The House will hold a floor vote on the criminal contempt resolution against Hunter Biden next week, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, Congressman James Comer, tells the Sun. Mr. Comer added, though, that he and his colleagues have yet to decide what to do should the District of Columbia’s top federal prosecutor decline to charge Mr. Biden. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I mean he’s taken up two similar cases, so I would assume he’s going to do this,” Mr. Comer tells the Sun when asked what he would do if United States Attorney Matthew Graves fails to prosecute. 

Mr. Graves has prosecuted two of President Trump’s top advisors, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, for not complying with subpoenas issued by the Select January 6 Committee. 

Mr. Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison; he’s appealing. Mr. Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress and is awaiting sentencing.

When asked if his committee — which approved the contempt resolution on Wednesday — had had discussions about that scenario, he said it had not. “We’ll assume he’ll do his job,” Mr. Comer said. “This is a good, ethical, consistent administration here — justice is blind,” he said sarcastically. 

He confirms to the Sun that the full floor vote will happen “next week” as long as the three-seat Republican majority has enough members in town to cast votes. “I mean, it all depends,” he said. “There are a couple of members out sick today. … We have the votes” to hold Mr. Biden in contempt, the chairman says.

The Oversight Committee is seeking Mr. Biden’s testimony as it pursues its impeachment inquiry into President Biden concerning allegations of corruption involving the Biden family. The first son’s years of trading off the Biden name to bring in millions of dollars from foreign entities in Communist China, Ukraine, and other countries has been of considerable interest to congressional investigators, who want to know how much the elder Mr. Biden was helping his son’s business ventures while serving as vice president.

As the younger Mr. Biden continues his defiance of Mr. Comer’s subpoena, which was issued in November, the president’s younger brother, James, is having conversations through his attorneys with the committee about appearing for a deposition. 

“The conversations are our attorney talking to his attorney and his attorney is implying to us that he’s trying to make it work on his schedule,” Mr. Comer said. The president’s brother was due to appear for his deposition in December. “We’re trying to make it work, I mean, we’ve said we’ll send staff to them,” he added, visibly frustrated. “Whatever’s convenient.”

The first son made a dramatic appearance on Wednesday in the Oversight Committee’s hearing room, where he sat silently in the audience for a few minutes as members debated his own contempt resolution. He was flanked by his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, and his friend and wealthy benefactor, Kevin Morris. At a press conference on Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jeanne-Pierre, declined to say if the president knew his son would make his unannounced visit to Capitol Hill. 

He previously showed up on the Senate side of the Capitol on the same day he had been summoned to give a deposition — December 13. He said he would not participate in a closed-door process that would allow Mr. Comer to selectively leak details about his testimony. Instead, he would only appear publicly before the Oversight Committee to testify, where Democrats would have the opportunity to issue a strong defense for the first son. 

On Wednesday, during Mr. Biden’s surprise appearance, Congressman Robert Garcia, who is a Democrat, made a motion to have Mr. Biden testify on the spot. Mr. Comer objected to that motion, saying that the tradition of the House’s investigative processes required Mr. Biden to sit for a closed-door deposition so members could get all the facts before having their public hearing. 

The first son’s stepmother, first lady Jill Biden, said after his appearance that congressional Republicans have crossed a line in badgering Mr. Biden. “I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel,” she said in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. “And I’m really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction. You know, I love my son and it’s hard — it’s hurt my grandchildren. And that’s what I’m so concerned about, that it’s affecting their lives as well.”

Should Mr. Biden be found to be in contempt, prosecuted, and convicted, he faces up to one year in federal prison. He is also facing multiple federal felony charges on gun and tax violations in Delaware and California, which would bring longer prison sentences were he to be convicted. Special Counsel David Weiss continues to investigate Mr. Biden and could yet charge him with violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act.