After clinching the majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, top US Republicans have outlined a broad range of investigative targets focused on President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings.
“In the 118th Congress, this committee will evaluate the status of Joe Biden’s relationship with his family’s foreign partners and whether he is a President who is compromised or swayed by foreign dollars and influence,” said Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee.
“I want to be clear: This is an investigation of Joe Biden, and that’s where the committee will focus in this next Congress.
In a wide-ranging news conference on Thursday, November 17, flanked by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who is expected to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Republicans on the oversight committee, Comer said Republicans have made connections between the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and the president that they believe requires further investigation.
Comer said his team has spoken with multiple whistleblowers who say they were involved in schemes involving the Biden family, reviewed Hunter Biden’s laptop, and received “previously unknown transactions.”
Comer says he is closing in on more than 100 bank activity reports known as Suspicious Activity Reports – that are allegedly related to the Biden family and says that the Treasury Department has ignored his repeated requests when Republicans were in the minority to hand over them over.
So far, Comer says he has only seen two of those reports, and he renewed his request for the remainder of them on Thursday. Such reports are not always indicative of criminal activity or wrongdoing.
As part of his investigation, Comer said, “We would love to talk to people in the Biden family, specifically Hunter and Joe Biden.”
Reacting, the White House said the investigations are politically motivated and a waste of time.
“Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories” spokesmen for the White House Counsel’s office, Ian Sams, said in a statement to CNN.
“President Biden is not going to let these political attacks distract him from focusing on Americans’ priorities, and we hope congressional Republicans will join us in tackling them instead of wasting time and resources on political revenge,” Sams added.
A spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Nelly Decker, said the Republicans “rehashed the same, partisan talking points” that have been circulating for years.
“Now that former President Trump is running for office again, House Republicans’ top priority is attacking President Biden and his family in a desperate attempt to return Mr. Trump to power,” Decker said in a statement.
Once the new Congress is sworn in in January, Republicans will gain subpoena power, a more powerful enforcement mechanism to try to compel individuals and government entities to hand over information.
At the heart of Comer’s investigation is digging into a series of suspicious activity reports that Republicans claim banks have filed related to Hunter Biden’s financial activities. In a letter to the Treasury Department on Thursday, Comer sought any such reports related to various members of the Biden family, their business associates and companies linked to Hunter Biden.
Comer also is seeking communications within the Treasury Department, its financial crimes enforcement division and the White House regarding those family members and related businesses and associates.
