To understand the circus that erupted this morning when Hunter Biden did a press conference on the Senate side of Capitol Hill and then failed to show up for a deposition he’d been subpoenaed to give on the House side, keep four things in mind.
1. There is a difference between subpoenas and testimony. A congressional subpoena is a legally enforceable order requiring a witness to show up at a time and place on Capitol Hill for the purpose of testimony — here, a deposition behind closed doors. Testimony consists of answers under oath to the questions posed. A subpoena means the witness is legally obligated to attend the deposition; failure to do that can result in being held in contempt (we’ll come to whether that’s really a serious threat). Whether the witness actually has to answer questions, however, depends on whether he has a legal confidentiality privilege that permits refusing to answer.
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