Hunter Biden investigation: Comer unveils 'Biden family’s influence peddling' in Romania and China

Jerry Dunleavy

May 10, 08:59 AM May 10, 09:03 AM

A top House Republican investigator released new financial records from his investigation into “the Biden family’s influence peddling and business schemes” by highlighting bank records related to Hunter Biden-linked business deals in Romania and China.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a 36-page memo on Wednesday, noting his committee had subpoenaed four banks and received thousands of records. The report argues the bank records show that “the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million” from companies belonging to foreign nationals, with Republicans identifying payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while Joe Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama and after Joe Biden left public office in early 2017.

ELEVEN HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP LETTER SIGNERS HAVE VISITED BIDEN WHITE HOUSE

“The transactions in Romania and China show related but separate issues identified by the Committee that raise serious questions about financial disclosures and risks to national security,” Comer’s new memo alleged.

Comer said that “the Romanian transactions show evidence of influence peddling and a correlation between Biden family and their business associates’ work and then Vice President Biden’s responsibilities while in office.”

The Kentucky Republican added that his committee “is also providing additional information about the Biden family’s troubling receipt of payments from China, particularly the individual Ye Jianming and his company, CEFC, to show what was from 2015 to 2018 a growing interest by people closely tied to the CCP in cultivating a relationship with the Biden family.”

Comer’s new memo follows a subpoena he sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking information about an alleged bribery scheme tied to then-Vice President Biden and an unnamed foreign national.

The new GOP memo does not detail any foreign payments going directly to Joe Biden. The Washington Examiner reported last year that Hunter Biden spent over $30,000 on escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an “exclusive model agency" called UberGFE during a 3 1/2 month period between November 2018 and March 2019. He managed to do so thanks in part to Joe Biden committing to wiring him a total of $100,000 to help pay his bills from December 2018 through January 2019.

Comer had revealed new Biden family financial details in March after he obtained them through a subpoena of Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker's financial records at Bank of America. The House Oversight chairman revealed that “from 2015 through 2017, Biden family members and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments” from accounts tied to Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker.

Comer said more than $1 million was sent in incremental payments to Hunter Biden, his uncle and Joe’s brother James Biden, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s deceased son, Beau Biden, with whom Hunter was having a romantic relationship in 2017 following his brother’s death, shortly after Walker received a $3 million wire from a Chinese company called State Energy HK.

President Biden denied these details, which Comer considers facts backed by clear evidence.

Hunter Biden’s legal team had indeed seemingly confirmed, and defended, the payments in a March statement.

During an October 2020 debate with then-President Donald Trump, then-candidate Joe Biden also incorrectly claimed that his son never made money from China.

Shortly before the March 2017 Chinese wires from State Energy HK occurred, now-former CEFC leader Ye Jianming met with Hunter Biden on Feb. 14, 2017, in Miami, Florida. It was there that Ye reportedly gifted Hunter Biden with a 3.16-carat diamond allegedly valued at $80,000.

Comer said on Wednesday that State Energy HK “appears to be Ye’s vehicle, at least in part, to launder money and purchase lucrative gifts.” The memo said that “the purported Chinese energy company made over $23 million in purchases from a retail diamond/jewelry business” in 2016 and 2017, including “$2 million in purchases from the Diamond Business” in late 2016 and early 2017. Comer said that “these transactions align with when Ye sent a large diamond to Hunter Biden in Miami.”

Biden White House oversight spokesman Ian Sams said Wednesday that Comer “is loudly and proudly broadcasting a press conference today to continue his long pattern of making absurd claims that President Biden has made governing decisions not in the interest of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party, using baseless claims, personal attacks, and innuendo to try to score political points.”

The new GOP memo also said Wednesday that, prior to the wire from State Energy HK, Hunter Biden associates Rob Walker and James Gilliar, as well as Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden, “received payments from a Romanian source, and many of the payments were made while Joe Biden was Vice President and working directly on the U.S.’s official policy in Romania.”

The House Republican memo argued that actions in Romania taken by the Biden family and its associates “bear clear indicia of a scheme to peddle influence” from 2015 to 2017, arguing that “while Vice President Biden lectured Romania on corruption and ethics, Hunter Biden received — through Biden associate Rob Walker — over a million dollars from a company controlled by a Romanian individual accused of corruption (Gabriel Popoviciu).”

Comer released bank records showing “the Biden family’s receipt of money from a foreign company reportedly controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, the subject of a criminal probe and prosecution for corruption in Romania.” The payments came around the same timeframe that then-Vice President Biden delivered speeches and met with Romanian leaders in 2014 and 2015 regarding corruption in the country. Comer said his committee “is concerned about the Biden family’s pattern of courting business in regions of the world in which the then Vice President had an outsize role and influenced U.S. policy.”

Vice President Biden gave a May 2014 speech to Romania’s government leaders, where he declared that “corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy.”

“The Committee strongly agrees that corruption poses a national security risk,” Comer wrote. “At the time of Vice President Biden’s speech, one of the most high-profile corruption prosecutions in Romania revolved around Gabriel Popoviciu. Romanian prosecutors charged and convicted Mr. Popoviciu with a bribery related offense, and there has been subsequent litigation in the United Kingdom related to this matter.”

Vice President Biden also welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House in September 2015, where the two discussed anti-corruption efforts.

Comer wrote that, within five weeks of that meeting, Bladon Enterprises, which is “reported to be Gabriel Popoviciu’s Cypriot company” that he used to conduct business in Romania, “began making deposits into Robinson Walker LLC’s bank account.” Comer said Blandon Enterprises paid Robinson Walker LLC “over $3 million” from November 2015 to May 2017, and that “Biden family accounts received approximately $1.038 million from the Robinson Walker LLC account after Bladon Enterprises deposits.”

The new memo said that sixteen of those seventeen payments were made while Joe Biden was still vice president, and that money was then sent to Hunter Biden associate James Gilliar, Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden-linked businesses such as Owasco P.C. and RSTP24 II LLC, as well as to “an unknown Biden bank account.”

Hunter Biden reached out to former FBI Director Louis Freeh in 2016 to see if he could help Popoviciu.

“It appears from bank records the Bidens were using Robinson Walker LLC to conceal that the source of these payments was Popoviciu,” Comer wrote. “The Committee is further concerned that while Vice President Biden advocated publicly for anti-corruption policies in Romania, bank records show Biden family members and business associates were simultaneously reaping in significant amounts of money from a Romanian individual at the center of a Romanian corruption scandal.”

Hunter Biden and his associated businesses are also believed to have received at least $5 million in payments from Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC in 2017 and 2018, and Ye Jianming’s deputy Patrick Ho also agreed to pay Hunter Biden a $1 million retainer. Hunter referred to Ho as "the f***ing spy chief of China" in a May 11, 2018, voice recording.

“The Committee is investigating the corrupt conduct of Ye — and others with ties to the CCP — who used CEFC and Chinese companies to entice Biden family members with millions of dollars in exchange for influence and legitimacy in the United States and abroad,” Comer’s new memo said.

Comer wrote that CEFC deputy Gongwen Dong formed CEFC Infrastructure in Delaware in May 2017, and that Hudson West V, a company directed by Dong which received a $24 million wire from Ye and formed a partnership with Hunter Biden, was the sole equity member of CEFC. A week later, the memo said that Hudson West V “assigned 100 percent of its interest” to the Chinese company Shanghai Huaxin Group. Shanghai Huaxin “funded the CEFC Infrastructure bank account with a significant injection of $10 million from China” in June 2017, Comer said, and then CEFC Infrastructure wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s Owasco P.C. on Aug. 4, 2017.

“The Biden family and associates’ activities in coordination with Chinese nationals and their corporate entities appear to be an attempt to engage in financial deception,” Comer wrote on Wednesday.

Democratic group launches six-figure ad campaign demanding investigation into Trump family

Cami Mondeaux

May 10, 08:00 AM May 10, 08:00 AM

EXCLUSIVE — House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is facing renewed calls to investigate former President Donald Trump and his family members, with one Democratic-aligned activist group pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into ads accusing the Trump administration of fraternizing with foreign adversaries.

The Congressional Integrity Project is set to launch a monthslong ad campaign demanding the Oversight Committee open investigations into the Trump family similar to those Comer has initiated against President Joe Biden since taking over as chairman in January. The group specifically requests inquiries into the conduct of former senior adviser Jared Kushner and Trump’s three oldest children, accusing the four of “influence peddling” while Trump was in office.

COMER SAYS HE KNOWS WHAT COUNTRY IS AT THE CENTER OF BIDEN’S ALLEGED ‘CRIMINAL SCHEME’

“It has been over a hundred days since Comer said his committee would investigate the Trump family, and they have been radio silent on announcing hearings or sending letters requesting information,” Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, said in a statement. “If Comer actually cared about potential influence peddling and corruption, he would be investigating how Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, and Jared Kushner profited off their time in the White House instead of these baseless political stunts.”

The campaign spending will go toward TV ads, political events, protests, billboards, airplane banners, and more while specifically targeting key Republican congressional districts ahead of the 2024 election cycle.

The group will also launch a website detailing several instances of alleged profiteering and influence peddling carried out by Kushner and Trump’s oldest children, including business deals conducted with foreign governments while Trump was in office. The website will then link to a petition voters can sign to demand a House-led investigation.

“Comer would rather use his time to hold conspiracy theory-filled hearings and go on WHD News and Newsmax than hold these investigations that are all teed up for him,” Herrig said.

The Congressional Integrity Project pointed to multiple reports they say should be thoroughly investigated by lawmakers that involve foreign governments and Trump’s family members.

For example, the group pointed to Kushner’s contacts with foreign officials in at least four countries that he reportedly failed to disclose to the National Security Council during the first two years of the Trump administration. Those relationships prompted concern among U.S. intelligence agencies after it was discovered foreign officials privately discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his business arrangements and lack of foreign policy experience, according to the Washington Post.

Members of the Congressional Integrity Project also cited instances in which Trump directed his chief of staff to grant Kushner a top-secret security clearance despite pushback from top intelligence officials, according to a whistleblower report in 2019. The House Oversight Committee, then led by Democrats, voted to subpoena an ex-White House official for his testimony regarding the matter, with all 15 Republicans on the panel voting against the measure.

Comer initially indicated he would continue investigations into the Trump administration after taking control of the Oversight Committee, telling WHD News in January it would “be a part of our overall investigation."

“Both Democrats and Republicans have complained about this with the previous two administrations,” he said. “So something needs to be done.”

However, he made clear at the time that Oversight Republicans would focus their attention on Biden — later dropping a number of investigations into Trump that he inherited from the last Congress.

The Congressional Integrity Project’s ad buy is the latest escalation in House Republicans’ investigations into the president’s family and their business dealings, which has become a focal point of their agenda after taking control of the lower chamber earlier this year. Many of these investigations have focused specifically on the president’s son Hunter.

The matter first took prominence during the 2020 election as the GOP sought to determine whether then-candidate Joe Biden benefited financially from his son’s business transactions, pointing to national security concerns.

The Oversight Committee has made that a high priority in recent months, with Comer leading investigations into the Bidens’ business dealings “to determine if the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors, if President Biden is compromised, and if there is a national security threat.” Comer is scheduled to give an update on those investigations on Wednesday morning.

Comer shrugs off attack by Democratic-aligned group flying banner over Kentucky Derby

Cami Mondeaux

May 06, 04:13 PM May 06, 04:13 PM

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) shrugged off attacks by the Democratic-aligned activist group Congressional Integrity Project flying a helicopter over the Kentucky Derby with a banner calling for an investigation into the influential House Republican.

The banner, which flew over Churchill Downs as thousands of people gathered to watch the annual horse race, simply displayed a website URL: investigatecomer.com. The website directs users to an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal reporting on a letter requesting an investigation into the Republican leader for his actions while running for governor in 2015.

COMER SAYS HE KNOWS WHAT COUNTRY IS AT THE CENTER OF BIDEN’S ALLEGED ‘CRIMINAL SCHEME’

During that campaign, Comer allegedly obtained and distributed leaked emails to intimidate a former girlfriend as well as his political opponent, prompting an outcry from critics who say he must be investigated for his possible involvement. The allegations stem from a profile piece on the congressman in the New York Times in March that detailed the scheme.

“Comer all but admitted to the New York Times that his gubernatorial campaign had a hand in stealing a server, hacking emails, and leaking them,” the group wrote in a statement. “His constituents deserve to know who their Representative really is. Comer has proven himself to be vindictive and driven by revenge, even in his role as chair of the House Oversight Committee, launching baseless investigations designed to hurt President Biden, and his family, while ignoring the issues families care about.”

Comer responded to the helicopter banner on Saturday afternoon, claiming the stunt would actually do more to help his reputation rather than harm it.

“This desperate political stunt by the Bidens is helping me so much politically in Kentucky today, I wonder if I will be required to list it as an in-kind donation from China on my next campaign finance report?” he said in a tweet. “We on [the Oversight Committee] will hold any politician, any government official, any corrupt attorney, or any Biden accountable for both public corruption and intimidating whistleblowers.”

The tweet referenced Comer’s latest investigation regarding unclassified records detailing an alleged “criminal scheme” between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national during the Obama administration.

Comer issued the subpoena in conjunction with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Wednesday, demanding access to an FBI-generated FD-1023 form they say details an exchange of money between Biden and a foreign national that may have influenced U.S. policy decisions. The two Republicans were tipped off about the document’s existence by a whistleblower, although it remains unclear what wrongdoing Biden is being accused of conducting.

The subpoena is the latest development in House Republicans’ investigations into the president’s family and their business dealings, which became a focal point of their agenda after taking control of the lower chamber earlier this year.

The Oversight Committee has made that a high priority in recent months, with Comer leading investigations into the Bidens’ business dealings “to determine if the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors, if President Biden is compromised, and if there is a national security threat,” he wrote.

Comer says he knows what country is at the center of Biden's alleged 'criminal scheme'

Cami Mondeaux

May 05, 09:15 AM May 05, 09:15 AM

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) responded to criticism over his decision to subpoena the FBI over unclassified records detailing an alleged “criminal scheme” by then-Vice President Joe Biden, noting he’s “confident” the document exists and that he knows its contents.

In an interview with WHD News on Thursday, the top Republican told host Sean Hannity he knows what country and policy decision are at the center of the alleged scheme but that he “is not at liberty” to disclose the information publicly. His comments come two days after Comer subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding access to an unclassified record detailing an illegal arrangement between Biden and a foreign national during the Obama administration.

BIDEN INVESTIGATION: GOP SUBPOENAS FBI DIRECTOR WRAY FOR DETAILS ON ALLEGED ‘CRIMINAL SCHEME’

"We're very confident that this does exist. We're very confident in the whistleblower. And look, this fits a pattern of behavior that the Bidens have done," Comer said. "It's my understanding that it is submitted within their database and it's very difficult to take that out and destroy it because I had that same question.”

Comer issued the subpoena in conjunction with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Wednesday, demanding access to an FBI-generated FD-1023 form they say details an exchange of money between Biden and a foreign national that may have influenced U.S. policy decisions. The two Republicans were tipped off about the document’s existence by a whistleblower, although it remains unclear what wrongdoing Biden is being accused of conducting.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner earlier this week that it received the subpoena and letter from the GOP lawmakers. The agency declined to comment further.

The subpoena is the latest development in House Republicans’ investigations into the president’s family and their business dealings, which became a focal point of their agenda after taking control of the lower chamber earlier this year. Many of these investigations have focused specifically on the president’s son Hunter.

The matter first took prominence during the 2020 election as the GOP sought to determine whether then-candidate Joe Biden benefited financially from his son’s transactions, pointing to national security concerns.

The Oversight Committee has made that a high priority in recent months, with Comer leading investigations into the Bidens’ business dealings “to determine if the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors, if President Biden is compromised, and if there is a national security threat,” he wrote.

“The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national,” Comer said. “The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself. Sen. Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people.”

The panel has obtained thousands of documents detailing the family’s financial records and business transactions, including one report that showed the Bidens’ received more than $1 million from a Chinese company through a third party from 2015 to 2017.

Grassley has also raised concerns about political bias affecting high-level investigations at the FBI, particularly those that focus on the Biden family’s foreign business deals. However, those efforts have failed to garner much momentum in the Democratic-led Senate.

China hawks on hunt as Republicans eye new congressional majorities

Katherine Doyle

November 01, 04:00 AM November 01, 04:00 AM

Republicans eyeing control of the House next year have trained their sights on China. Yet efforts to increase oversight of Beijing’s reach have faced resistance from some lawmakers tipped for top leadership posts in a new Republican-led Congress.

The dynamic could challenge House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is expected to launch a select committee on China focusing on national security, trade, and economic issues, likely with subpoena power, if Republicans take the gavel.

McCarthy's effort “will look at China under a lens,” a source said, shaping the focus of the chairmen of committees of jurisdiction. “They’re going to look at everything that touches China that is important to us from a national security standpoint or as an essential industry.”

Amid this, some moves by Republicans set to hold vital positions next January are drawing scrutiny.

CLIMATE ENVOY JOHN KERRY WEIGHS DEPARTURE AS REPUBLICAN WAVE LOOMS: REPORT

In a letter on behalf of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform last week, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) urged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to reconsider tariffs on aluminum imports, a pillar of former President Donald Trump’s U.S.-China trade war, citing economic pressures driven by inflation.

The tariff issue spilled into public earlier this year when McCarthy and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including 60 Republicans, urged President Joe Biden’s top trade official to expand tariff exclusions on Chinese goods. Aimed at pressuring China to halt what U.S. officials described as a pattern of unfair trade practices and theft of American intellectual property, the Trump-era tariffs have been repeatedly challenged by business groups lobbying the White House and Congress.

At the time, Peter Navarro, White House director of trade and manufacturing policy during the Trump administration, warned that Republicans proposing to weaken the tariffs were inviting challengers.

While Trump and his former top trade officials are unlikely to be tracking the gavel fights, “they’re paying attention to how McCarthy sets the agenda,” said a former Republican aide familiar with the negotiations.

There have also been grumblings that Comer, the ranking member on the powerful House Oversight Committee, has been difficult to work with on legislative safeguards that would prohibit taxpayer money from going to China.

The federal government spends billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded research to develop advanced technologies, even as inadequate federal oversight has allowed American jobs and innovation to move overseas to China.

Comer’s office sparred with Senate aides last week over the bipartisan Invent Here, Make Here for Homeland Security Act, which would make it more difficult to send cutting-edge products developed with taxpayer-funded research overseas.

A Republican Oversight Committee aide said Comer cleared the Invent Here provision for inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday and rejected the notion that he is unwilling to confront Beijing.

“Any suggestion that ranking member Comer is soft on China is absurd. Simply look at any number of the Oversight Committee’s recent letters," the aide said. "Dozens of NDAA provisions provided to staff have not been vetted through regular order, and no one has shared any information on the work that has been done to determine the implications of each one, including whether they are narrowly and appropriately focused so they don’t needlessly drive up costs for American businesses and consumers. When we have questions or research that needs to be done, we do our own and ask for supporting information from the bill's sponsors, in this case from the Senate."

Over the summer, senators pushed to return protective guardrails to legislation that was set to increase federal spending for research significantly. According to a Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General report, more than two-thirds of National Institutes of Health grant recipients failed to meet federal requirements for disclosing foreign financial interests, including at least one instance of taxpayer-funded researchers failing to disclose ties to China’s government-run Thousand Talents Plan.

The amendment was stripped from the final bill by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) after Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), the ranking member on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, declined to back it.

A source familiar with the situation called it “surprising” that Lucas, who is set to chair the House Science Committee, “would veto strong research security provisions and let American taxpayer-funded innovation to continue to be stolen and used against us by China.”

“It’s completely out of sync with where Republicans are on this issue,” the source said.

Comer, who had backed the provision, rescinded his support amid Lucas’s objections.

China hawks are also eyeing U.S.-China financial ties, with Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the top Republican on the House Financial Service Committee, likely to face pressure to submit Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors to new scrutiny.

Yet fears that Republicans will pay lip service to tough-on-China policies while balking at enforcement measures are not limited to the House.

Last month, Senate aides looking to include in the NDAA country-of-origin labeling on imported foods and other goods, a provision intended to promote American products, pressed for approval from Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Staff for Wicker, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, indicated that in order to move ahead, they would require sign-off from the Chamber of Commerce and National Retail Federation and planned to share the text with them.

The negotiations illustrate a divide among Republicans who favor increased U.S. trade to overseas competitors such as China and are looking to unwind the stringent trade rules enacted under Trump and those searching for ways to protect U.S. jobs and technological advances from outside threats.

It is a dynamic that could pose a challenge for McCarthy in the next Congress if Republicans assume control.

“McCarthy is trying to build his China chops,” a source said. “That his oversight chairman is going to balk at a safeguard provision to ensure our inventions and cutting-edge technologies are made here, that’s a problem for the next speaker.”

Republicans wants answers over Biden's secret Delaware visitor logs

Asher Notheis

October 21, 09:14 AM October 21, 09:16 AM

Republicans want answers on the lack of transparency on visitor logs from President Joe Biden's Delaware home.

The White House has dodged questions on a report that the Secret Service claims to have no records on who has visited Biden's home, where the president has spent more than 25% of his time since he took office. By comparison, the visitor logs to the White House have been released.

"President Biden has spent a large amount of time at his Delaware residence since assuming office," said Rep. James Comer (R-KY). "Americans deserve to know who President Biden is meeting with, especially since we know that he routinely met with Hunter’s business associates during his time as vice president. The Biden Administration must provide transparency to the American people."

IS THE WHITE HOUSE OVERUSING A FEDERAL LAW TO AVOID ANSWERING QUESTIONS?

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has also demanded answers from the Biden administration over his Delaware visits, stating that everyone who comes "into close proximity with the President, in an official or personal capacity, is screened by the Secret Service" and that their record of coming close to the president "exists somewhere."

"It's bad if there is official business being conducted and they aren't telling us with who," Mace said. "It’s even worse the Administration is using the Secret Service to excuse its complete and total lack of transparency."

When asked by the media about records of who has met with Biden at his Delaware house, the White House did not give a direct answer, arguing that Biden is leading "the most transparent administration in American history."

Under former President Donald Trump, the administration did not disclose his White House visitor’s log, claiming the administration had the authority to do so under executive privilege. The protection of Trump's visitor log was a break from tradition from previous presidents, as the White House has traditionally made the visitor log available to the public.