The attorney representing Hunter Biden in his ongoing legal battles met with first lady Jill Biden’s top aide in the East Wing of the White House days before the first son defied a congressional subpoena.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, met Dec. 11 with Anthony Bernal, the first lady’s top staffer, visitor logs at the White House show.
Just two days later, Hunter Biden defied a subpoena to appear before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, opting instead to hold a press conference at the Senate side of Capitol.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later said that President Joe Biden was “familiar” with what his son planned to say the day he skipped out on his congressional deposition, The Hill reported.
Bernal, known in some circles as the first lady’s “work husband,” has been hit with sexual assault allegations, according to the New York Post.
The date of the meeting between Lowell and Bernal coincided with a White House Hanukkah reception. Lowell had one meeting that day with the president; logs indicate that 789 people were present, indicating that this was likely the Hanukkah event.
Lowell’s meeting with Bernal, though falling on the same day, was one-on-one, according to visitor logs.
The White House told the New York Post, which first reported on the logs, that both of Lowell’s meetings were related to the Hanukkah reception, and that the younger Biden was not discussed.
After defying its subpoena on Dec. 13, 2023, Hunter Biden attacked the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s impeachment investigation as “illegitimate” and claimed that his father had no involvement in his overseas business dealings in China, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
“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 [a Ukrainian energy conglomerate]. Not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist,” the president’s son said.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment on the New York Post’s report.
Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation