A recent transcript reveals the intense moment when Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida chose to question Hunter Biden about drug-related matters during a closed-door session with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
The GOP congressman brought up the topic of drug use while Congress has been examining Hunter Biden’s business connections as part of a Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“Were you on drugs when you were on the Burisma board?” Gaetz questioned, bringing up the Ukrainian energy firm that Hunter Biden had been on the board of.
“Mr. Gaetz, look me in the eye. You really think that’s appropriate to ask me?” Biden answered.
“Yes,” Gaetz replied.
“Of all the people sitting around this table, do you think that’s appropriate to ask me?” Gaetz was asked by Biden.
The uncomfortable situation follows multiple press reports regarding Gaetz’s partying. CNN revealed in April 2021 that Gaetz had gone to parties where people shared narcotics including cocaine and ecstasy.
Moreover, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma claimed in October that Gaetz had bragging rights to other legislators over his use of sports drinks mixed with erectile dysfunction medication so that “he could go all night.”
“This is obviously before he got married,” Mullin said to CNN’s Manu Raju.
In a prior comment to BI, Gaetz refuted Mullin’s allegations, referring to them as “a lie from someone who doesn’t know me.”
Hunter hasn’t held back when discussing his struggle with drug addiction, to be sure. In his memoir “Beautiful Things,” published in 2021, Hunter disclosed that in 2018, he used crack cocaine once every fifteen minutes.
Hunter responded to Gaetz on Wednesday by saying, “I will answer it this way: I have been absolutely transparent about my drug use.”
“Was I an addict? Yes, I was an addict,” Hunter stated. “What does that have to do with whether or not you’re going to go forward with an impeachment of my father other than to simply try to embarrass me?”
