House Republican impeachment inquiry leaders are scrutinizing President Joe Biden’s apparent role in his son Hunter’s refusal to face Congress.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote a letter to the White House Wednesday demanding documents and communications between the Biden administration and Hunter Biden ahead of his scheduled closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee.
READ THE LETTER:
“In light of an official statement from the White House that President Biden was aware in advance that his son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas, we are compelled to examine as part of our impeachment inquiry whether the President engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of Congress.,” the letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel reads.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Dec. 13 President Biden knew of his son’s plan to stage a press conference on Capitol Hill earlier that day instead of attending his deposition. She did not provide any further details on whether Joe Biden coordinated the press conference with his son.
Hunter Biden notified his father of his unexpected press conference ahead of time, Politico reported citing two people familiar. Biden administration officials praised Hunter Biden’s confrontational remarks at his press conference, a White House source told Axios.
“Ms. Jean-Pierre’s statement suggests that the President had some amount of advanced knowledge that Mr. Biden would choose to defy two congressional subpoenas,” the letter continues.
“In light of Ms. Jean-Pierre’s statement, we are compelled to examine the involvement of the President in his son’s scheme to defy the Committees’ subpoenas. The Committees have accumulated substantial evidence that Hunter Biden’s business endeavors have improperly included his father, and the President has made false claims about his knowledge and involvement in these schemes.”
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 07: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a news briefing at the White House at the White House on December 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. During the briefing, Jean-Pierre spoke on a range of topics including the shooting at the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus and the Senate negotiations over funding for Israel and Ukraine and security along the U.S. Mexico border. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
On Dec. 6, Joe Biden dismissed the significant amount of evidence showing he interacted with his son’s business associates by calling it “a bunch of lies” in response to New York Post reporter Steven Nelson.
President Biden’s statement came the day after email search data released the day before by the House Ways and Means Committee showed he exchanged over 50 one-on-one emails with Hunter Biden’s former business associate Eric Schwerin.
“In fact, just days before Mr. Biden was scheduled to appear for his deposition, the President claimed he had not interacted with any of his son’s business partners. This is false. The President has met with, spoken to, and received money sourced from his son’s foreign business partners,” the letter adds.
Comer and Jordan are also demanding internal communications related to Joe Biden’s Dec. 6 statement. The White House has until Jan. 10, 2024 to comply with the Republican lawmakers’ request.
Devon Archer, another former business associate of Hunter Biden’s, told the House Oversight Committee in October that Joe Biden spoke with his son’s business associate 20 times. He recalled Joe Biden’s presence at a spring 2014 dinner with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and a spring 2015 dinner with Vadim Pozharskyi, an executive with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings.
White House visitor logs from the Obama administration show Hunter Biden’s business partners and assistants visited over 80 times when Joe Biden was vice president, Fox News reported.
In addition, former Biden business associate Rob Walker told the FBI in December 2020 that Joe Biden met with his son’s Chinese business associates from Chinese infrastructure firm CEFC shortly after Biden’s vice presidency concluded. (RELATED: Bank Investigator Flagged Chinese Money Sent To Hunter Biden That Funded Check To Joe Biden, Comer Reveals)
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
We’ve followed the money and identified how Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered 🇨🇳 China money.
@RepJamesComer lays out the money trail. 👇 pic.twitter.com/lH69OUOHid— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) November 1, 2023
Hunter Biden and CEFC associates formed a business entity, Hudson West III, in August 2017 and the firm immediately received $5 million from another Chinese firm, according to bank records released in November by the Oversight Committee. The younger Biden wired $400,000 of the money to his Owasco P.C. account and from there distributed $150,000 to his uncle and business partner James Biden’s business account.
Afterwards, James Biden and his wife Sara Biden put $50,000 of the funds into their personal account. In September 2017, Sara Biden wrote a $40,000 check to Joe Biden from her personal account with her husband. The check is classified as a loan repayment and the White House has repeatedly categorized it as such. (RELATED: IRS Whistleblowers Unable To ‘Verify’ Loans White House Claims Joe Biden Sent To Family Members, Testimony Shows)
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden falsely stated during a 2020 presidential debate that his son never made money from China.
Hunter: “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 partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an… pic.twitter.com/NWgBrfm7ux
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 13, 2023
“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 partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter Biden said at his press conference.
He reiterated his offer to testify publicly instead of attending the closed-door session, a proposal House Republicans previously rejected.
Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell, also assisted Hunter Biden with his press conference, Politico reported. Swalwell previously called for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute individuals who defy congressional subpoenas.
Alongside House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, Comer and Jordan are leading the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden. House Republicans voted on Dec. 13 to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry, strengthening its legal authority.
Hunter Biden is facing nine federal tax related charges in California and three federal gun charges in Delaware. He pleaded not guilty to the gun charges in October and his arraignment for the tax charges is scheduled to take place in January.
Comer and Jordan said on Dec. 13 they would initiate contempt of congress proceedings against Hunter Biden because he defied a subpoena by not appearing for the deposition.
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report