Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell says that Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may have committed a crime by displaying nude photos of his client at a House hearing and in a fundraising email this week.
Greene shocked many of her colleagues when she flashed explicit images of Biden, the son of President Joe Biden and a frequent target of Republicans in Congress, during a Wednesday House Oversight Committee hearing focused on the Bidens. She later defended the display, calling the photos "evidence" that the "American people deserve to see."
In a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) on Friday, Lowell lodged an ethics complaint against Greene and suggested that her later sharing the explicit images in a fundraising email may have also violated a federal law against the "transfer of obscene material to minors" and local D.C. and Georgia laws prohibiting the display of some sexually explicit materials.
"As if her despicable conduct and statements during the hearing were not sufficient, Ms. Greene proceeded to send out a fundraising email to her constituents in Georgia's 14th Congressional District with a link to video containing nude images of Mr. Biden," wrote Lowell.
"Ms. Green [sic] may have violated federal law ... if even one minor was included among the email distribution or was exposed to her outrage," he added.
Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff and communications director for Democratic Congressman Don Beyer, first suggested that Greene's fundraising email may have been illegal in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
Attorney Andrew Lieb previously told Newsweek that Greene is likely protected from any legal action over the photos due to members of Congress being protected by the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution, with the caveat that "the statute has an exception to its applicability for a matter of public concern or public interest."
Biden's attorney argued in his letter to the OCE that Greene's "conduct out of the Hearing went way beyond the bounds of the protections that members receive under the Speech or Debate Clause," predicting that "this transgression will result in more accountability to come."
Lowell also urged the OCE to "condemn and discipline" Greene for "abhorrent behavior that blatantly violates House Ethics rules and standards of official conduct."
"The House has a duty to make loud and clear that it does not endorse, condone, or agree with her outrageous, undignified conduct and brazen violations of the standards of official conduct that do not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives," Lowell wrote.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Greene's office via email on Friday.
The OCE is a nonpartisan body that operates independently from Congress. It is responsible for investigating alleged misconduct by House lawmakers and referring matters to the House Ethics Committee, which includes an even number of Republicans and Democrats.
Lowell previously sent a letter to the OCE regarding Greene in April, urging the office to investigate the congresswoman for "continuous verbal attacks, defamatory statements, publication of personal photos and data, and promotion of conspiracy theories about and against Robert Hunter Biden."
