--- title: Hunter Biden Associate Planned as Next Impeachment Witness description: House Republicans intend for Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski to testify, multiple sources tell TIME. canonical: https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/ author: Eric Cortellessa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-09-29T20:34:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:27:01.958Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hunter Biden Associate Planned as Next Impeachment Witness og:description: Republicans plan to call Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden associate, at an upcoming impeachment hearing, multiple sources tell TIME. og:url: https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcc61929d525332c/698a40da09208f426f41ac68/GettyImages-1229227822.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-DEBATE-TRUMP-BOBULINSKI og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hunter Biden Associate Planned as Next Impeachment Witness twitter:description: Republicans plan to call Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden associate, at an upcoming impeachment hearing, multiple sources tell TIME. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcc61929d525332c/698a40da09208f426f41ac68/GettyImages-1229227822.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House GOP Plans For Next Impeachment Inquiry Witness: Hunter Biden’s Former Business Partner > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f44173b0-c0e2-4892-a031-047b311c77df&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Hunter Biden's Controversies Explained [Watch (HLS stream): Hunter Biden's Controversies Explained](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LP5uxcU7.m3u8) (8:39)  _Published 2023-09-22. TIME Senior Correspondent Brian Bennett explains the long-running investigations into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden._  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Sep 29, 2023 8:34 PM UTC TIME Senior Correspondent Brian Bennett explains the long-running investigations into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Sep 29, 2023 8:34 PM UTC As the federal government teeters on the brink of a shutdown, House Republicans are preparing to escalate their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Next up on their itinerary: the House Oversight Committee is planning to bring Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski to testify at an upcoming hearing, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell TIME. While the appearance is not yet scheduled, sources say House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, is close to finalizing an agreement with Bobulinski’s lawyers. GOP lawmakers plan to present Bobulinski as their first major fact witness at a hearing in October. But the proceeding is unlikely to take place while the government is shut down, the sources add, meaning it might hold until November, depending on how long it takes for legislators to resolve the impasse. The next hearing could serve as a pivotal test for the Republican investigation into whether President Biden financially benefited from, or played a role in, his family’s business activities. The probe has yet to uncover concrete proof of wrongdoing by the President. On Thursday, the Oversight Committee convened its first hearing since opening an impeachment inquiry. One of the GOP’s witnesses, conservative law professor Jonathan Turley, told lawmakers they hadn’t unveiled evidence to warrant articles of impeachment, but said the findings passed the “threshold'' for an inquiry. Bobulinski is a former business associate of both Hunter Biden and the President’s brother, James Biden. He claims to have had a May 2017 meeting with Joe Biden about a deal Hunter Biden was pursuing with a Chinese energy company. While Hunter Biden’s venture [never received funds](https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunter-bidens-ex-business-partner-alleges-father-knew-about-venture-11603421247) from the Chinese firm, Republicans say that Bobulinski’s testimony is central to discrediting President Biden’s assertion that he never discussed Hunter’s business dealings with his son. Democrats have countered that Bobulinski is not a credible witness. They emphasize that he first emerged when former President Donald Trump’s campaign invited him as a guest to one of the presidential debates in October 2020\. "I've heard Joe Biden say that he's never discussed business with Hunter. That is false,” Bobulinski told reporters at a press conference beforehand. “I have firsthand knowledge about this because I directly dealt with the Biden family, including Joe Biden.” The White House dismissed Bobulinski as a discredited Biden antagonist whom Republicans are trotting out to tarnish the President’s reputation. “First, House Republicans called witnesses who conceded there is no evidence for impeachment, and next they reportedly plan to call a witness who served as a surrogate for former President Trump in 2020,” Sharon Yang, a White House spokesperson, tells TIME. “They are again making clear they will always prioritize leveling long-debunked political attacks against the President rather than putting American families first.” GOP interest in Bobulinski renewed after two IRS whistleblowers testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in June. One of them, Gary Shapley, told congressional investigators that the Department of Justice stymied investigative leads into Biden, including Bobulinski’s allegations, in the summer and fall of 2020, when Trump was president and Bill Barr was attorney general. CBS News [reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunter-biden-tony-bobulinski-former-business-partner-grand-jury/) in June that Bobulinski’s attorney reached out in 2020 to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor tasked with overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation, saying he was willing to testify before the grand jury. Weiss never returned their calls or asked for Bobulinski’s testimony, according to the news outlet. Months before, then-Attorney General Barr had issued a customary election-year memo instructing prosecutors to avoid any actions that could influence the presidential race. Earlier this month, Weiss indicted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges after an earlier plea deal fell apart. Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, did not respond to a request for comment on Bobulinski’s planned congressional testimony. House Republicans are under pressure to present new evidence advancing their impeachment inquiry against Biden after Thursday’s proceeding left some prominent right-wing figures frustrated and underwhelmed. “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally,” the conservative Fox News host Steve Doocy said on air afterwards. It was the same point Democrats on the committee had stressed. “If Republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol, they would be presenting it today,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel. “But they’ve got nothing.” Comer concluded the Thursday hearing by announcing that he was issuing subpoenas for Hunter and Jim Biden’s personal and business banking records, which House Republicans believe will help to blow the case wide open. “They’re in trouble,” one GOP lawmaker on the committee told TIME, referring to the Bidens. “I’ll tell you that right now.” ## Transcript [00:04] Let's talk about Hunter Biden. [00:07] Joe Biden's, son, at the center of a political storm in the shaping [00:11] up to be a major political liability for Biden going into the [00:14] 2024 election. Ever since Joe Biden announced he was running [00:17] for president. In 2019 Republicans of scrutinize, [00:20] his son Hunter, Biden spouse with drug addiction and his business [00:24] dealings in Ukraine and China with an eye toward weakening [00:27] his dad. Let it go. [00:28] Fast forward to now Republicans have taken the majority [00:32] in the house and control investigative committee's and a spotlight. [00:36] 100 Biden has gotten brighter day. [00:39] Let's start at the beginning. [00:40] Who is Hunter, Biden Hunter? [00:42] Biden is President, Joe? [00:43] Biden Second, Son. [00:44] His mom was neilia, Biden. [00:46] Joe Biden's first wife, he later, died in a car crash in 1972 [00:50] with her and Joe Biden's. [00:52] Wonderful daughter Naomi and her older brother. [00:54] Beau was a former Attorney General Delaware and army. [00:58] Jag officer, who died from brain cancer in 2015. [01:01] Okay, let's go to Hunter Hunter himself graduated from Yale [01:04] law school and it's worth the lawyer, [01:06] a lobbyist and an investor Hunter Biden served on the board [01:10] of the Ukrainian natural gas company. [01:12] Burisma, Holdings from 2014 to 2019 and has worked on the vessel [01:17] to Chinese companies. [01:18] He's currently Selling paintings, through a New York art gallery. [01:21] Hey, let's look at who's investigating Hunter Biden and why. [01:25] First you have the Republicans in the house, [01:27] house Speaker McCarthy launched a formal, impeachment, [01:30] inquiry into President Joe Biden on September 12th and Hunter. [01:34] Biden is at the center of it. [01:35] These are allegations of abuse of power obstruction, [01:39] and corrupt. [01:41] They warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives. [01:45] That's why I today I am directing our house committee to open a [01:51] formal impeachment, inquiry into President Joe Biden. [01:55] But it's important emphasizes House, Republicans are so far only [01:58] found evidence of Hunter trading on his family name and not of [02:02] wrongdoing by Joe Biden or that Biden was involved in Hunters [02:05] business deals. Okay. [02:07] That's Congress. Then there's the criminal investigation [02:10] into Hunter, Biden Hunter, Biden, to subject of a Justice Department [02:13] investigation into his tax filings and a statement [02:16] he made on a form to purchase a handgun. [02:18] Department of Justice, special counsel David Weiss has charged [02:21] Hunter Biden with illegally, obtaining a firearm while they [02:24] could do drugs and two counts related to false statements [02:28] on the purchase form Department of Justice. [02:31] So long as it's clear, he violated the law. [02:33] But I think now they're going to have to be a real deep dive [02:36] at Maine Justice about why there has been obstruction [02:38] to. This degree, has protected, the son of the president [02:41] of the [02:42] it will be the first of many indictments, [02:43] I imagine [02:46] Yeah, I think a republican colleagues would probably be demanding, [02:50] that the charges be dropped. [02:51] If it were for almost any other American, [02:54] they don't believe in gun charges. [02:55] Does charges stem from Hunter Biden's, purchase of a Colt Cobra [02:59] 38spl revolver in October 2018. [03:02] Why is that date important? [03:05] Because Hunter Biden was regularly, using crack cocaine during [03:08] that. According to his own Memoir and when someone is purchasing [03:11] a firearm their ass, if there are addicted to any drugs Hunter [03:15] answered, no lying on a firearm transaction form as a felony [03:19] and a conviction could carry prison sentence of up to 10 years, [03:21] but legal, experts say, prosecutors really bring charges [03:25] on the infraction. [03:26] Now, let's get back to Congress and the impeachment. [03:29] There's little public information. [03:31] If any showing the Joe Biden was involved in Hunters business [03:34] transaction James. Comer, the Kentucky Republican, who chairs, [03:37] the house. Oversight committee has repeatedly overstated [03:40] what Republicans have found and only had the evidence come up [03:43] short. [03:46] Accelerated its investigation of the biking family domestic [03:49] and international business practices that we began last time. [03:53] There's there's two aspects of hunters overseas work. [03:55] The Republicans are focused on that are worth digging into either [03:59] the big guy email and Hunters working Ukraine. [04:02] Now, let's start with the big guy. [04:03] Email Hunter says that his committee's investigation, [04:05] is looking into a 2017, email Leslie. [04:08] Found on a laptop to Blanca Hunter, [04:10] Biden email, includes discussion of setting, aside a certain [04:13] percentage of a deal for the big guy. [04:16] One line of that email ask the question 10 held 4-H by the big [04:19] guy out Hunter Biden's for business partner, [04:21] Tony by bilinski, who is one of Donald Trump's gas for presidential [04:24] debate in 2020 full fax news. [04:27] He believed H-24 Hunter and the big guy was Joe Biden be on that [04:31] Fox News. Also reported there was no evidence that any part of [04:34] the business deals with the Chinese and Adidas went to Joe [04:37] Biden still worth pointing out that when the email was sent, [04:39] Joe Biden wasn't in office, it was 2017. [04:42] He was no longer vice president and was nearly two years away [04:45] from an hour. [04:46] His candidacy for president now Comer claims. [04:49] The email text shows Joe Biden was aware of hunters business [04:51] dealings with a Chinese company, also claims those business [04:55] ties influence President Biden's policy choices toward China [04:59] but it's unclear how fighting has kept the Trump era tariffs [05:03] on China and place and added new export controls on US ship [05:07] making technology since taking office. [05:09] Now let's look at Hunter Biden and Ukraine Republicans [05:12] in the house have gone back to a long-running and debunked [05:15] conspiracy theory that Joe Biden. [05:17] When he was vice president, demanded the Ukraine, [05:20] government fire. The country's top prosecutor to haul an investigation [05:24] into Ukrainian company that had Hunter Biden on his board to coordinate [05:30] with Hunter Biden's business partners about hunter's role in barismo [05:36] Ukrainian Energy company. [05:39] Now, this is a conspiracy theory that Donald Trump was chasing [05:42] when he withheld military aid and pressured zielinski. [05:46] President to open an investigation into the bidens. [05:49] During the famous 2019 presidential phone call. [05:52] But Joe Biden wasn't alone and encouraged in the Ukrainian [05:54] Parliament, to Alice, prosecutor, Viktor shokin, concerns [05:57] Ashokan wasn't doing enough to root out, [05:59] corruption, or expressed by European diplomats International [06:02] organizations. Like the international monetary fund as well. [06:05] And Devon Archer Hunter Biden's business partner, [06:08] who served on the board with him told House Republicans [06:11] that the reason I didn't even support shogun's removal, [06:14] and it made it even harder to understand why fighting position [06:18] would have been about helping that company Hunter Biden's [06:20] business in Ukraine. [06:21] While his father was vice president did make American diplomatic [06:26] efforts in Ukraine. [06:27] More difficult, a 2020 Senate investigation led by Republicans [06:31] found that Hunter Biden and his business partners and their [06:34] Firm made $92 [06:36] doing business. In Ukraine of Joe Biden was vice president [06:39] and those financial connections negatively impact a diplomatic [06:44] work in the country. [06:45] But that same investigation uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing [06:48] by Joe Biden in the matter. [06:50] So what is Hunter Biden's drug? [06:53] Use have to do with all this during the years, [06:55] when Hunter Biden was working on deals with Chinese companies [06:57] and serving on the board of the Ukraine Energy company Purisima, [07:00] he was also in a cycle of drug addiction rehab and real apps [07:04] that span 15 years. [07:05] In his 2021 Memoir, beautiful things under describes a detail. [07:10] His crack cocaine, binge is what you called the crack apocalypse, [07:12] his confrontation with his family. [07:15] Returning to rehab and his eventual sobriety and escaped [07:18] from those troubles. [07:19] When he married his current wife, Melissa in May of 2019, [07:22] anecdotes of Hunter, Biden drug, use and photos purportedly [07:26] from his laptop have been highlighted by Biden critics to suggest [07:29] the Joe Biden is compromised by hunters actions. [07:32] But Joe Biden has spoken openly about his son struggles [07:35] with drug addiction. [07:36] Many families have had happened hooked on drugs. [07:42] He's overcome that he's established a new life. [07:45] He has some, I'm confident that he is what he says and does [07:51] are consistent with what happens. [07:53] Now, has any of that implicated, Joe Biden in wrongdoing? [07:56] It hasn't what's known about Hunter Biden's business, [07:59] deals with Ukrainian. [08:00] And Chinese companies, create an impression he was making a [08:03] lot of money off The Prestige of being Joe, [08:05] Biden's son. But there isn't evidence that Hunter Biden's [08:08] business transactions have influence, decisions that Joe Biden [08:12] made as vice president or as president is also no clear evidence [08:15] that money from Hunter Biden's business dealings ever made their [08:18] way to Joe Biden's accounts. [08:20] This is for sure, the house impeachment inquiry and the ongoing [08:23] criminal case against Hunter, Biden, both mean, [08:26] there'll be a lot more scrutiny. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/"},"headline":"House GOP Plans For Next Impeachment Inquiry Witness: Hunter Biden’s Former Business Partner","datePublished":"2023-09-29T20:34:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:27:01.958Z","description":"Republicans plan to call Tony Bobulinski to testify at an upcoming impeachment hearing, multiple sources tell TIME.","url":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/","keywords":["Impeachment","Joe Biden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcc61929d525332c/698a40da09208f426f41ac68/GettyImages-1229227822.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Cortellessa","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcc61929d525332c/698a40da09208f426f41ac68/GettyImages-1229227822.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-DEBATE-TRUMP-BOBULINSKI","caption":"US-VOTE-DEBATE-TRUMP-BOBULINSKI","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/impeachment/","name":"Impeachment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/","name":"House GOP Plans For Next Impeachment Inquiry Witness: Hunter Biden’s Former Business Partner"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hunter Biden's Controversies Explained","description":"TIME Senior Correspondent Brian Bennett explains the long-running investigations into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/LP5uxcU7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-09-22T18:01:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LP5uxcU7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/","duration":"PT8M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6319064/hunter-biden-impeachment-witness-tony-bobulinski/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```