Hunter Biden admits to being 'high or drunk' when he said he was 'sitting here' with dad Joe just days before $5.1 million flowed into family accounts from Chinese energy company

Hunter Biden said he was either drunk or on drugs when he pretended his father was sitting next to him in a successful bid to persuade a Chinese company to pay the family $5.1 million, he told Congress today.

The president's son was giving closed door testimony to the Congressional impeachment inquiry into his father's business links today when he made the jaw-dropping admission.

'Hunter admitted that he was high or drunk when he sent the "sitting here with my father" WhatsApp message, sent it to the wrong recipient, and is now embarrassed by the message,' a readout of his testimony recorded.

But within 10 days of his threatening message, $5.1 million flowed from the Chinese firm CEFC to Biden-linked accounts, according to information in a 2020 report by Republican-led Senate committees.

Hunter departed Capitol Hill after a grueling day of questioning with a slight smirk on his face

He did not respond to shouted questions about whether he will participate in an anticipated public hearing

The WhatsApp message to CEFC was cited by IRS whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley last year as evidence of a Justice Department cover-up into the Biden's after they were refused permission to investigate it.

It later emerged from photos on his abandoned laptop that Hunter Biden was not with his father on the day it was sent, but was at Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Before appearing before the the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, Hunter accused House Republicans of spreading 'baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracy theories' about his father's involvement with his business dealings.

'I am here today to provide the committees with the one incontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business,' he said in a statement.

'Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.'

But the president's son will face a public hearing after his six-hour closed-door deposition revealed 'many discrepancies' about Joe's involvement in his son's shady business deals, says top Republican James Comer.

Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Oversight Committee, is leading the investigation into whether Joe Biden used his position and 'brand' to enrich his family in a complex $20 million 'influence peddling' scheme.

He told reporters after Hunter's six-hour deposition 'proved several bits of our evidence' and added 'we will have a public hearing next.'

'I think a public hearing will hopefully clear up some discrepancies between some of the statements being made by some of the associates and that we heard today.'

House Democrats at Hunter Biden 's congressional deposition called the ongoing impeachment inquiry an 'embarrassment' for Republicans, adding that their pursuit of the president's son is nothing more than a 'wild goose chase'

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said the Republican-led inquiry is tainted because one of the central informants in the case had ties to Russian intelligence

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Raskin have come out firmly in support of President Biden 

The chairman added that he's 'very optimistic, very excited' about the deposition and promised to release transcript of the interview in the next few days without disclosing further details.

Hunter departed Capitol Hill after a grueling day of questioning with a slight smirk on his face, but did not respond to shouted questions about whether he will participate in an anticipated public hearing.

His attorney, Abbe Lowell, stated that the deposition today showed Republicans have 'no evidence.'

'The Republican majority ends the day with where they started. They have produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father period,' he told reporters after the deposition.

‘It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client's addiction than ... anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry.’

Republicans, however, believe the deposition went well.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters that Hunter lied in the deposition about his involvement in Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm that worked with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Hunter held a position on the board.

‘One thing that was interesting to me is he lied when he was talking about Blue Star Strategies,' she told reporters. 'He went from denying any involvement until we put evidence right in front of his face that he was in fact, involved.’

When pressed on whether any high crimes and misdemeanors were uncovered in the closed-door meeting, Greene responded: ‘Influence peddling ... We can see that he sold his father's name and business.’

The president's son, a recovering drug addict, also ignored a shouted question about whether the cocaine found at the White House last summer was his.

Hunter fiercely defended his father before Republican investigators, strongly stating 'I did not involve my father in my business,' according to his opening statement obtained by DailyMail.com.

He detailed how Joe who 'saved' his life was there during his 'darkest days of addiction,' which have been politicized by the GOP to use in their 'sham' impeachment.

'You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any,' he continued.

He further slammed Republicans, saying their 'house of cards' are 'built on lies' during bombshell testimony in Congress.

Meanwhile, Democrats called the impeachment inquiry an 'embarrassment' for Republicans, adding that their pursuit of the president's son is nothing more than a 'wild goose chase.'

Democrats, however, have repeatedly called the impeachment inquiry a sham and a waste of time.

'It's just so embarrassing that the Republicans continue to be on this wild goose chase after President Biden,' Progressive Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said Wednesday morning before entering the deposition.

'I mean, they're acting like Hunter Biden is running for president.'

'This is supposed to be an impeachment investigation, which means it’s supposed to be focusing on treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the president,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). 

'We’ve heard no evidence of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors touching Joe Biden.'

This has been a 'comedy of errors from the beginning,' he stated.

He said he 'understands' why Hunted wanted to testify publicly after sitting through the first three hours of the deposition.

Raskin also said there was 'paranoid suspicion' being cast on the Republicans' focus on the over 20 speaker business phone calls of Hunters' that Joe sat on.

Some Democrats who sat in the deposition similarly told reporters that the meeting was lackluster.

'If you ever wonder why 50 percent of this country doesn't vote, you don't have to look further than the hour we just spent in there on this deposition,' Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said after exiting the closed-door meeting after an hour.

The first hour of the deposition 'was the nail in the coffin to what is a complete, bogus and sham impeachment inquiry,' Rep. Daniel Goldman said after exiting.

Republicans are 'so desperate to humiliate the president they started asking the president some personal details about a divorce that happened almost 10 years ago. That's where this has been reduced to,' Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., told reporters.

Republicans, meanwhile, said the president's son was not being forthright.

Hunter Biden was 'defiant and dishonest' in his deposition, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said after exiting the room.

Democrats also decried Republicans' use of information by former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in the inquiry as he was just recently accused of having ties with Russian intelligence agencies.

Smirnov 'lied' about an alleged Biden family 'bribery scheme' with Ukrainians and had 'high-level contacts with Russian intelligence operatives,' according to prosecutors.

The falsified bribery scheme involving a $10 million payment to Joe and Hunter by a top Ukrainian oil executive was at the center of the Republican's impeachment push until a few days ago.

Last week, Special Counsel David Weiss charged Smirnov with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden taking the bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Hunter Biden was grim-faced as he arrived with attorney Abbe Lowell for the closed-door deposition with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees

If convicted, Smirnov faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

'Their main source was collaborating with Russian intelligence forces,' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Wednesday.

'The fact that Republicans received that information, that the entire country received that information, and they are still continuing with their impeachment proceedings and investigations should be a four alarm fire for this entire country.'

The progressive likened the impeachment inquiry to a 'deep sea fishing expedition.'