♪ impeachment showdown. hunter biden called to appear before congress in just minutes. cnn has learned he is in washington and that there is a

debate within his team about whether to show up. and making it official. the house is set to vote today on formalizing the impeachment inquiry into president biden. the republican house speaker saying he has the votes, but will this change the fact they so far haven't uncovered any conclusive evidence against joe biden? and in just the next few hours president biden will meet at the white house with families of the eight americans still being held hostage by hamas terrorists. i'm sara sidner with kate bolduan and john berman. this is "cnn news central." ♪ so a great deal is about to happen, or not happen, on capitol hill that will set off dominoes with far reaching consequences. a house committee issued a subpoena for the president's son, hunter, to testify before closed doors that is supposed to happen just minutes from now.

we are standing by for any sign that he will show up. cnn has learned that he is in washington, but his lawyers have demanded the testimony be public for the world to see. again, any number of things could play out in the next few minutes and we are watching in several locations, looking for any movement. this is all part of the house impeachment inquiry, not into hunter biden, though you might be forgiven for thinking so, into president biden. so far house republicans have struggled to prove president biden benefited personally from any of his son's questionable business dealings. still, the republicans plan to hold a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry as soon as today. evan perez watching all of this in washington this morning. it's go going to be a big hour. >> reporter: it's going to be a little bit of a circus today up on capitol hill. we do not know what hunter biden is going to do at 9:30. what the republicans want him to do is to show up to be deposed, behind closed doors, and that is

something that hunter biden's team has objected to. they say that he's willing to show up and answer questions, but they want to make sure that it is in public because they don't trust republicans to actually convey everything he says behind closed doors. so that's where this standoff remains. they are keeping the republican house members there in a bit of -- in the dark. they have no idea whether hunter biden is going to show up. they haven't heard at all. so we are all waiting for 9:30. of course, one of the things that has made this all more complicated for hunter biden and his team is the fact that since those -- since that request for a deposition came in, hunter biden has been indicted. he's been indicted with nine counts on tax charges clugs three felonies, failing to file, filing false tax returns and tax evasion, those are serious charges he is now facing in los angeles. so that does make it more complicated for him to answer any questions as part of this

house investigation and, of course, as you pointed out, john, a lot of this -- all of this is all about his father, president biden, which republicans we expect are going to vote today on formalizing an impeachment inquiry. and so at a minimum if hunter biden doesn't show up, if he doesn't agree to do this deposition with the house republicans, they are promising that they are going to hold hunter biden in contempt. so that's where the ball starts rolling. john? >> all right. evan perez, thank you for explaining that. again, a lot of uncertainties what we will and might not see in the next few minutes. thank you very much. >> one thing that we might see, definitely see probably definitely almost, almost definitely going to see is an impeachment vote this afternoon. >> yes. well said. >> or not at all. house republicans are preparing to formally authorize the already ongoing impeachment inquiry into president biden. three committees have been investigating for months any links that the president has to the business dealings of his

son. so far no evidence has been uncovered that the president has had any personal benefit from any of it. cnn's lauren fox tracking all of this, she's with us now. lauren, what is going to happen today with this vote? what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, this is such a fascinating moment, right, for house republicans because in many ways this is just a furtherance of the process that they have already been engaged in when it comes to those three committees that are investigating the president and his son's business dealings. as you noted, so far they have yet to find any concrete evidence connecting the president directly to any of hunter biden's foreign business dealings, and yet they still argue this is an important step to take on the floor of the house today. one thing that is really clear, though, is that the leadership of the house republican party is making excessively clear that this is just an initial step. that this doesn't necessarily mean they are going to go forward with impeaching president biden in the house of representatives. in fact, mike johnson went to

great lengths yesterday to make that case to his members. and there is a strategic reason for it, right, because politically if you are a republican running in a district that biden won in 2020, you are looking at this as now just furtherance and a next step in a process that doesn't necessarily have to end in impeachment and that is starting to be a talking point you hear time and time again from some of these more moderate republican members. so i think that that is why this is an important step today, but it is just an initial move. it does not necessarily mean they are going to move forward with impeachment, but you can guess that once they get that ball rolling, it's going to be really hard in an election year when you have the base clamoring to take that next step for mike johnson to hold his members back from wanting to do that, despite whether or not they have evidence or not. kate? >> great point. good to see you, lauren. thank you. sara? >> cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jennifer rodgers is joining us to discuss all of this.

we will start with the impeachment inquiry. so the white house not so long ago sent a letter to the chairs and said, look, there hasn't been a full vote so we don't really have to take this inquiry seriously. if there is a full vote, how does that full vote give the power to the house to go forward with this? and what is that going to mean to the biden administration? >> well, it doesn't give them automatically any power, but if they go to court to litigate, say, subpoenas for documents or subpoenas for witnesses, judges will pay attention to whether there is a vote or not because that makes it a legitimate legislative inquiry which is what the standard is for whether you're enforcing a subpoena or not. so that's really what they're doing. they then set it up for the battles in the could courts to try to force witnesses and testimony as they get their inquiry under way. >> okay. i did notice something yesterday that i found interesting and i'm not sure correct. the speaker of the house said that this is a legal thing they have to do this, it's not political.

isn't an impeachment inquiry political at its very base? >> you can argue it both ways. obviously it's a political animal but it has some legal kind of trappings. one of them s as i said, if you take steps that put you in better stead when you go to court and then are in the legal system as opposed to the political system, that's where it kind of crosses those lines. >> okay. thank you for clearing up that confusion. hunter biden, you know, expected maybe to show up at 9:30, maybe not to show up at 9:30 for a behind closed doors deposition. if he does not show up, what happens? >> so probably what will happen is they will refer him to the department of justice for a contempt charge, right, as we saw with the trump inquiries. we saw them refer people for contempt. it doesn't seem if doj is consistent in the way that they treated witnesses before that he would be charged with that because the only people who were charged with con settlement were people who absolutely ignored the subpoenas, didn't engage in

any good-faith negotiations over showing up at all. hunter biden obviously has done that so i suspect he wouldn't actually be charged with contempt but i think the gop would probably send it over to doj. >> i'm still trying to understand why behind closed doors? why -- biden has said, i will come and speak to you, hunter biden, but i want to do it in public. i want the public to be able to see and have this be very open. why say no to that? >> they want to control this narrative and control what happens. they want to ask their question, make their speeches and be able to craft their own, you know, pieces of that for public consumption and not have hunter biden control that narrative and get it out the way he wants. it's just about who is controlling what actually appears to the public. >> that can be very frustrating if you are somebody sitting before a committee that is that powerful not to have your side shown to the public, as long as theirs. it's not like you have them, you know, separate. everybody sees it all at once,

but at this point behind closed doors we are expecting he may show up at 9:30, which is in 20 minutes. we will see what happens. thanks very much. >> thank you. all right. just in, a key inflation gauge, the producer price index, shows that inflation is cooling as energy prices continue to drop. inflation on the wholesale level rose at a slower pace for the last 12 months, rising slightly less than 1%. here with me now cnn's vanessa yurkevich. again, this is just the latest piece of what i think should be considered fairly good inflation news. >> a continued cooling trend, beating expectations, which is always good. the month over month number unchanged. so from october to november prices for producers, this is what businesses paid, unchanged. good news. prices in the last 12 months still up .9%, but a cooling trend and this is driven because

what we've seen with energy prices. energy prices have continued to cool, we've seen gas prices fall. you're seeing that show up in this report. this is also coming on the heels of cpi, what we saw with consumer prices yesterday, which also has been cooling off. and important to note about producer prices, what businesses pay ultimately gets passed down to the consumer, to us. so this is an encouraging sign that we're still seeing this cooling trend. >> and a sign of maybe what's to come, which is more cooling. all right. we're expecting new guidance from the fed today and this is a big deal. >> a big decision. their last decision of the year. we are expecting analysts, economists are expecting a pause, another pause in rate hikes. ultimately this is to let the previous 11 rate hikes play out, see what it does to the economy, see what it does to inflation, but also clearly a sign that the fed is liking what they're seeing with inflation. they're liking these cooling

numbers. it's also encouraging for all of us because when you pause interest rate hikes, that starts to play out into the way we all pay interest rates on credit cards, on student loans, car loans and that should also help to moderate mortgage rates, which have been incredibly high. also the most interesting part of today's fed meeting and announcement will be at 2:30 when reporters try to get inside the minds of jerome powell. they want to know why he made this decision today, what does the economy look like and no doubt he's going to get questions about when we can see cuts. many economists saying that maybe in the spring. jerome powell, though, holds a lot close to his vest. he is not going to give that away, but ultimately he is going to get questions on that. americans want to know when whether i see more relief. >> good luck getting the actual information. looking for any hint that rates will drop soon. thanks so much.

appreciate it. kate? oh, i should note that we are going to speak to the white house about all this have coming up. kate? absolutely. and also this coming up, ron desantis took to the stage, took questions from iowa voters and very clearly wanted to take on donald trump at every turn. the key moments from the cnn presidential town hall. plus, eight americans have now spent 68 days held hostage by hamas. president biden is about to meet with their families at the white house. the promise he is going to make them. and tesla recalling nearly every one of its 2 million cars on the road in the united states right now. the safety concerns sparking this drastic move. we will be back.

we are keeping a very close

eye on the white house now where president biden is expected to soon welcome the families of american hostages believed to be held by hamas in gaza as we speak. the meeting comes as the white house is making it clear this morning that there are no plans to put conditions on aid to israel. the blunt message we're not going to do a damn thing other than protect israel, those are biden's words, but that's as pressure from lawmakers and a public rift with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu are coming into very sharp focus. biden in a speech to democratic donors warned that israel's attacks on gaza are alienating allies. cnn's white house correspondent arlette saenz is following all of these different strains. what can you tell us about what will happen today as these families come to talk to the president? and i know they've been wanting to talk to him for a very long time. >> reporter: yeah, they really have. president biden in just a few hours will be meeting for the first time face-to-face with some of the families of the american hostages who remain in

gaza. it is believed that there are eight americans who are still being held by hamas, that includes seven men and one woman and all members -- all of those hostages' family members are expected to participate in this meeting with the president. some will be here in-person and some will join virtually, but it also comes, this meeting, while the president is expected to stress the commitment to trying to get their loved ones back home, it also comes as new reporting from cnn indicates that so far hamas has been unresponsive to attempts to try to get negotiations back on track to secure the release of more hostages. officials said that qatar, which serves as the main mediator in these talks has relayed ideas to hamas about potentially releasing more hostages, including releasing the remaining women and some men, but so far there has been no response to trying to pursue that route. one source saying that this is not a negotiation at this point, but an exchanging of ideas.

but national security council spokesperson john kirby this morning spoke to the message that president biden plans to deliver to these families as he meets them here today. >> he will guarantee them that we are not going to lose sight on their loved ones, we are not going to stop trying to get them home. it's something that the president is 100% committed to and that will be the message for those families today. >> reporter: now, while the president's focus here today will be on speaking with the families of those hostages, we've also started to see this public rift emerge between president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. as you noted, the president spoke in very blunt terms yesterday saying that israel is beginning to lose international support due to its indiscriminate bombing in gaza. there are also differences when it comes to talking about what the region will look like when this conflict ends. president biden saying that netanyahu does not want to see a two-state solution and noting that netanyahu has to change but

that he is limited by his hard-line government at this moment. netanyahu has spoken about how he does not agree with the u.s. plans for the post-conflict israel and gaza, but really the focus for president biden here today, even as that rift is emerging, is trying to hone in on these families and assure them that the u.s. is doing everything they can to get the hostages back home, even as at this time those negotiations still are not on the table. >> arlette saenz, thank you for bringing all of those elements together and explaining it so well. john? >> thank you. and, again, the news just in this morning, hamas unresponsive to the idea of new hostage negotiations. in the meantime, new this morning, the idf says at least nine of its soldiers were killed overnight in northern gaza in an operation right around here, this is the largest single loss of life for the israeli military since the ground offensive began. and this happens as u.s. officials now confirm that

israel has begun flooding the tunnels in gaza with sea water on a limited basis. you can see what this tunnel structure has looked like over the last several years. cnn's natasha bertrand at the pentagon. natasha, what are you learning here? >> reporter: yeah, john, so we have learned that the israelis informed the united states that they have begun testing out on a limited basis flooding some of those vast networks of tunnels that exist underneath gaza with sea water to try to see if it will work to actually drive these hamas fighters out of those tunnels. however, the u.s. does not know at this point which tunnels exactly they're testing them at, the idf and the israelis told the united states that they are being careful not to flood hostages -- flood tunnels where they believe hostages might be. however, president biden actually spoke to this last night and he told -- he said that he was not confident or positive that hostages are not

in the tunnels where the israelis are kind of trying out these tactics. here is what he said. >> there is assertions being made that they are quite sure there are no hostages in any of these tunnels, but i don't know that for a fact. >> reporter: so, look, as arlette just laid out, the u.s. really has a very clear stake in the hostage -- the release of these hostages because several of them are believed to be american citizens. the fact that the u.s. is not sure that the areas where the israelis are going to be flooding these tunnels with sea water do not contain hostages that are being held by hamas really underscores how reliant the u.s. is at this point on what the israelis are telling them about what's going on inside the gaza strip. the u.s. does not have great visibility at this point into, of course, where the hostages are. this is a very creative way according to israeli officials to try to test kind of how they can actually drive these hamas fighters out because that has

been of course an extraordinarily difficult task given the vast network of tunnels they have there. >> key u.s. officials are headed to israel soon, yes? >> reporter: that's right. so national security adviser jake sullivan, he is going to be headed to israel on thursday. he's going to be meeting with prime minister netanyahu, his war cabinet and israeli president herzog. of course, to discuss all of these developments. and secretary of defense lloyd austin is also going to be headed there next week and will be meeting with key israeli officials as well. he will be traveling in the middle east writ large to talk about the attacks we are seeing on u.s. forces. clearly still a top priority for the white house and the administration writ large, john. >> natasha, thank you so much. keep us posted. kate? coming up still for us, ron desantis says good-bye to the culture wars as a campaign strategy it seems and makes a hard turn now to taking on the front runner. did iowa voters like what they heard last night?

was it enough to dent trump's lead with republican support? we will discuss. and in literally minutes hunter biden will be up against the deadline set by house republicans to show up on capitol hill and be deposed. is he going to? we will be back. i'm a little anxious, i'm a little excited. i'm gonna be emotional, she's gonna be emotional, but it's gonna be so worth it. i love that i can give back to one of our customers.

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all right. breaking news. i want to show you some live pictures from capitol hill. you are looking right there at a lectern outside the u.s. capitol building. why? because cnn has now learned that hunter biden is expected to head

to capitol hill, unclear whether he has left yet, but expected to head to capitol hill. he had been subpoenaed to testify before a house committee at exactly 9:30 today. we are told he is headed there. we were looking at that podium which i hope we can show you again right now because it's very possible that hunter biden makes a statement at that microphone shortly. not clear whether that is a statement he will make before going in to testify to this house committee or a statement he will make to say he is not going in to testify to that house committee. the committee has called hunter biden, this is part of the impeachment probe, not into hunter biden, again, although you would be forgiven for thinking so, an impeachment inquiry into president biden that so far has struggled to find any benefit whatsoever that president biden received from hunter biden's questionable business dealings. the committee that is called hunter biden to testify and, again, we are expecting to see

hunter biden on capitol hill shortly. lauren fox is on the hill. lauren, what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: yeah, we are waiting for hunter biden to appear for this statement with his lawyers outside, but we do not know if he will appear for that deposition. obviously house republican chairman had scheduled this deposition behind closed doors, they were prepared with questions, they were prepared this morning just in case hunter biden showed up, but it is important to point out that this all comes as the house republicans are expected to vote later today to open an impeachment inquiry against president joe biden, that is an inquiry that has been going on since the former speaker, kevin mccarthy, announced it in the fall, but this is a step to formalize it. so there is a lot of things happening on capitol hill today for house republicans when it comes to this impeachment push. you heard yesterday from mike johnson as he pointed out that a vote today on the impeachment inquiry does not necessarily

mean republicans would move forward with impeaching president biden. he said they had to collect more evidence, get more information, but obviously, john, this is all building as pressure continues from house conservatives to move forward. >> so hunter biden expected on capitol hill shortly where we think he will appear with his lawyers outside the capitol building. we were looking at that microphone right there. again, hunter biden been called to testify behind closed doors. he and his lawyers have offered to testify in public only. that is where the impasse is. we're going to have much more ahead because as i said events unfolding before our very eyes. so stay with us.

all right. we have breaking news for you now. first, the breaking news from capitol hill. that podium is where we are expected to see president joe biden's son, hunter biden, come up to the podium and make a statement. you will remember he is in washington, in part because the gop has put together an investigation, they are looking at an impeachment inquiry into his father, and they wanted him to do a deposition behind closed doors today. we do not know if he is going to do the deposition, but we do expect him and his attorney to come to the podium to make a statement. we will bring that to you as soon as we get it. now, to some other breaking news. this at the highest court in the land, the supreme court has now decided to take up another case involving abortion. this one involves the widely used perhaps most popular abortion drug out there known as

m myth prison tone. paula reid is joining us now. what can you tell us, paula? >> reporter: that's right, this is significant and is something that could be decided possibly by july which would put this decision right in the middle of the presidential election cycle. here the supreme court said it will consider whether to restrict access to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone even in states where abortion is still allowed. now, the case concerns the drug mifepristone which when used with another drug is one of the most widely used abortion methods in the united states, but, again, the really key thing here is that this puts the conservative-leaning supreme court, once again, right in the middle of the abortion issue when just last year of course they overturned roe v. wade and this would potentially put this issue and whatever they decide here right in the middle of the election cycle.

so this is going to likely be one of the biggest cases that they take up this term and, again, mifepristone is available right now, but this decision could change that. >> paula, can i ask you about the fact that this is something that the u.s. food and drug administration has had authority to regulate in the past. would this decision by the supreme court sort of take that away? >> reporter: that's right. so the approval goes back to 2000, i mean, we are talking about, you know, close to a quarter of a century for this drug having been approved and that's actually one of the ways they have tried to attack this is undermine the actual approval to restrict access to this drug. but we will see what the supreme court decides, how they approach this, after they of course hear arguments and make their decision. >> it's a very, very big case, as we are looking at this, and you are seeing sort of the back and forth over the abortion debate happening state by state by state. we saw what just happened in

texas at the supreme court there where a woman had to leave texas to go and get an abortion because her life according to her doctor and her child's life they were not going to be able to survive potentially. so let me ask you -- oh, we're going to take a second. all right. paula, thank you so much. we are moving on. we will be back with you, i know you will have more information as the supreme court goes through the plans. hunter biden right now on capitol hill taking the stand and that's his attorney abbe lowell. >> i appreciate you all being here. good morning. i'm here today to answer at a public hearing any legitimate questions chairman comer and the house oversight committee may have for me. i'm here today to make sure that the house committee's illegitimate investigations of my family do not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence and lies.

and i'm here today to acknowledge that i have made mistakes in my life and wasted opportunities and privileges i was afforded. for that i am responsible. for that i am accountable. and for that i am making amends. but i'm also here today to correct how the maga right has portrayed me for their political purposes. i am first and foremost a son, a father, a brother and a husband from a loving and supportive family. i'm proud to have earned degrees from georgetown university and yale law school. i'm proud of my legal career and business career. i'm proud of my time serving on a dozen different boards of directors. and i am proud of my efforts to forge global business

relationships. for six years maga republicans, including members of the house committees who 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 have 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 unrelenting trump attack machine shouting "where's hunter?" well, here is 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 businessman, not in my investments at home and abroad and certainly not as an artist. during my battle with addiction my parents were there for me. they literally saved my life. they helped me in ways that i will never be able to repay, and of course, they would never expect me to. 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 the absurd. it's shameless. there is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not

happen. james comer, jim jordan, jason smith and their colleagues have distorted the facts by cherry-picking lines from a bank statement, manipulating texts i sent, editing the testimony of my friends and former business partners, and misstating personal information that was stolen from me. 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. no matter how many times it is debunked, they continue to insist that my father's support of ukraine against russia is the

result of a nonexistent bribe. they displayed naked photos of me during an oversight hearing. and they have taken the light of my dad's love, the light of my dad's love for me and presented it as darkness. they have no shame. these same committee chairmen have engaged in unprecedented political interference in what would have already been a five-year investigation of me, yet here i am, mr. chairman, taking up your offer when you said we can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose. well, i've chosen. i am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee's legitimate

questions. republicans do not want an open process where americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry or hear what i have to say. what are they afraid of? i'm here. i'm ready. >> reporter: why not testify now, sir? why not testify now? >> all right. hunter biden saying, where is hunting? i am here, he says, willing to answer questions in a public hearing. the thing is, the house is not offering a public hearing, they are only offering for him to testify behind closed doors. we saw our evan perez pop up there as soon as hunter biden walked away. evan, what did you hear? >> reporter: well, john, look, i

mean, hunter biden is here, obviously, on the capitol grounds and he could just walk right across the street there to where the house republicans say they want to depose him behind closed doors. what he's saying is he's only willing to do is to do a public hearing, which he says is something that the republicans were once open to, but are no longer offering. of course, this means that the republicans who are sitting there at 9:30 they were expecting him to show up there for this closed-door deposition, what this means is that they will move forward. we expect them to move forward with their threat to hold him in contempt of congress. that's a process obviously that's going to be drawn out and in the end really this is -- this was all part of a show. hunter biden kept them guessing whether he was going to show up, whether he was going to show up over on the house side. he's over here on the senate side in an area, by the way,

that' colloquially known as the senate swamp. you heard him for the first time in his own words answer many of the questions that have been sort of thrown around by republicans, by conservative media about his financial activities overseas, his work with the ukrainian company, his work with chinese businesses, all of which of course republicans say is -- there is some proof, they believe, that there is some kind of corruption that's tied to the president of the united states. that's why, of course, we expect later today that they're going to formalize -- they're going to formalize their impeachment inquiry, again, part of this ongoing investigation. so in the end they are not going to get hunter biden if they insist on getting him behind closed doors. one other thing, john, it's become obviously a lot more complicated since the time that the republicans subpoenaed hunter biden to appear, he was indicted last week, nine counts including three felonies, failing to file taxes, filing

false returns and tax evasion, those are the problems -- those are the things that he just referred to during his time he was struggling with addiction, but what you heard there for the first time in his own words, really the most full some explanation from hunter biden, everything that has turned into a political problem for the president of the united states, his father. john? >> you're absolutely right, evan, he has spoken now more expansively than we have heard him yet on these allegations. he said i was irresponsible in my finances but the idea that that's ground for an impeachment inquiry into my father is absurd. all right. evan, we will let you get some reporting done right there. keep us posted. >> all right. he also said, there is no evidence that my father in any way was involved in my business. it did not happen. and he called out several members of congress, including james comer, jim jordan and jason smith. i want to get to paula reid

right now just to get a sense of what you made of what he said on this podium, being very, very clear, and talking about his own irresponsibility, but saying it has nothing to do with his dad. >> reporter: this was pretty remarkable. we've been reporting for months now that hunter biden and his legal team, abbe lowell and kevin morris, they've been taking a much more forward-leaning approach when it comes to his detractors and republican investigations. they've been more litigious, they've pushed back, and a statement like this is really all part of this strategy. i mean, this is a rare public statement from hunter biden and he was quite vulnerable. not only talking about his own issues with addiction, talking about the impact that these republican investigations have had on his family and also specifically talking about the role his parents have had in helping him recover from addiction. and then he went after republicans who have subpoenaed him to appear today, insisting that it be a closed-door deposition when he has said he's

willing to answer questions he just wants there is no fairness, there is no decency. he called them out for lying about him and then, quote, they take the light of his dad's love and turn it into darkness. he called them out and said look, i'm here. i'm willing to answer questions. i'm willing to talk about this, but of course, republicans are insistinging that if he sits down to answer questions that it must be for a closed-door deposition, but this statement -- look, this was a little bit of theater and you have the capitol in the background saying i'm here. he is likely according to republicans going to be held in contempt for doing this. they're not going to give him points for showing up, but legally and in the court of public opinion, it does matter that he showed up. he said look, i'm physically on the hill and willing to answer questions and i want to do it publicly and he had the larger narrative about the impact the public investigations have had

on him and his family. it was an interesting move and now to republicans to see how they respond. >> remarkable, as you put it. thank you very much, paula reid. stay with us. we do have more reporting coming up. >> let's go right to capitol hill inside now and talk to our lauren fox. hunter biden has said, i'll testify, but in public. will republicans budge yet? >> we'll see how republican chairmen respond asked by hunter biden and his team there. i think it's important to point out that this was the line hunter biden's lawyers have been making for some time, right? that they were willing to come before congress in a public setting that what they did not want to do was go behind closed doors and have a deposition and then their concern, they said was that parts of that, selectively could be leaked. so one of the questions now becomes what do republicans do. i also want to point out, though, that in the larger context of this moment and i think paula really pointsed this

out, you have a son of the sitting president of the united states who house republicans are going to vote today to move forward with a formal imimpeacht inquiry. you have him talking about his dr troubles and his dad's love for him and all his dad has done supporting him and there is no link from his dad benefiting financially from any of his business dealings that no matter how long republicanless investigate they will not find that evidence. it is also important to point out that this has been a sensitive political issue for democrats, as well, because some democrats in past reporting that me and our colleague annie grier have done are worried that the white house and that the president wasn't being forthcoming enough about getting out there in front of hunter biden's legal issues, talking about them more publicly, trying to separate the president from them, and i think that this is

really an interesting moment for democrats, as well because this sort of provides them a road map. a little bit more about the fact that hunter biden clearly is getting out front of some of what he has said he's done in the past and yet also arguing his dad was not involved. so i think that that will be an interesting political moment for democrats in the larger context of what house republicans have planned today on capitol hill. >> lauren fox, keep us posted. there is a lot to watch in the next few minutes. how will republicans respond to this offer from hunt ered by toe testify publicly. it is worth noting if some of these committee chairs jim jordan have not responded to subpoenas themselves in the past. >> that's right. there was a lot at play here. there are a lot of new developments coming in by the second. stay with us.

this is cnn breaking news. the breaking news we heard from

hunter biden, the president's son who spoke on capitol hill. he chose to testify in public before house republicans who issued a subpoena for him. this is part of the impeachment inquiry into president biden. we are waiting to hear from a response from house republicans. they've insisted the testimony from behind closed doors. hunter biden said they are the most expansive comments he has made about his inquiry. while he is irresponsible about his financial dealings it is grounds for impeachment into his father. he said his father had nothing to do with the finances of his business. listen. >> i have been the target of the unrelenting trump attack machine shouting "where's hunter?" well, 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 an own of burisma and not as a businessman, not in my investment at home or abroad and certainly not as an artist. during my battle with addiction my parents were there for me. they literally saved my life. they helped me in ways that i will never be able to repay and of course, they would never expect me to, but 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 the absurd. it's shameless. there is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen