WASHINGTON – President Biden played the joker-in-chief on Tuesday, claiming he “bounced some checks” when he was younger and that getting his old bank records was “very hard to do, man” – as House Republicans pored over financial documents to see if he received any foreign income.
Biden made the cash crack as the House impeachment inquiry is looking into the finances of his brother James Biden and his son Hunter Biden, whose associates from countries like China and Ukraine interacted with Joe Biden when he was vice president.
“My administration prohibits banks and credit unions from charging for basic services like checking your account balance. I like that one,” Biden, 80, said at a White House event touting financial rules to reduce fees on retirees.
“I got really angry when I found out — anyway, getting old bank records back, that’s really hard to do, man,” Biden said.
“Or find your loan balance — that’s a killer, man. It costs a lot of money for the banks. They charge up to $30 for this service. and, you know, when you bounce some checks like I did when I was trying to start, it — anyway, that’s over.”
“We have taken the payment, it is now invalid,” he added.
The Biden administration’s effort to curb such payments is one of its most popular initiatives, polls show.
President Biden joked that he “bounced a few checks” when he was younger and said getting his bank records was “very hard to do.” AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
While the president found it “very difficult” to find his old bank records, House Republicans found it very easy to get major financial institutions to release details about the first family.
The president did not respond to questions raised after the event whether the bank’s records would show that he received foreign funds.
Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee revealed that James Biden paid Joe Biden $200,000 on March 1, 2018 — the same day James received a $200,000 transfer from troubled rural hospital company Americore by promising to use his political connections to land Middle Eastern investors.
Chairman of the Monitoring Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), has said that additional disclosures from bank records will be released soon.
Biden’s comments came as the House Oversight Committee examined the finances of his brother James and his son Hunter.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The $200,000 check from James to Joe Biden was labeled a “loan repayment” and House Democrats and the White House described the transfer as a non-story. Comer said that Republicans could not find bank records showing that the president loaned his brother the same amount.
Hunter Biden wrote in a January 2019 message taken from his former laptop that he had to give “half” of his income to Joe Biden and the Oversight Committee in May identified nine members of the Biden family who allegedly received foreign funds.
While vice president, Joe Biden attended two dinners at the DC Café Milano restaurant in 2014 and 2015 with his son’s clients from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer told the Oversight Committee on July 31.
Dinner guests who met the veep at the time included Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, who paid Hunter up to $1 million a year starting in April 2014 to serve on his board when his father assumed control of the Obama administration’s Ukraine Policy.
Hunter Biden walked out of a rally in Dubai to “call DC” with Burisma owners Mykola Zlochevsky and Pozharsky in December 2015, Archer also told lawmakers.
An FBI whistleblower file released in July by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky claimed in 2016 that he was “forced” to pay $10 million in bribes to Joe and Hunter Biden in exchange for the then-vice president. assisted in the overthrow of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin.
Claims of corruption have not been proven.
Joe Biden was also put on speaker phone while the vice president during about 20 business meetings with foreign Hunter associates, including French and Chinese nationals, Archer told the Oversight Committee.
Joe and Hunter Biden met with business partners from Kazakhstan. KIAR
Vice President Biden at the time also met with a business partner linked to the Chinese government, Jonathan Li in Beijing in December 2013.
The then second son founded state-backed investment fund BHR Partners with Li as the firm’s CEO just 12 days after landing in Beijing with his father on an official visit. Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s children and later spoke with her on speakerphone during one of Hunter’s trips to Beijing, Archer said.
Li reportedly loaned his first son $250,000 in July 2019 — three months after Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign — and Hunter allegedly transferred the debt to Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who also allegedly acquired the eldest son’s 10% stake in BHR Partners late in Biden’s first year. years as president in a situation that is still unclear.
Text messages released in June by House Republicans directly named Joe Biden as involved in the destruction of a different Chinese government-linked business — CEFC China Energy, which reportedly transferred at least $6.1 million to Hunter and James Biden in 2017 and 2018, soon again after Joe Biden left office as vice president.
Hunter Biden wrote on July 30, 2017, that he was “sitting here with my father” and warned of consequences if the deal was canceled after the Biden family’s initial $1 million payment.
“I’m sitting here with my father and we want to understand why the commitments made are not being met,” Hunter Biden wrote in a WhatsApp message provided to Congress by IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley.
“Tell the director that I want to finish it now before it gets out of hand, and now that means tonight,” the now 53-year-old continued, warning he would “make sure that between the guy sitting next to me and everyone he knows and my ability to hold a grudge forever that you will regret not following my orders.”
“I’m sitting here waiting for a call with my dad,” Hunter repeated.
Hunter was at his father’s Wilmington, Del., home the same day he sent the message.
In the two weeks after the threat, $5.1 million flowed from CEFC to accounts linked to Biden, according to a 2020 report by a Republican-led Senate committee.
Hunter and James Biden associate James Gilliar wrote in a May 2017 email that partners were considering a 10% cut for Joe Biden and an October 2017 email identified Joe Biden as a participant in a call about CEFC’s attempt to buy US natural gas.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
