Speaker of the House questions $1.3 million in payments to Hunter Biden and those close to him
The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee released a memo on Thursday alleging that Hunter Biden and at least two of his relatives received $1.3 million from an associate of the president’s son who had ties to a Chinese energy company. .
They were reportedly paid after associate Rob Walker received $3 million in March 2017 from a Chinese energy company affiliated with another company Biden had done business with. The recipients of the $1.3 million payments were Biden, his uncle James Biden and Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau Biden, Comer said.
“It is unclear what services were provided to obtain this exorbitant amount of money,” Comer said.
While the $3 million figure and payments to Hunter Biden were reported nearly a year ago, Comer’s memo highlighted what the committee described as “new evidence” obtained from a subpoena of Walker’s bank records – two payments totaling $35,000 to Hallie Biden in 2017.
“The Committee is concerned about the information revealed in these bank statements,” including “why Hallie Biden — publicly stated as a school counselor — received money” from Walker’s company, the memo reads.
Hunter Biden acknowledged in a 2019 interview with The New Yorker that Hallie Biden had been romantically involved with him during this time.
A spokesperson for Hunter Biden’s legal team responded to a request for comment Thursday evening.
“Hunter Biden, a private citizen with every right to pursue his own business activities, has joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a legitimate private energy company in China. As part of this joint venture, Hunter received his share of good faith seed money which he shared with his uncle, James Biden, and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved at the time, and sharing expenses,” the spokesperson said in a “The accounts listed so dramatically by Rep. Comer belonged to Hunter, his uncle, and Hallie — no one else.”
A representative for James Biden declined to comment. An attempt to reach Hallie Biden for comment failed.
White House spokesman Ian Sams responded to Comer’s memo on Thursday, noting that Comer had suggested in an interview with Fox Business this month that the Delaware U.S. attorney investigating the tax evasion allegations against Hunter Biden should have sued Beau Biden, who died in 2015.
“After a disgusting attack lamenting that the president’s deceased son, Beau, was never prosecuted while alive, Congressman Comer has now decided to go after Beau’s widow,” Sams said in a statement. communicated. “Instead of bizarrely attacking the president’s family, perhaps House Republicans should focus on working with the president to get results for American families on important priorities like cost-cutting and strengthening health care.”
Comer said his committee “is concerned about the national security implications resulting from President Biden’s family receiving millions of dollars from foreign nationals” and “will continue to follow the money trail and the facts to determine if President Biden is compromised by his family’s business plans and if there is a threat to national security.
Sarah Fitzpatrick contributed.