by Bronson Winslow
House Republicans announced they were launching an investigation into President Joe Biden at a press conference Thursday, alleging that the elder Biden was “involved” in his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings.
Republican Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio, citing unnamed whistleblowers, alleged that Joe Biden was the “chairman of the board” of the Biden family empire and oversaw Hunter’s business activity, claiming to find evidence of conspiracy to defraud the United States and money laundering. Hunter Biden currently holds a minority stake in a Chinese private equity firm responsible for investing in a previously sanctioned technology company that committed human rights violations against Uyghurs, and the new accusations point to involvement in the energy industry.
“This is an investigation of Joe Biden,” Comer said. “I think we’ve laid out the evidence as to why we feel it’s important, and we’re going to move forward with that.”
The lawmakers allege that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden participated in “waste, fraud, and abuse” relating to business dealings and plan to release a report Thursday to outline their claims.
“We find evidence that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden were involved in a scheme to try to get China to buy liquified natural gas. People are in outrage over China buying farmland in the Dakotas. What about China starting to buy into our American energy industry?” Comer added.
Comer was referring to documents found on Hunter Biden’s laptop that showed he was engaged in business talks with Chinese companies to sell American natural gas.
“Was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals and is he compromised? That’s our investigation,” Comer said. The Representatives hope to find “why [Biden] lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family’s international business schemes”
Hunter has been under federal investigation since 2018, after he allegedly failed to pay taxes and lied on a firearm application. U.S. Attorney David Weiss has conducted the investigation and would be the person who levies the charges.
In September, over 30 Senate Republicans called for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to grant special counsel protections and authorities to Weiss as he continued to investigate Hunter Biden. The request stemmed from a letter that claims Hunter Biden has a growing amount of evidence against him relating to federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering and foreign-lobbying violations.
The request for counsel follows a September claim by one of Hunter Biden’s former business associates, Tony Bobulinski, that former FBI agent Timothy Thibault worked to conceal relevant information about the Biden family, particularly his relationship with the Bidens. Legislators alleged that Thibault attempted to halt the FBI’s investigation into Hunter Biden.
In October, Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley called on law enforcement to release records detailing “potential criminal conduct” committed by Biden’s sons after leaked emails pointed to a Biden owned real estate company receiving a $40 million investment from a Russian oligarch.
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Bronson Winslow is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Hunter and Joe Biden” by Louise Palanker. CC BY-SA 2.0.
