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'Shady Business': House Republicans Press Biden Admin for Biden Family's Secret Bank Records

'The Biden family peddled influence and access around the world for profit, often at the expense of our nation's interests,' said Rep. James Comer

Hunter Biden
(Getty Images)
January 11, 2023

House Republicans are pressing the Biden administration to hand over bank records related to the Biden family and their business cronies.

Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in a letter Tuesday asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to provide Suspicious Activity Reports related to Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden, his aunt Sara Biden, and several of their former business partners. The Bidens' banks have submitted more than 150 Suspicious Activity Reports, which flag bank transactions that might signal criminal activity such as tax evasion or money laundering, related to the family's business activity over the years. 

The documents are likely to shed light on Biden's business in China, Ukraine, Russia, and other foreign nations. Republicans have questioned to what extent President Joe Biden was involved in his son's business arrangements. While the White House has denied Biden was involved, a former Hunter Biden business partner has said that he met with the Biden family in 2017 to discuss a multimillion-dollar business deal with a Chinese energy conglomerate. 

Emails from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop also discuss an investment stake for "the Big Guy." Hunter Biden's business partners have said the email is a reference to Joe Biden. 

"For years, the Biden family peddled influence and access around the world for profit, often at the expense of our nation's interests," Comer said. "The American people must know the extent of Joe Biden's involvement in his family's shady business deals and if these deals threaten national security and his decision-making as president." 

The Republican onslaught comes as the Justice Department is investigating Hunter Biden over his taxes and foreign business dealings. 

Oversight Committee Republicans in November said the president's links to his son's businesses left him "open to influence, blackmail, or extortion by malign or foreign entities such as the CCP." The House investigation is likely to focus on Hunter Biden's work with CEFC China Energy, an energy conglomerate with ties to Chinese intelligence. The company paid Hunter Biden at least $6 million in 2017 to procure energy investment deals in the United States. 

The Biden administration has so far refused congressional requests for nearly all of the Suspicious Activity Reports filed against Hunter, according to Comer. The congressman detailed two of the reports at a press conference last year. One related to Hunter Biden's payments to an escort service. The other flagged nearly 100 wire transfers between February 2014 and August 2019 totaling $2,461,962 involving Biden's activities in China. 

Comer sent a flurry of other inquiries related to the Bidens this week. On Monday, he asked the National Archives and White House attorneys for details about a batch of classified documents found at Joe Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank the president launched in 2017. The documents contain classified information related to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom, according to CNN.

Comer is also seeking testimony from three former Twitter executives involved in the company's decision to censor a news article before the 2020 presidential election about Hunter Biden's business dealings. Comer is asking the former executives, Yoel Roth, James Baker, and Vijaya Gadde, to testify on Feb. 16.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.