WASHINGTON – The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas on Wednesday demanding secret testimony from President Biden’s son Hunter and brother James as part of the GOP impeachment inquiry into the family’s foreign business dealings.
James, 73, and Hunter, 53, frequently involved their powerful relatives in their business dealings during his eight-year vice presidency and in the years that followed, including in ventures involving China and Ukraine.
“The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved and benefited from his family’s influence peddling scheme,” said committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).
“Now, the House Oversight Committee will bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence.”
The committee set a December 13 date for Hunter Biden to appear for an interview and a December 6 date for James Biden to appear. If one refuses to comply, the panel can recommend criminal charges for contempt of Congress.
The GOP-led committee also subpoenaed testimony from Biden family associate Rob Walker and sought voluntary testimony from James Biden’s wife Sara, Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend/sister-in-law Hallie Biden and his current wife Melissa Cohen, in addition to Biden’s ex. family associate Tony Bobulinski and Hallie Biden’s younger sister Elizabeth Secundy.
The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena on Wednesday seeking closed-door testimony from President Biden’s son Hunter and brother James. Saquan Stimpson – CNP
“Unlike the many lies that President Biden has told the American people about his family’s business schemes, bank records don’t lie,” Comer said.
“These records reveal how the Biden family sold Joe Biden around the world to benefit the Biden family, including Joe Biden himself, to the detriment of US interests.”
Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), whose panel is part of the impeachment inquiry, wrote to Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, that his testimony is needed to determine whether the president should be impeached.
“The committee is investigating whether sufficient grounds exist to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House,” Comer and Jordan wrote.
“The committee needs your client’s testimony to provide evidence related to the dismissal investigation. In particular, your client has personal knowledge of whether and how President Biden has been involved in his family’s business affairs,” the chairman added.
“The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence that reveals how Joe Biden knew, was involved and benefited from his family’s influence peddling scheme,” said committee Chairman James Comer. FOX News
“Your client is also in a position to provide information regarding whether, among others, Joe Biden, as Vice President and/or President: (1) takes any official action or implements any change in government policy for money or other matters. the value placed on himself or his family, including whether he asked then-Vice President Biden to intervene in Ukraine’s investigation into companies paying your clients large sums of money; (2) abuses his position of public trust by giving access to foreign interests to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him; or (3) abuses his position of public trust by knowingly participating in a scheme to enrich himself or his family by giving the impression to foreign interests that they will receive access to him and his office in exchange for payment to his or his family. This deposition will allow your client to provide answers about the services he and others provided in return for the millions of dollars the Committee has identified and whether they are connected to public offices held by President Biden.”
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.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her regular briefing Wednesday that the subpoena was based on a “smear campaign” and that Comer was conducting a “baseless investigation.”
“This is an investigation that has been going on for a year now and has shown zero evidence of wrongdoing by the president because there is none,” he said.
A representative for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. James Biden and Walker also did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Comer recently released subpoenaed bank records showing that James Biden paid his brother $40,000 in 2017 and $200,000 in 2018 in checks labeled “loan repayment.” AP
It’s possible Hunter Biden refused to answer many questions even though he was present because special counsel David Weiss is expected to refile criminal charges against him over about $2 million in unpaid taxes on foreign income from 2014 through 2019. The first son left in July of the plea agreement is only an attempt for tax fraud.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden repeatedly said he “never” talked business with members of his family, but evidence has emerged that he actually interacted with their associates from China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine.
Comer recently released subpoenaed bank records showing that James Biden paid his brother $40,000 in 2017 and $200,000 in 2018 using checks labeled “loan repayment” that the Republican says directly implicates the president in benefiting from foreign affairs.
The Oversight chairman said the 2017 sum was from “laundered” Chinese-origin funds and the 2018 payment from James’ receipt of $200,000 from a troubled US hospital supplier – which the first brother promised to connect with Middle Eastern investors.
The White House said there was evidence that the transfers were indeed loans, although Comer aides said the money transferred to James Biden actually came from a law firm linked to some of Biden’s relatives, clouding the picture.
Comer’s investigation has also turned up additional evidence of Joe Biden interacting with his relatives’ business partners, although Democrats have dismissed that information as merely showing the elder Biden was a concerned family member.
Former Hunter Biden ally Devon Archer told the Oversight Committee on July 31 that Joe Biden used speakerphone for about 20 of his son’s business meetings and that Hunter and two executives from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings called Vice President Biden from Dubai in December 2015.
Hunter Biden wrote in a January 2019 message taken from his former laptop that he should give “half” of his earnings to Joe Biden. MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Comer is investigating multiple allegations, including an unproven FBI whistleblower’s claim that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky revealed in 2016 that he was “forced” to pay Joe and Hunter Biden $10 million in bribes to help oust the nation’s top prosecutor.
Joe Biden also dined with representatives from Burisma — which paid Hunter $1 million a year to serve on its board while his father steered US policy in Ukraine — in April 2015 in Washington.
A pair of Chinese ventures involving Hunter Biden have also gained attention.
“These records reveal how the Biden family sold Joe Biden around the world to benefit the Biden family, including Joe Biden himself, to the detriment of US interests,” Comer said.NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
In 2013, Joe Biden met for coffee in Beijing with his son’s business partner Jonathan Li less than two weeks before he and his eldest son now launched the Chinese government-backed investment fund BHR Partners, in which Hunter holds a 10% stake through at least part of from his father’s term as president.
In a second China business deal, with government-linked CEFC China Energy, Joe Biden allegedly met with his brother’s son and associate — and in a May 2017 email, referred to him as a “big guy” because of a potential 10% cut.
Joe Biden was also listed as a participant in an October 2017 call about the firm’s attempt to buy US natural gas.
Hunter invoked his powerful father in a July 2017 text message demanding CEFC’s China-based affiliate proceed with the business deal, writing he was “sitting here with my father.”
Comer is investigating allegations of embezzlement, including an FBI whistleblower’s claim that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky was “forced” to pay Joe and Hunter Biden $10 million in bribes. Getty Images
In the 10 days following the threat, $5.1 million flowed into Biden-related accounts — following an initial level of $1 million in March 2017, less than two months after Joe Biden ended his vice presidency.
The first son launched a new career as an artist shortly after his father entered the White House and has reportedly sold at least $1.3 million of his new artwork.
The Monitoring Committee is looking for information on the buyer.
One of them was reportedly Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who was able to score numerous visits to the Biden White House and presidential appointments to prestigious boards.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
