FOX News contributor Jonathan Turley joined "Hannity," saying Hunter Biden’s indictment might make it easier for him "not to speak" but could make it more difficult for President Biden to avoid an impeachment inquiry. The George Washington University law professor questioned whether any Democrats will speak out "against corruption and influence peddling."
JONATHAN TURLEY: The fact is that this is a circle that's getting tighter around the president. I mean, it's clear that the president has lied. He obviously lied during the first campaign when he said he had no knowledge of these dealings. Hunter himself contradicted that. Hunter's associates said that it was utter nonsense in recent statements after his testimony. He also said that his son didn't make any money in China. It obviously is not true. But there's a more serious problem here. And that is what the president knew of was not business dealings, it was corruption. That's what influence peddling is. The United States has pushed international agreements to stop influence peddling in other countries. The United States believes it is a leading source of destructive corruption. And if the president knew that his family was engaging in that type of corruption, of course it's serious.
So we're looking at two events next week. One is when Hunter Biden is supposed to appear and that may now be effectively scuttled. Hunter may be able to use this to plead the Fifth to refuse to answer questions. But the second event is the expected vote on the impeachment inquiry. And this indictment might make it easier for Hunter not to speak, but it may make it more difficult for President Biden to avoid that inquiry. The fact is that this indictment shatters years of denials by the Bidens and frankly, by an enabling media. It shows these massive amounts of money going to Hunter Biden from Romania, Ukraine, China, all these sources. And it also shows a knowing and continual effort to evade taxes to commit criminal acts. Now, if this circle is getting closer to the president, then he has to answer some questions. So it leads us to this very simple question for next week. Is any Democrat going to stand up and have this moment of courage and to say, you know what, enough, we we can't say we're against corruption and influence peddling and then say we don't even want to do an inquiry.
HUNTER BIDEN FACES NEW INDICTMENT IN CALIFORNIA
Hunter Biden was indicted in California Thursday on a litany of tax charges, according to documents made public.
The indictment Hunter Biden's failure to pay nearly $200,000 of income tax in the year 2019.
Special Counsel David Weiss has been using a federal grand jury in Los Angeles to gather evidence of possible criminal tax charges against Hunter Biden.
FOX News' Bradford Betz , Jake Gibson , David Spunt contributed to this report.
