House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer sparred with a reporter inside the Capitol on Wednesday after Hunter Biden refused to show up for a closed-door deposition.
The younger Biden arrived outside of the U.S. Capitol for a short press conference Wednesday morning where he criticized his political opponents over the impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden. He told reporters he would testify publicly rather than in a closed deposition, despite receiving a congressional subpoena.
Comer said the American public has a right to know about the estimated $24 million paid to the Biden family and its associates from Ukraine, Romania and China.
“But Chairman Comer, do you acknowledge that you haven’t answered that question and that you’ve found no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal conduct?” Washington Post congressional investigations reporter Jacqueline Alemany asked Comer in response.
“We’ve found some very serious evidence that—” Comer began to answer.
“But Joe Biden—” the reporter interrupted.
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“No, no, no, no. The checks. There’s two checks to Joe Biden from his brother that the money to give Joe Biden was influence-peddling. One was through—no, you asked a question. No, no, listen.” (RELATED: Kevin McCarthy Lectures Reporter Who Falsely Claims Impeachment Inquiry Is ‘Without Evidence’)
The reporter attempted to argue that the $40,000 check paid to the president was “law firm money,” rather than money coming from Chinese energy company CEFC. Bank records detailing the checks dispute the reporter’s claim.
“What do you think? You’re defending him. I mean you’re acting as if—are you positive that that money came from Joe Biden?” Comer asked. “You’ve raised it. Are you positive? No.”
Bank records released by Comer found that Biden received a $40,000 check in September 2017 after the Biden family received money from Chinese business associates. The records show that Hunter Biden, his uncle James and his aunt Sara wired money through several accounts before Sara sent Biden a check as a “loan repayment” less than a month after James Biden’s business relationship with Hudson West III, Hunter’s business venture with CEFC, began.
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, then-presidential candidate Biden falsely said his son never made money from China. He further said he had never discussed business with son or any of his associates, but it now known he attended two dinners with hs son’s business associates, one with a Russian oligarch in 2014 and another with Burisma executive Vadim Pozharskyi in 2015. It is unknown whether business was discussed at those dinners.
Comer, along with House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, threatened to hold Biden in contempt of Congress for defying the subpoena. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, offered for his client to testify publicly rather than in the closed deposition.