The White House claims that the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of Hunter Biden’s business dealings is entirely without merit or substance. Nevertheless, Republicans continue to amass evidence pointing to a sprawling web of financial payments to Biden family members from various foreign entities. On May 10, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) produced a 36-page document based largely on Biden family bank records. The report alleges that the Bidens enriched themselves with financial payments from various overseas companies in China, Romania, and other countries as part of a “pay-to-play,” scheme or what Comer refers to as influence peddling.
It Pays to Be a Biden Family Member
Comer’s memo does not show proof of any payments going directly to Joe Biden, though it has already been revealed that money flowed through several shell companies set up by or on behalf of Biden family members. The Oversight Committee chairman also divulged the names of those alleged to be recipients of the money: Joe Biden’s brother James and his wife Sarah, Beau Biden’s widow Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden’s current wife Melissa Cohen, and his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle are all believed to have received payments along with Hunter Biden. Three grandchildren are also mentioned. The memo stated:
“The Bidens and their business associates formed a series of companies in a relatively short amount of time; the overwhelming majority were created during Joe Biden’s vice presidency. The Committee has identified over 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members and their business associates, formed mostly in Delaware and Washington, D.C. The services provided by some of these companies, the purpose for creating such a complicated corporate structure, and whether ethics/financial disclosure laws should require a public official to publicly disclose the identities of such companies remain under scrutiny by the Committee.
“After assuming the vice presidency in 2009, records reveal Hunter Biden and his business associates formed at least 15 companies.”
Providing some background on the investigation, the document also noted: “The Committee has subpoenaed four different banks and received thousands of records in response. The Committee’s bank subpoenas were tailored to specific individuals and companies that engaged in business activities with Biden family members and their business associates.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Based on subpoenaed records provided by Bank of America, Comer revealed that Biden family members or their companies received more than $1.3 million in payments between 2015 and 2017 from accounts linked to Rob Walker, an associate of Hunter Biden. These payments began about three months after a Chinese company, State Energy HK, wired $3 million to the account of Robinson Walker LLC. This was in 2017, two months after Joe Biden had left the White House as Barack Obama’s vice president.
Should Have Sat This One Out
Whether Hunter Biden or any family members committed financial or other crimes has not been determined. Of more concern is whether Joe Biden himself can be connected to what certainly appears to be an influence-peddling and/or money-laundering scheme. He has repeatedly claimed he was not involved in his son’s business affairs. However, various pieces of evidence, including White House visitor logs, photographs, and emails from Hunter’s infamous laptop show that, while vice president, Biden met with more than one of Hunter’s business associates on multiple occasions.
The GOP memo also noted that, during a 2020 presidential debate, Joe Biden claimed his son had never made any money from China:
“My son has not made money in terms of this thing about – what are you talking about – China. I have not had – The only guy who made money from China is this guy [Donald Trump]. He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”
Joe and Hunter Biden (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The senior Biden seems to have put himself in a difficult position. He should probably have sat this one out. If no connections can be verified between himself and his son’s financial activities, Joe Biden could have quietly distanced himself from any criminal charges brought against Hunter. But it’s not that simple because the father chose to vocally defend the son. Joe Biden has claimed he never discussed his son’s business, which seems almost impossible, given the frequent White House visits from at least one of Hunter’s business partners. He also claimed, as mentioned above, that “Nobody … has made money from China.” Bank records appear to show that this claim is enormously hard to believe. Having wandered into the fray, instead of pleading ignorance, Joe Biden has entangled himself in this scandal even if he were not already caught up in it. If Hunter is eventually indicted and convicted, his father will be under suspicion of having at least covered up those as yet unproven crimes – even if he was not directly involved.
Given the existence of the array of companies connected to Biden family members and their associates, the financial records, and the emails, Joe Biden’s continued insistence that none of it exists cannot be a good look, even to the thirty-something percent of the nation that still supports him. Perhaps he knows or hopes that the entire matter will simply be swept away. That sounds conspiratorial, but it is the only thing that explains why Biden continues to double down on blanket denials that ring utterly hollow in the face of the still-mounting evidence.
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