father. this with the house poised to vote today on whether to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into president biden. also ahead, the president set to meet today with the families of americans held hostage by hamas. and his new warning to israel about the war. and later, rudy giuliani set to testify as soon as today in the defamation case against him as an election worker tearfully recounts the threats that made her fear for her life. ♪♪ hello, everyone, thank you for being here. it is 10:00 eastern, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, and we begin with this breaking news on capitol hill this morning. hunter biden speaking there moments ago saying he is ready to testify publicly this morning, as house republicans have him scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition. hunter biden acknowledged his troubled history, but accused house republicans of distorting the facts. >> there's no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen. >> all this as republicans prepare for a full house vote today on whether to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into president biden and the biden family business dealings. we have a couple reporters now covering both those headlines on the hill, nbc's julie tsirkin is tracking the latest on that impeachment vote. let's start with ryan nobles. you were there as he made these remarks. let's talk about what we heard from him and what we know about what's happening on the hill right now. >> reporter: yeah, there's no doubt that this was a pretty dramatic public relations effort by hunter biden to show he was here and ready to answer questions from the oversight committee and their investigation into his father and his business dealings and whether or not the two are connected. to be clear, that's not what the committee was looking for today. they had asked him to appear under subpoena in a closed-door deposition to answer their questions about his business dealings and whether or not they connect to his father. they said at some point later, they would be willing to allow him to testify publicly, and so this was an effort by hunter biden to show that he has nothing to hide, that he's willing to answer those questions, but it's probably not going to move house republicans, who as you rightly point out are prepared to vote on an impeachment inquiry later today, and if said that if hunter biden did not appear for that deposition, which was taking place in a completely different part of the capitol campus, that they would be prepared to move to contempt of congress charges against him -- >> ryan, hold on just a second, i want to go right to jamie raskin talking about all of this on capitol hill. >> pieces of evidence and distort and misrepresent what has taken place there. this is a pattern that hunter biden and his lawyer clearly observed that members of this committee have observed, has been taking place for many months now. there are 14 transcribed interviews that are out there, and only two have been released -- i'm sorry, there are a total of 16, and only two have been released to the public, so there's still 14 transcribed interviews that chairman comer has not released to the public. i called upon him today to release those transcribed interviews to the public so that the various witnesses are not subject to the distortion and mischaracterization of their statements. that process is interfering with the work of this committee. because witnesses don't want to come in only to have a closed-door deposition and then have their words mangled and misrepresented to the public through selective leaks and in orchestrated choreography of false narratives. we are disappointed that we were not able to hear from hunter biden today. we are certain that that little particle of evidence would support everything else we've seen through the last 11 months of investigation, which is that president biden has done nothing wrong. they have not laid a glove on president biden, and they have no evidence of him committing any offense, much less an impeachable offense. so this is where we are. we take it that the republicans if they can get their votes together are planning to vote to conduct an impeachment inquiry today, a repetition of everything that we've seen over the last 11 months, but we are in a remarkable juncture for the u.s. house of representatives because this is an impeachment inquiry where no one has been able to define what criminal or constitutional offense they're looking for. we don't know what the crime is, you know, the mysteries are called a who done it because it starts with a crimes and then you try to determine who committed it. this is more like a what is it? rather than a who done it. we don't know what the crime is and there are thousands and thousands of pages of evidence, but all of the evidence demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that president joe biden is not guilty of any impeachable offense that we can determine. and with that i'm going to call on my colleagues to come up and we'll take turns between oversight and judiciary, but perhaps i can start with the vice ranking member. >> that is congressman jamie raskin, he's the ranking member on the house oversight committee criticizing his republican colleagues for trying to have a closed-door deposition with hunter biden. it sounds like he will not be providing any kind of interview today there on the hill. we did hear from him moments ago, though. he is on capitol hill and he spoke to reporters right there on camera saying he was ready to testify publicly. let's go back to ryan nobles. you were there. you were listening to what hunter biden had to say, and he had some harsh words for those republicans and staunchly defended his father. >> reporter: he did, ana, and one of the things he said that was most important was that he made it clear that at no time was his father involved in any of his professional work. his work as a lawyer, his work with these foreign companies, the chinese companies, the board that he sat on in ukraine, even his art career. he said that the president never had any connection to that whatsoever. and of course that is one of the big criticisms that house republicans have leveled and the accusations that they've made is that the president in his capacity as a public official was able to exert influence over some of the work that hunter biden was doing and help him get jobs that he wouldn't have gotten if he were not the son of a vice president and eventually president. listen to how hunter biden defended not only himself but his father during his brief remarks this morning. >> i am here. let me state as clearly as i can my father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of burisma, not in my investments at home or abroad, and certainly not as an artist. in the depths of my addiction, i was extremely irresponsible with my finances, but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. >> that's one of the arguments that hunter biden and his associates have long made is that he's made mistakes. he's admitted that he was in the throes of addiction, but his father never did anything but work to try and help him during that difficult period of time and love him and try and take care of him. so what republicans have failed to do, ana, at this stage of their investigation is really find a definitive link between the president himself and hunter biden's business dealings. they provided transactions that have been explained as a personal loan, that was eventually paid back. but in terms of millions of dollars of financial benefits for the president, that has not been uncovered yet. house republicans would argue that they found enough to continue this investigation, and that's part of why they're going to formalize this impeachment inquiry later today, ana. >> and so, ryan, they also threatened to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress if he wasn't willing to do their closed-door deposition. so where does that leave off? >> reporter: yeah, that's a process that could happen very quickly, ana. it would have to go through a committee, it would take three days to get it on the docket of the committee that would then issue that contempt of congress charge. so it is likely just because of the timing of everything congress is scheduled to leave tomorrow for the holiday break. so it's likely that the contempt of congress charge against hunter biden wouldn't move quickly until after the new year, but once it it's something that would have to go to a vote of the full house, and then if the full house does hold them in contempt, they could refer that to the department of justice, which would mean it would end up on merrick garland's desk to decide whether or not to prosecute. republicans have promised that that's the next step they're going to take, it would likely be an issue of timing as to how quickly that all comes together. >> and so julie, republicans say, look, what hunter's been doing, they have tried to create the suspicion around president biden and claiming he could have some kind of connections to the actions of his son or his brother. they haven't been able to tie the president directly, yet, they are threatening this impeachment vote today. it sounds like it's going to happen. do they have the votes. >> reporter: well, it sounds like they wouldn't put it on the floor if they didn't have the votes. remember, this is an inquiry that has been happening since september when then house speaker kevin mccarthy authorized it. they did not take a vote then because they did not have the votes at the time in order for this to pass. now it feels like speaker johnson thinks he does, and in part because of these latest charges we've seen come down against hunter biden have really been able to give these moderate republicans some cover who now say that the committee should continue the investigations. they should continue what they are calling a fact-finding mission, but as you point out, as ryan pointed out, they have very slim majorities. just three votes that they could stand to lose if -- we assume they will -- all democrats vote against formalizing this impeachment inquiry. they have to take that step in order to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress. you heard ryan lay out the steps here. this would really give the chairs of these committees investigating hunter biden the subpoena power, the ability to enforce subpoenas including holding those who do not appear before the committee, including hunter biden, in contempt of congress. the vote to formalize this impeachment inquiry will take place early this evening, and again, this is different from authorizing a formal impeachment of president biden. this is just that initial procedural step, but speaker johnson did leave the door open to taking that step to knocking this up to full impeachment articles against the president, despite as ryan pointed out, they have been unable to link any wrongdoing and any evidence between hunter biden's business dealings and the committee republicans say are shady to his father joe biden. we'll see if they take that step later today. >> that vote expected later this afternoon with debate beginning on that in the next couple of hours. we'll be watching closely, gee for more on all of this, we're joined by former republican congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania and msnbc political contributor, mara gay. i want to play more of what we just heard from hunter biden and get your reaction on the other side. let's listen. >> i am here to testify at public hearing today to answer any of the committee's legitimate questions. republicans do not want an open process where americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what i have to say. what are they afraid of? i'm here. >> congressman, what's your reaction to that? >> well, i thought that was a little bit of theater. you know, given that he's been indicted again, i thought if he's going to testify, he's going to take the fifth amendment. he's got too much legal exposure, and i'm not a lawyer saying that, but it just struck me as theater. he knew he wasn't going to be able to testify publicly, but i don't think he wants to say anything. that said, this whole inquiry, this impeachment inquiry has been a sop to the hard-liners in the gop conference. you know, kevin mccarthy opened up this thing several months ago back in september, and now speaker johnson is actually having a vote to proceed, but impeachment is kind of like a -- it's kind of like a rocket launcher, a missile launched. once you launch, it's hard to call back the missile. i get it, they're talking this is an inquiry so they can get more documents and more information from the administration, but it just feels like this is going to move toward an actual impeachment. although, it does not appear that there are the votes to actually impeach joe biden because republicans, frankly, have not made the case that hunter biden's misdeeds have in some way brought financial benefit to the president. so i think -- >> hold on. back up for a second, though, just on the initial comments related to hunter biden's potential testimony before congress, why wouldn't republicans want to do this in an open hearing? so what if he gets up there and pleads the fifth? wouldn't they want america to see that if that's what happens? >> yeah, i never thought it was a particularly good idea for hunter biden to testify publicly. they're going to air all of this dirty laundry about the burisma deal, i was getting $80,000 a month to serve on a ukrainian gas board. it didn't make sense to me, if i were republicans running i'd say, okay, give him his wish. let him tough publicly. i'm not going to say this is going to help republicans with their impeachment of joe biden. now that he's been indicted again, i mean, i don't know what his lawyer's advising him, but i can't imagine why he woild actually want to say anything in -- >> we have republicans speaking on the hill right now, let's listen. >> we are in an official impeachment inquiry phase of our oversight. when that happens, we'll see what their excuse is then. they should have been here today, but once we take that vote, we expect him to come in for his interview for his deposition, and frankly, we'll also, i think, look at contempt proceedings as we move forward. with that we'll take your questions. >> why not just call his bluff? he's here. he's obviously not wanting to sit for a deposition. this could be one chance to -- >> there's a way to do informations and a way to not. every one i've been involved with clear wak to the irs targeting conservatives, this is what the democrats did. don jr. had to testify twice in a deposition setting two different committees, but oh, somehow that doesn't apply to the biden family? that's not how it works in our country. it's supposed to be equal treatment, the same treatment under the law. >> mr. biden said his father had no involvement in his business dealings, period. how do you respond? >> that's not what devin archer said, there were phone calls, meetings, dinners, you name it. we know what happened with burisma and ukraine where joe biden goes and leverages conditions that american tax money on the firing of the prosecutor who was looking into the executives of the very company hunter biden was on the board of. we know those facts. >> and remember, joe biden said he never met with any of these people or talked with any of these people. that was the narrative before we began this investigation. now we know he met with and talked to every single one of them. so the president hasn't been honest about his associations with these people who have been wiring millions and millions of dollars to hunter biden and the biden family. look, i think every american has a simple question. what did the bidens do to receive tens of millions of dollars from our enemies around the world. that's a simple question. >> chairman comer, do you acknowledge that you haven't answered that question and you found no evidence of wrongdoing and criminal conduct? >> we -- some very serious evidence, the checks, there's two checks to joe biden from his brother that the money to give joe biden was through influence peddling. one was through the -- you asked the question -- >> loan repayments that we all -- we showed you the loan documents. >> you don't understand those documents. i do. okay? if i wrote you -- if you pay me back $240,000 for a loan repayment, i should have a check going to you for 240 -- >> joe biden's attorneys of in -- >> the law firm that represented all the shell companies. that represented all the shell companies. >> you think those lawyers have -- >> what do you think? you're defending them. you're acting -- >> that's a very serious crime to accuse someone of. >> are you positive that money came from joe biden? are you positive? so no. look, we have a lot of questions. next question. >> are you going forward with contempt? >> there's a process you have to follow. you have to file a report, so we will begin looking at that, both the lawyers for the oversight committee, the lawyers for the judiciary committee will move in that direction. when congress asks you to come, you're supposed to come and testify. >> devin archer -- >> last thing, we also found checks from one of hunter biden's shell companies that were going into an account for joe biden monthly. they said that was a loan repayment. everything's a loan repayment. >> hunter biden will have an opportunity in deposition to come in and explain it. >> emails that you guys leaked from hunter biden's laptop. >> i would like to have asked hunter biden about sex trafficking women across state lines. that would have been a good question. you don't seem to care about that though. >> so we're just hearing from those republican members of the house oversight committee who wanted to hear from hunter biden who are pushing this impeachment inquiry into president biden trying to offer some of what they say is evidence pointing them in the direction of this impeachment inquiry. again there, is no clear evidence linking anything of hunter biden to president biden related to wrongdoing, no high crimes, no misdemeanors, even republican congressman ken buck from colorado, a red district in colorado who is also a lawyer himself has written in an op-ed, republicans in the house who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history. mara, what are your thoughts about everything that's unfolded this morning? >> wow, the republicans are extremely thirsty is what it looks like to me. this is political theater at its worst unfortunately. my thoughts are if you pull back, we are less than a year away from a presidential election that will most likely see a matchup between joe biden and former president donald trump who is under investigation for a number of very serious crimes including stealing top secret documents from the united states government and holding onto them, including inciting violence and, you know, a coup, an attempted coup of the united states government and subversion of democracy. he's an accused sexual assaulter, and the list of those accused crimes goes on. they're very serious. there's a lot of evidence to speak to them, and so this is really about distraction. this is about distraction and this is about the attempted dilution of what donald trump is accused of, so i think there's an effort here among republicans that's very obvious, at least to me, to essentially say to the american people, well, donald trump may have, you know, been a bad boy. okay? boys may be boys. >> trying to create an equivalency? >> essentially all politicians are corrupt. they're all crooks. and so you just want t