House Republicans Announce Hunter Biden Deposition in Impeachment Inquiry

House Republicans said on Thursday that they had set a deposition date of Feb. 28 to interview Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, their latest bid to secure his cooperation in their impeachment inquiry after he refused an earlier subpoena to testify privately.

The announcement by Representatives James R. Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, came on the day when the House had initially been scheduled to vote to hold the younger Mr. Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a previous subpoena.

“His deposition will come after several interviews with Biden family members and associates,” Mr. Comer and Mr. Jordan said in a joint statement. “We look forward to Hunter Biden’s testimony.”

Mr. Biden and the two committees have been at odds over the terms of his testimony for the last several weeks. The panels initially subpoenaed him to testify in November, weeks before the full House voted to authorize an impeachment investigation into the president.

But Mr. Biden refused to appear at a closed-door deposition, saying he was worried that House Republicans would selectively leak portions of his testimony to misrepresent his account and try to harm his father. He volunteered repeatedly to answer questions at a public hearing.

Republicans responded by drawing up contempt of Congress charges against Hunter Biden that their panels approved last week in a pair of raucous committee meetings.

With House action imminent to refer the charges to the Justice Department, his lawyers argued that the subpoena was invalid because it had been issued before the House authorized the impeachment inquiry, and had to be reissued.

A representative for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday on whether he had agreed to the date.