Kevin Morris, key ally of Hunter Biden, accuses House GOP of warping his testimony

A day after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that Hunter Biden confidant Kevin Morris provided the committee information that raised "ethical and campaign finance concerns for President Joe Biden," Morris on Friday accused House Republicans of deliberately mischaracterizing his testimony.

Comer shared highlights from Morris' closed-door session with House investigators shortly after the interview concluded on Thursday.

Morris, a Hollywood attorney and close adviser to Hunter Biden, on Friday called House Republicans' post-interview framing of his statements "spooky noises" meant to give the impression of wrongdoing in the absence of evidence.

"It's embarrassing and I think they know it," Morris told ABC News about Republican lawmakers' characterization of the testimony he provided as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Comer described Morris' financial support of Hunter Biden as part of an effort "to insulate then-presidential candidate Joe Biden from political liability," and suggested that Morris might ultimately forgive more than $5 million in loans.

Morris called those claims misleading and said they were tailored to cast his testimony in a more incriminating light to fit the narrative of their impeachment inquiry into the president.

"Here's what they do," Morris said, referring to congressional Republicans. "They bring up something totally innocuous and legal, get nowhere with it, and then run to the cameras and make spooky noises."

Morris took issue with Comer's claim that his financial support of the president's son, to the tune of millions of dollars in legal fees and other support, has bought him undue access to the White House and the president himself.

Comer said the alleged quid-pro-quo arrangement "follows a familiar pattern where Hunter Biden's associates have access to Joe Biden himself."

Morris mocked that assertion.

"My 'access' to the White House' consisted of a tour, attending a wedding, and the especially heinous crime of attending last year's Fourth of July picnic with hundreds of other people," Morris said.

Morris' criticism echoed some of the sentiments conveyed by his attorney, Bryan Sullivan, in a letter to Oversight Republicans late Thursday. Sullivan accused Republicans of "partially and inaccurately leaking" Morris' testimony.

"Not two hours after we left Mr. Morris' transcribed interview, you issued a press statement with cherry‐picked, out-of-context and totally misleading descriptions of what Mr. Morris said," wrote Sullivan, calling on Comer to release a complete transcript of the interview.

An Oversight Committee spokesperson said the panel "intends to release the transcript soon, but we do not have it from the court reporter at this time."

"The transcript will affirm Chairman Comer's readout of the interview with Kevin Morris," the spokesperson said.

Morris met Hunter Biden at a political fundraiser for President Biden in late 2019, as the younger Biden struggled to emerge from years of drug and alcohol addiction. Morris has since loaned Hunter Biden millions of dollars to help pay off delinquent tax obligations and financial support for his ex-wife and the mother of one of his children, the committee said.

Morris, who is described as a close friend, confidant, and adviser to Hunter Biden, recently accompanied the president's son when he made two surprise visits to the Capitol amidst a dispute over his cooperation with the Oversight Committee.

Morris explained to the committee that his loan agreements with Hunter Biden were negotiated by attorneys and include a repayment of principal and interest, according to a person familiar with his testimony.

Hunter Biden had initially balked at the committee's request to interview him behind closed doors for fear of Republicans mischaracterizing his testimony in the same way that Morris has accused them of doing. On Thursday, however, Hunter Biden and the panel struck a deal for him to testify behind closed doors at the end of February.

Hunter Biden and his allies have denounced the Republican-led probe as nothing more than an effort to smear his father's political career. Joe Biden has denied any financial involvement in his son's business activities, and the panel has yet to find evidence of a crime by the president.

The younger Biden faces two federal criminal cases brought by special counsel David Weiss in California and Delaware related to alleged tax and gun violations, respectively. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.