybody for that matter, to a different story denying that joe biden was ever in business with hunter, which evolved into claims that joe biden met with hunter's partners and talked to them on the phone. but they talked about niceties. they talked about the weather, but they never discussed business. and now hunter is saying that his father was not, quote, financially. that's a whole different argument. in other words, hunter is leaving open the possibility that his father, then vice president, participated in the family business or syndicate, if you prefer, but never got a direct payment. all instead, according to reported texts and emails, hunter complained that the big guy had been using his wells fargo account to pay pops bills for 11 years. hunter also implicated his father, complaining that he was forced to give up half of his income to pops, meaning joe. at the same time, joe biden was frequently interacting with his son's business partners through pseudonyms and emails. >> this is an undisputed. we have pictures dinners at cafe milano. let's see, with oligarchs like the former first lady of moscow ,alena potts arena, one of the foreign business partners of hunter biden. we have golf outings. we have eyewitness accounts. we have hunter's business partner, devon archer, testifying that he witnessed joe biden participate in phone calls with hunter's foreign business associates at least 20 times. now, that would include one critical call with executives at burisma holdings. that is the ukrainian gas and oil giant. remember, hunter was getting paid millions of dollars to merely on a board of that corrupt ukrainian oil and gas giant, despite no experience at all based on his own words in an interview on "gma". no experience at and you can make millions of dollars. this is a great country. then we have a timeline on this. on december 4th, 2015, during a meeting in dubai. hunter and his bosses at burisma, they were in dubai. they demanded that hunter call d.c. to address, quote, pressure that the company was facing. this according to testimony from, devon archer, quote, they requested hunter help them with some of that pressure, you know, government pressure from the ukrainian government investigation. well, five days later, i'll traveling to ukraine to deliver on the new obama administration policy from october of 2015. in other words, deliver $1,000,000,000 in loan guarantees. well, then vice president joe biden leveraged that billion your tax dollars to force ukraine's top prosecutor out of office. he he gave them 6 hours to do it. and son of a buddy, they fired the guy. the very same prosecutor investigating and hunter biden for corruption vowed that move brought burisma more time and hunter. guess what? as a result of the action taken by his vice president, father he continued to get paid. he continued to get rich again with no experience in america. >> you are innocent until proven guilty, but anyone who tells you there's no evidence of wrongdoing, no need for an investigation is an abject liar. here with more is with the house oversight committee. james colmer is with us, house ways and means committee chairman jason smith and house judiciary chairman jim jordan. congressman colmer, i start with you tonight, reaction to today's events and of course, your statement went out earlier today with jim jordan that you, the hunter, has defied a lawful subpoena and you will now initiate contempt of congress proceedings, and that hunter will not be provided special treatment because his last name is biden . well, i've never seen such a display of arrogance and entitlement as i saw today when you had over a dozen members of congress in a committee room waiting for hunter biden to appear because he was lawfully subpoenaed while we were there with staff who had spent countless preparing questions, substantive questions. the same time hunter biden goes out and has a press conference and plays the victim card, defies the congressional says he wants to tell his story and they get to the car and drives off. i think the american people saw that was a publicity stunt that went bust. we have had a credible investigation that the american people expect. they want to know what the bidens did to receive the tens of millions of dollars from our enemies around the world. and we're going to continue to the truth, and we're doing it lawfully and by constitution. and today,y, hunter biden got into more trouble, if that's even possible, by defying our lawful subpoena. >> and let's get your take, jim jordan, because you, along with congressman colmer, put out the statement about hunter failing to appear for the deposition and are now initiating contempt of congress . tell us what's going to happen next. >> well, we'll do a report and then will then we'll mark it up, pass it through the committee, and then it'll go to the full house. and i think they'll see on the big takeaways today, number one, every single republican voted to move forward an impeachment inquiry and continue our oversight responsibility, every single one. the conventional wisdom, all we can get, all republicans, but a majority of the house is now on record in support of the investigations that we've been doing. second is what you said in your opening line, joe biden went from no involvement to what he participated in dinners and meetings and phone calls, but they were just talking about the weather to today. hunter biden saying my father had, no financial involvement. that qualifier is huge. no financial involved in the business. what a change. we would have loved to have. hunter biden under through the deposition the way these investigations are supposed to work. >> and the first question we would ask him is who? the big guy who the big guy, mr. biden. the confidential source that is joe biden in the 1023 form, your partner said is joe biden. who's the big guy? and then what was on that call that you made from dubai at the request of burisma to get help from d.c. when you called your father, what did you ask him to do? because we know what he went and did. what did you ask him to do on that phone call? those are two important questions that i think the american people deserve to know about and the facts about. that's what we would ask him if we had a chance. >> i hope we get a chance. jason smith, let's talk about what you learned last week in your committee, the ways and means committee, as it relates to certain emails that joe biden used. i don't think he was supposed to do that as a part of the records act, but he did communicate, communicate quite often with eric sherwin, who was the individual at rosemont. seneca, i believe that was in charge of the finances. he is the person that hunter himself would always ask, oh, what account should we use to pay dad's home repair bill on this in this case, or that case? >> is that the guy? that's exactly right. he's known as being the architect of those 20 plus shell shell companies that hunter biden and the bidens use to filter through millions of dollars. >> what those irs whistleblowers provided to our committee last week, sean, is it stood stood in agreement with what they've already provided more than a thousand pages. what those irs whistleblowers said in regards to the prosecution that hunter biden should face in the tax crimes of 2016 to 2019. what happened in california confirmed everything. what the irs whistleblowers whistleblowers alleged. >> one thing that we should be looking at, sean, is that those irs whistleblowers also stated how many leads led to president joe biden. but they were stopped by the justice department. >> and that's what we need to be looking into. >> let me ask you, congressman comar, what do we know? how much money can you confirm that the biden family took in from china, romania, russia? ukraine, kazakhstan and other countries? how much money are we talking about? and can you confirm that the 1023 form that we have talked so often about that accused joe biden of taking official action ,vice president in exchange for a family benefit? >> that would be hunter's benefit. was that the burisma case? >> yeah, i can say this. first of all, we found over $24 million that flowed into those shell companies that jason smith was referencing earlier. >> we have no idea what the bidens did to receive the money. we know those shell companies served no purpose. we've seen bank emails and we've seen suspicious activity reports from banks that said they were investment companies with no investment and companies with no known purposes. now, we know that the 1023 form alleged that they took a bribe. this was in conjunction with the burisma and one thing that triggered the discovery of the 1023 form, sean, was the fact that the people, the whistleblowers that turned over that ten, 2030 form to chuck grassley, they knew about this 1023 form. >> but because the narrative had been all the burisma thing was, was rudy giuliani and it was fake in russia, disinformation. they never paid attention to it. but when the house oversight committee started unveiling evidence in romania and china where the bidens were receiving suspicious funds that were being laundered through these various bank accounts, a very shell companies, those whistleblowers said that's exactly what it said in the 1023 form about ukraine. that's why they came forward. >> let me ask you this. because of our evidence and you couldn't confirm that you have discovered over 20 shell companies, but you see no real business activity except the movement of money from one account to another. >> you confirm that, sir yes. >> and that's what we wanted to have an opportunity. he can explain. if i'm misunderstanding this, he can tell us exactly what these different companies did. >> and you can confirm thahat tn family members, biden family members were paid, including grandchildren. and you can find no evidence of any services rendered at all. >> is that true, sir? that is true. >> let me ask you, jim jordan, we know that joe biden has said that they never got any money from china in the gm interview. >> hunter said pretty much the same thing when we talk about the whatsapp message call. yeah. and he says, i'm sitting here with my father. we don't know why he didn't fulfill your commitment between everybody that he knows and my ability to hold a grudge. >> you will regret not fulfilling that commitment. my father and i are sitting here waiting for you to call. is it true, jim jordan, that in fact $5 million was sent to one of those companies, if you will, within a number of days thereafter? and was that another example of of more money coming from, an oil conglomerate, this one in china? >> yes. he the energy company in china sends $5 million after that that phone call. and if i remember the whatsapp message, it was between and the guy sitting beside me. that had been another question we were asking, who was the guy sitting beside you? who are you referring to in that? it seems pretty obvious, but we would ask him that that question. and john, back to your other point. we know what the business it was, access to the brand. devon archer told us in july, the brand is joe biden. so what was access to joe biden ? because he has influence. everyone with common sense can see what was going on here. and dinners and the phone calls and the meetings with his hunter. biden's business and more importantly, the people he is doing business with. like elena bajaria, the wealthiest woman in all of russia. that anyone can see what's going on here. that's why we had everything a republican vote today to move forward further and further with investigation to get these people in in a timely fashion and get the facts for the country. yes or no? exit question for all of you. >> congressman smith, i'll start with you. is this now an investigation about joe biden being involved in what would be a bribery scandal, a money laundering scandal and an influence peddling scandal? >> this is always been an investigation in regards to joe biden. the irs whistleblowers, when they came forward and they highlighted how the is it about those three issues, though? >> that's what i'm asking. bribery employees could be it could be a multitude of numerous. >> and we're just continuing to follow the facts. james comer, is that what this is about, those three issues? yes, sir. >> jim jordan, final answer. remember, it's the standard in the constitution, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, and typically with impeachment articles of impeachment. it's been bribery. it's been abuse of power. it's been obstruction of justice. so those are the things that we're looking at. we want to get the facts and then we'll make a determination. all right. this is going to get very interesting in the days, weeks and months ahead. thank you all for being on. we appreciate it. when we come back, is biden about to cave on republican border demands? we'll check in with west virginia senator joe. also, we'll talk to him about the no labels party. could it be a factor in 2024? straight ahead, travel. there is nothing like it. dancing is my passion but with my moderate to severe eczema, it hasn't been easy. now i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within so you can have clear skin and noticeably less itch. serious allergic reactions can that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain. a parasitic infection. don't change or stop having medicines without talking your doctor. >> ask your doctor about dupixent. >> what secrets is hidden in