Oversight Committee exposes President Biden’s abuse of public office for his family’s financial gain
WASHINGTON – Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled “The Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” At the hearing, witnesses testified that evidence uncovered has passed the threshold to open an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Joe Biden. While Democrat members engaged in political stunts, Republican members highlighted evidence, including financial records, emails, texts, and witness and whistleblower testimony, showing President Joe Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family’s corrupt international and domestic business schemes. Under an impeachment inquiry, the House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means will continue to follow the evidence to determine whether President Biden committed impeachable offenses under the U.S. Constitution.
Key Takeaways:
Since January, House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means have uncovered evidence showing President Joe Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family’s corrupt influence peddling schemes.
- Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.): “For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes… Joe Biden is ‘The Brand.’ And Joe Biden showed up at least two dozen times with business targets and associates sending signals of access, influence, and power to those prepared to pay for it. The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption.”
- House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio): “Never forget four fundamental facts: One, Hunter Biden gets put on the board of Burisma, gets paid a lot of money. Fact number two: Hunter Biden’s not qualified to sit on the board, not my words, his words. He says he got on the board because of the brand, because of the name. Fact number three: the executives at Burisma ask Hunter Biden to weigh in and help them with the pressure they are under from the prosecutor in Ukraine. Face number four: Joe Biden goes to Ukraine on December 9, 2015, gives the speech attacking the prosecutor that starts the process of getting that guy fired.”
- House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.): “Whether it was lunches, phone calls, White House meetings, or official foreign trips, Hunter Biden cashed in by arranging access to Joe Biden, the family brand. The Biden family and their associates received millions in payments from foreign sources, including from Russia, China, Ukraine, Romania, and in one email, Hunter Biden even bragged that he cut a deal for $10 million from just one company for ‘introductions alone.’ And yet the DOJ wanted to keep the spotlight as far from Joe Biden as possible.”
Based on the evidence, an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s conduct is warranted.
- Professor Jonathan Turley: “I do believe that the House has passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Biden. In the current impeachment inquiry, the House has proceeded correctly, in my view, by taking this step only after months of preliminary investigations into the alleged corruption scandal involving the President and his family. Indeed, a majority of the public reportedly favor this impeachment inquiry on that very ground.”
- Bruce Dubinsky – Founder, Dubinsky Consulting – states, “As the age-old proverb goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. As a fraud investigator when I see smoke, I immediately look for the fire. The critical question facing the American people today is whether behind the smokescreen clouding the Biden family and associates’ businesses was there, or is there a fire? And if there was or is a fire, how big is that fire? Why were members of the Biden family and close business associates receiving millions of dollars of payments from foreign entities and individuals? What services, if any, were being provided? What was the substance of the alleged services being provided? Was the money being paid a fair amount commensurate with those services? Were political favors being traded and disguised as services? These are the questions that, as a forensic accountant, I routinely am tasked to answer when I am hired to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption. There is a great deal of evidence that has been collected to date by this Committee and others, trying to answer these questions.”
- Eileen O’Connor – former Assistant Attorney at the Department of Justice Tax Division – agreed that the Committee must further pursue information about the Biden family’s business dealings and why the Bidens were concerned about protecting “dad,” also known as Joe Biden.
Americans demand and deserve answers, transparency, and accountability for President Biden’s abuse of public office that has jeopardized Americans’ national security. The House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means will continue to gather evidence to determine whether the President’s connections to his family’s business deals occurred at the expense of American interests.
- Chairman Comer: “We have established in the first phase of this investigation where this money has come from: Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, it didn’t come from selling anything legitimate…it was funneled through shell companies and third parties to hide the Biden’s fingerprints. This deserves investigation, this deserves accountability, the American people expect this Committee to investigate public corruption…the witnesses today have all identified the evidence the Committee has uncovered as deserving further inquiry. And that is what this Committee will do, no matter where the evidence leads.”
- Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced the next steps in the Committee’s investigation by announcing subpoenas for Hunter and James Biden’s business and personal bank records.
Member Highlights:
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) emphasized that the Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies, raked in over $24 million dollars from China and other foreign countries, identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated or benefited from the business schemes, and confirmed that Joe Biden interacted with his family’s business associates at least two dozen times.
Chairman Comer: “To date, the House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies – most of which were created when Joe Biden was Vice President – and raked in over $24 million dollars between 2014-2019. We’ve also identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated in or benefited from these business schemes. What were the Bidens selling to make all this money? Joe Biden himself.”
Chairman Comer also pointed out that the House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed and obtained two bank wires that reveal Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home was listed as the beneficiary address on payments Hunter Biden received from China. The payments originating from China were sent when Joe Biden was running for President of the United States.
Chairman Comer: “The bank records obtained this week show that on August 2, 2019, Jonathan Li and Ms. Tan Ling in Beijing sent Hunter Biden $250,000 dollars listing Joe Biden’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware. The wire stated it was for a ‘personal investment’ and a second wire showed that on July 26, 2019, Ms. Wang Xin sent $10,000 dollars listing Joe Biden’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware. The second wire said it was a ‘loan to beneficiary’…sure looks like Johnathan Li was making a significant investment in the Bidens months after Joe Biden announced his run for the Presidency in April 2019.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.) highlighted that President Joe Biden and White House staff have repeatedly lied to the American people about his involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes.
Rep. Jordan: “We know all kinds of false statements made by the White House. Joe Biden has made them. He said it was a ‘lousy question’ when asked if he had ever been involved with any of his son’s business partners. We know that was false. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the President’s son never broke the law. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the President never spoke to his son about his overseas business dealings. False. What do you think about all these false statements and abuse of power issues?”
Prof. Turley: “The involvement of White House staff and executive branch staff has really been one of the trip wires that we saw with President Nixon and to a degree with Clinton. When you enlist support for a false narrative or obstruct Congress, that falls in line with abuse of power.”
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) emphasized that Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Wolf ordered investigators not to pursue leads that could have led to Joe Biden. In addition, he highlighted bank records that show the Biden family and their associates have received over 20 million dollars from 23 different countries, including China and other foreign adversaries.
Ways and Means Chairman Smith: “Yesterday, the Ways and Means Committee voted to release additional information provided by Gary Shapley and Mr. Ziegler. One of the documents shows that Assistant U.S. attorney Leslie Wolf ordered investigators not to pursue two leads into possible campaign finance violations… The Biden family and associates have received over $20 million from 23 different countries that they had business ties to or communications with. And they also had over 20 shell LLCs where they would transfer money in and out. If you were still sitting in your office in DOJ’s tax division, would this web of entities and activities concern you?”
Ms. O’Connor: “I would make sure that my prosecutors were concerned about it.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio.) highlighted that influence peddling is a serious form of public corruption and that Hunter Biden’s conduct and ties to President Joe Biden deserve scrutiny and further investigation from Congress.
Rep. Turner: “You said it’s not criminal for a President or Vice-President to lie…but you did take that next leap that using your office, taking official action to benefit individuals or third parties to induce them to financial benefit your family would be a crime, would it not professor?”
Prof. Turley: “It is, if you take a look at some of the treaties and sources that I cited, the U.S. has for years combatted influence peddling as a prototypical form of public corruption and much influence peddling follows that pattern. Many people now accept that what Hunter Biden did was rather raw and open influence peddling, so the only question is, was the President involved in that, and I’m not prejudging that but there’s an argument that they were just selling the illusion of access. The fact is, you have to ask yourself one question ‘how do you know?’ Even if you accept that selling the illusion of access is not misconduct. How did you know it was an illusion?”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) stressed that the Biden family deliberately set up shell companies to intentionally confuse and hide payments. He noted that the American people deserve to know about and understand the flow of money between the Bidens and foreign business entities.
Rep. Donalds: “We have an organization chart from the IRS team that was looking into the business practices of Hunter Biden and his associates. This org chart is from 2014. Mr. Dubinsky, in your professional experience looking at this organization chart of business structure, what do you see here?”
Mr. Dubinsky: “I see a very complicated structure of business entities that are inner related and give me a concern. As an investigator I would want to know who is behind this, the substance of these transactions, and find out what is really going on here.”
Rep. Donalds: “Do you think it is in the interest of this Committee that is now in an impeachment inquiry phase to find out about this flow of money and what the purpose of this was?
Mr. Dubinsky: “Absolutely.”
Rep. Donalds also pointed out critical evidence by showing specific text messages between Hunter Biden and Jim Biden where they actively protected the identity and involvement of Joe Biden in their shady business dealings.
Rep. Donalds: “This WhatsApp text message between Jim Biden and Hunter Biden, in this text message it clearly says ‘any way we can talk later, but you’ve been drawn into something clearly for the purpose of protecting Dad’. Ms. O’Connor, do you think this text message would lead this Committee to get further information about the business dealings of Hunter Biden and how that actually links to Jim Biden, the President’s brother, and how they are so concerned with protecting ‘Dad’ aka Joe Biden aka the President of the United States?”
Ms. O’Connor: “Yes.”
Rep. Donalds: “Thank you, next slide please, this is a text message between Hunter Biden and Naomi Biden. And this is a famous one, everybody knows this one. This is the famous one says “I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike pop I won’t make you give me half your salary. Mr. Dubinsky, if you saw a text message like this in a potential money laundering or a potential pay-for-play operation, would you be looking for information related to money going from son to father?”
Mr. Dubinsky: “Absolutely, without a doubt.”
Rep. Donalds: “Thank you, next slide. This is a fun one. Ladies and gentlemen, this one is from 2018, about four months before Joe Biden launched his campaign for president of the United States. December of 2018. The highlight is, this is a text message between Jim Biden and Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden was in a bad way by the way, he was really strung out, he lost a bunch of money, he needed help. Jim Biden says ‘this can work, you need a safe harbor. I can work with your father alone; it’ll probably take several months’ and everyone can read the text. Ms. O’Connor and Mr. Dubinsky, if you saw a text message like this between the President’s brother and President’s son, wouldn’t you be concerned about them trying to give plausible deniability for the President of the United Stated to not have any knowledge of said business dealings?”
Ms. O’Connor: “It’s worth investigating.”
Rep. Donalds: “Mr. Dubinsky?”
Mr. Dubinsky: “I would agree, I would investigate this.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) highlighted that the Bidens were paid over one million dollars by a Chinese Communist Party energy company, CEFC.
Rep. Mace: “I’m going to show another image, this is a text message between Hunter Biden and Gongweng Dong, an agent of CEFC. Hunter says ‘my uncle will be here with his BROTHER’ in all caps ‘who would like to hello to the Chairman. He goes on ‘Jim’s brother if he’s coming would like to say hello.’ His uncle’s brother, I wonder who that could be, I can’t quite figure it out. Hunter puts BROTHER in all caps and it doesn’t take a genius to figure this out but since I’m not always dealing with geniuses in Washington, D.C. which has been illustrated today. I’ll spell it out, the brother of Hunter Biden’s Uncle Jim, is Joe Biden.
“Why was Hunter so secretive about his father? I’ll tell you why. It’s because Joe Biden didn’t want the American people to know he and his family were getting paid millions and millions of dollars from a company closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party. CEFC knew paying Biden family members was bad, so they covered it up. […] We already know the President took bribes from Burisma. I also want to add, betraying your country is treason.”
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) addressed correspondence between Devon Archer and Hunter Biden in which Hunter Biden openly admits that the Chinese love him due to his family’s connections and access.
Rep. Perry: “The President’s son only skill is leveraging his family name. It essentially seems to come to him like swimming comes to a fish. If we could put up on the screen an email between Devon Archer and the President’s son, and you can see here where he’s asked, ‘Why does the super chairman [of CEFC] love me so much?’ And the answer is, ‘It’s easy, it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my last name.’ That’s the President’s son, that’s not me saying it, that’s the President’s son. He openly acknowledged it doesn’t come from education or business acumen, it’s from his name and let’s face it, it is his name but it’s not ‘his’ name that was garnering all the attention.”
Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) drilled down on the serious allegations contained in the FD-1023 obtained by the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Fry: “Professor Turley, what in your eyes is the most serious allegation outlined in the FD 10-23?”
Prof. Turley: “First of all, I’m not someone who puts a great deal of emphasis on these field reports from sources, but this was not just any source. This was a source that was not just trusted, but received a considerable amount of money from the FBI and had a long track record so it does come with that degree of support.
“What I think an inquiry has to do is drill down on the 1023. There may be nothing there but there when you drill down, but there may be bribery and of course that’s the second offense that is mentioned for impeachment. But what makes the 1023 concerning is the overall context, and this is one of the reasons why when Rep. Goldman was asking me about bribery, it’s a little more complex. You have section 201, you have the Hobbs Act, and you have all these cases that suggest it is public corruption in different forms…”
Rep. Fry: “How can we use this document, and maybe other documents that we have to expand the case and how pivotal do you think this document is to the case?”
Prof. Turley: “I think that in an inquiry when someone who is trusted by the FBI suggests that there was actual bribery involving the President, you need to contact everyone involved.”
READ MORE:
Oversight Committee Releases Biden Family Influence Peddling Timeline
CLICK HERE to watch the hearing.
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