House Republicans Target Joe Biden In Probe Of His Son—As GOP Promises Onslaught Of Investigations In New Congress

Topline

House Republicans vowed Thursday to make their investigation of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings a “top priority” next year, focusing their efforts squarely on linking President Joe Biden to the alleged misconduct, setting up a battle with the White House the day after Republicans won the House majority—but the White House strenuously denied the GOP’s claims.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

Associated Press

Key Facts

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is slated to chair the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee next year, said Republicans have uncovered evidence that shows the president “misused his public positions to further his family’s financial interests.”

Comer said in no uncertain terms that the president is the target of the probe: “To be clear, Joe Biden is the big guy,” he said at a news conference flanked by other Republican lawmakers, repeating a term Republicans claim was used to refer to the president in emails about Hunter Biden’s business dealings uncovered on the younger Biden’s laptop.

Comer laid out a trove of evidence he claimed the committee has uncovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop and from other sources, including documents that he said show Biden participated in “meetings and phone calls” and “was a partner with access to an office” in his family’s business dealings, which Comer said span 50 countries (Biden has repeatedly said he’s never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings).

Comer said the committee possesses information that could lead to federal charges against some members of the Biden family, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion and money laundering.

In a written report issued by the committee in conjunction with the press conference, members also claimed the Treasury Department is in possession of “at least 150 Suspicious Activity Reports” issued by banks related to the Biden family’s financial transactions.

Among the most inflammatory accusations, Comer alleged the SARs “connect Hunter Biden and his business associates to international human trafficking,” and the committee published a copy of a SAR that says Hunter Biden paid an adult entertainer who has been listed in prior filings for “transactions consistent with possible human trafficking . . . or prostitution.”

Chief Critic

The White House on Thursday accused Republicans of “wasting time” on “politically-motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,” spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement in response to the committee’s press conference.

Key Background

Hunter Biden has been subject to a slew of investigations into his business dealings since at least 2018, but none have led to criminal charges. The allegations reached a fever pitch when the New York Post reported before the 2020 election that an abandoned laptop owned by Hunter Biden contained emails showing he tried to use his father’s influence as vice president to benefit himself. The New York Times and Washington Post have also verified some of the information on the laptop, but whether the president engaged in any misconduct remains unclear. U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and left in place by Biden, is probing the president’s son for possible tax fraud violations, particularly related to his business activity in China. The Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees have also released reports suggesting Hunter Biden’s former position on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma could have presented conflicts of interest with U.S. anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. Those reports also suggest Hunter Biden paid individuals who “appear to be linked to an ‘Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.’”

Tangent

The probe is one of many Biden-adjacent investigations House Republicans have said they will launch once the new Congress takes office in January. Incoming Republican leadership agreed this week to investigate the U.S. Justice Department and House Democrats’ handling of accused January 6 rioters, nearly 1,000 of whom have been criminally charged, The New York Times reported. Biden’s Covid-19 and immigration policies and the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan are also reportedly on the investigatory docket.

Contra

The White House is working on a defensive strategy against the incoming onslaught of investigations and has assembled a team of lawyers to prep agencies that could be targeted, CNN reported. On Thursday, as Comer made his announcement, the Democratic National Committee published a memo calling him a “conspiracy theorist, Trump sycophant and proven liar.”