The vice president's son came under attack for his work for a Ukrainian company and past substance abuse issues.
ADVERTISEMENTRepublicans dragged Hunter Biden's name through the mud on Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee meeting on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., recounted Biden's admitted past drug abuse — which quickly backfired when Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., hinted at the Florida lawmaker's own past substance abuse problems.
During the committee meeting, Gaetz introduced an amendment to strike a reference of former Vice President Joe Biden from the articles of impeachment and put in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, and Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of that company.
Gaetz then read aloud from an extensive profile of Hunter Biden in The New Yorker, which detailed Biden's past drug abuse and an incident in which he crashed a rental car and an official from the company found "a crack pipe in the car and, on one of the consoles, a line of white-powder residue."
"I don't want to make light of anyone's substance abuse issues...but it's a little hard to believe that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to resolve their international disputes when he could not resolve his own dispute with Hertz rental car over leaving cocaine and a crack pipe in the car," Gaetz said.
Johnson, D-Ga., shot back at Gaetz and hinted at Gaetz's 2008 arrest on charges of driving under the influence.
"The pot calling the kettle black is not something we should do," Johnson said. "I don't know what members have had problems with substance abuse, been busted for DUI — I don't know. But if I did, I wouldn't raise it against anyone."
The charges against Gaetz were later dropped, according to PolitiFact.
Other Republicans on the committee also went after Hunter Biden by questioning if he had the experience to work at Burisma and claiming his political connections got him the job.
Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, alleged Biden got a "sweetheart deal" working at Burisma, while Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, claimed that Democrats were trying to sweep the vice president's son's conflicts "under the rug."
"And nearly every single witness who testified at the Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry agreed that Hunter Biden's Burisma deal created at the very least the appearance of a conflict of interest," Chabot said. "Yet the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee and Chairman (Adam) Schiff and Democrats in this committee are determined to sweep all this under the rug, ignore it, not let us call witnesses on it and instead rush to impeach this president."