Hunter Biden’s friend and financier Kevin Morris revealed to lawmakers the political “risk” he warned about in connection to Biden’s overdue taxes.
Morris testified before the House Ways and Means, Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Jan. 18 and he faced questions related to a Feb. 7, 2020 email he sent to Biden’s accountant warning of the “considerable risk personally and politically to get the returns in” as soon as possible, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller. (RELATED: Hunter Biden’s Financial Backer Feared Political ‘Risk’ Caused By Delinquent Tax Returns, Docs Show)
READ THE EMAIL:
“You know, I believe that, you know, remember that the Trump impeachment process was going on at this time. And…they were waiving around the possibility of calling Hunter…right until the very end. I believe that it wrapped up. I believe that was the…thing prompting us—you know, this is about preparing his tax returns,” Morris testified.
Trump was acquitted on two articles of impeachment by the Senate on Feb. 5, 2020, two days before Morris’ email. He was impeached in December 2019 for suggesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate the Biden family’s foreign business dealings in Ukraine.
Morris proceeded to claim the risk was related to Hunter Biden’s recovery from drug addiction and speculated further that his email alluded to the first Trump impeachment.
“I’m guessing. I’m speculating that that’s what I was talking about. It’s 4 years ago I looked at the calendar; what was going on there,” Morris said.
Morris repeated his assertion that Hunter Biden’s potential testimony in the Trump impeachment process was the political “risk” and it had nothing to do with then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. He also testified that he did not expect favors from now-President Biden or the Biden administration in exchange for financially supporting Hunter Biden.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10:Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by Kevin Morris, left, and Abbe Lowell, right, attend a House Oversight Committee meeting on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. The committee is meeting today as it considers citing him for Contempt of Congress. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
A multimillionaire entertainment lawyer, Morris gave Biden roughly $4.9 million from 2020-2022 to cover his overdue taxes and personal expenditures, according to IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler.
He was previously identified as the third party who paid approximately $2 million of Hunter Biden’s overdue taxes, as laid out in his failed guilty plea deal in Delaware with federal prosecutors. Morris said he believes the figures in the Delaware document were “about right” without confirming the accuracy of the precise figures.
Morris repeatedly testified that all of the funds he gave to Hunter Biden for his overdue tax payments and personal expenses came in the form of loans scheduled to be paid back in 2025.
His first payment towards Hunter Biden’s taxes was a $190,000 payment in January 2020 and the rest were paid off in October 2021, Morris stated. (RELATED: Hunter Biden And Kevin Morris Set Up Unusual Payment Structure For $875,000 Art Purchase, Testimony Shows)
“The $190,000 payment was in January 2020. None of the rest — and that’s 10 percent of the money — none of the rest of the taxes were paid until well after the election in October of 2021,” Morris said.
Hollywood producer Lanette Phillips introduced Morris and Hunter Biden at a campaign fundraiser for Joe Biden around November 2019. The pair met briefly at the fundraiser and shortly thereafter Phillips set up a meeting between the two which kicked off a close friendship between them.
“I started lending Hunter Biden money. That was almost always direct payments to third-party vendors. And, yeah, it was within — it was within a month,” he told lawmakers about how long it took until he started loaning Biden money.
At the time of the initial tax payment, Morris and Biden did not have a loan agreement in place. They eventually entered into a loan agreement but Morris could not recall the exact date when it occurred. Documentation of the loans he’s given Biden exists on multiple promissory notes, he assured lawmakers.
Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment in California describes a “personal friend” identified as an “entertainment lawyer” who paid $1.2 million of his expenses in 2020 alone.
READ THE INDICTMENT:
“Some of this is privileged, and I don’t — I’m not even going to say yes or no I paid for something. I think, you know, the information in the indictment is generally correct,” Morris said of the indictment. (RELATED: Hunter Biden’s Drug Addiction Defense Shattered By New California Indictment)
He refused to discuss the indictment in detail. He and his attorney frequently invoked attorney-client privilege because of Morris’ relationship to Biden as an attorney and financial backer. Morris entered into a retainer agreement later in 2020 with Biden and his current wife Melissa Cohen.
High-profile defense attorney Abbe Lowell and his firm Winston & Strawn LLP have been representing Biden in civil and criminal court as his legal troubles grow. (RELATED: The Hollywood Attorney Identified As Hunter Biden’s Financial Benefactor Is Reportedly Helping Pay His Legal Bills)
Morris has paid for Hunter Biden’s personal expenses including rent on his California residence, accountants, private security, public relations, payments to Biden’s ex-wife, payments to the mother of Biden’s love child and other expenses, he confirmed to lawmakers.
“In that period, he received financial support from Personal Friend totaling approximately $1.2 million. The financial support included hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments for, among other things, housing, media relations, accountants, lawyers, and his Porsche,” the indictment reads. Biden pleaded not guilty to the tax charges at a Jan. 11 arraignment.
Hunter Biden (C), son of US President Joe Biden, arrives at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 3, 2023. Hunter Biden is appearing in court for an arraignment hearing for federal gun charges, where he is accused of lying on federal forms for denying that he was addicted to any narcotics while buying a firearm in 2018. He is expected to plead not guilty to the charges. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition, Morris confirmed that he bought Hunter Biden’s stake in BHR Partners, a joint venture with Chinese business associates. He acquired the 10% equity stake in 2021 by buying Skaneateles, his LLC which held the BHR investment.
The entertainment lawyer estimated that he paid $157K for Skaneateles and vaguely recalled paying off an additional $250,000 loan Hunter Biden owed to Jonathan Li, CEO of BHR.
“Look, I am going to do the best I can, okay? I thought it ended up being 157 in cash. There was also a payment in there for — there was a $250,000 payment for a loan. I can’t remember if that’s part of that transaction, but if it is — that’s what it does — and whatever the — I believe those two were combined for the purchase price,” Morris recounted.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer released a readout of Morris’ testimony on Jan. 18 and said Morris received “access” to the Biden White House after his financial support started. Morris is a longtime Democratic donor and did not get invited to the White House until the Biden administration began.
His attorney accused Comer of misrepresenting his client’s testimony in the readout. Morris testified that he solely exchanged pleasantries with Joe Biden during their encounters and did not discuss Hunter Biden with the president.
Hunter Biden is set to testify before Congress on Feb. 28.
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report.