A “new Biden family member” implicated in the probe, Oversight chairman said: Rep. James Comer reveals that his committee’s subpoena of records revealed that a member of the Biden family has come up.
Biden Legal Drama: Part II?
Republicans in Congress, led by the House Oversight Committee, have begun probing years of bank records from associates of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, among other actions and behavior of his.
The latest story is that a “new Biden family member” received some proceeds from a $3 million wire received by a Biden associate “weeks after Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2017,” the New York Post reported.
The wire, per the report, had “ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
“The very next day after that wire was received, the Walker account started transferring money into three different Biden family members’ accounts, including a new Biden family member that’s never before been identified as someone being involved in the influence-peddling scheme,” Rep. Comer said in an interview with Sean Hannity this week. “Walker” is John “Rob” Walker, an associate of Hunter Biden.
“The media says, ‘Well, this is a Hunter Biden investigation.’ This is an investigation of Joe Biden. And we’re investigating the Biden family and again, after this new batch of information, it expands,” Comer said to Hannity, per the New York Post.
Comer did not reveal the person’s name or their relation to the president but is expected to do so at some point.
It is presumably not the president himself because Comer would likely have named his name if it were. It’s also not clear who the two individuals are and what their “ties” are to China’s government.
Comer said in the interview that his theory is that, in the Post’s words, “the Biden family was running an influence-peddling operation, possibly without being properly registered as foreign agents.”
What is Going On?
But the Committee has not established that there is, in fact, a “influence-peddling” operation in place.
The $3 million wire, according to the committee, was received after Joseph Biden left the vice presidency, at a time when it was widely assumed that Biden was likely done with electoral politics.
The subpoena for banking records from Bank of America was the first by Comer in his time as chairman.
Per ABC News, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the committee, has accused the Republicans on the committee of coordinating with lawyers for former President Trump to block a previous probe into Trump’s businesses, involving his accounting firm.
“On January 19, 2023, Patrick Strawbridge, counsel for Donald Trump, wrote to counsel for Mazars, stating ‘I do not know the status of Mazars [sic] production, but my understanding is that the Committee has no interest in forcing Mazars to complete it and is willing to release it from further obligations under the settlement agreement.” Rep. Raskin wrote in the letter.
The House GOP spokesperson, however, denied Raskin’s statement.
“The accusation by Ranking Member Raskin is completely unfounded and untrue. There has been no coordination or discussion with anyone from the Committee’s majority with anyone about the Mazars documents,” the spokesperson said.
Hunter, per ABC News, has denied doing anything illegal, although he has “acknowledged that his family ties likely bolstered his career.” Hunter did not comment on the ABC News story.
There has been an investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax returns that has gone on for at least a year. As of last fall, per The BBC, there was a report that the FBI had “ gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and making a false statement to buy a gun,” although no charges have been brought.
A defense of the younger Biden came from an unlikely source Wednesday: Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera.
“Hunter Biden has been investigated for almost five years,” Rivera said on Twitter. “Aside from fact he’s been a junkie dirtbag nothing remotely criminal has been uncovered. Put up or shut up.”
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Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
