Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is open to calling Hunter Biden as an impeachment witness

(Image credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

published 29 January 2020

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) isn't scared, and he doesn't think his fellow Democrats should be either.

Manchin on Wednesday suggested he's open to calling Hunter Biden as a witness in the impeachment trial. "Being afraid to put anybody that might have pertinent information is wrong, no matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican," he said during in an interview with MSNBC's Willie Geist. "If it's relevant then it should be there."

Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been present in President Trump's impeachment saga since the beginning. It was, after all, the Ukrainian gas company upon whose board he sat that Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate. Recently, there's been some theorizing that if former National Security Adviser John Bolton is brought into testify during the Senate trial, Republicans could counter by bringing in the younger Biden.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Democrats have largely decried the idea, but Manchin doesn't appear to share the majority of his party's perspective. He did, however, say he thinks Hunter Biden would be able to "clear himself" if he does testify.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.