The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee released a memo Thursday alleging that Hunter Biden and at least two family members received a $1.3 million payment from an associate of the president’s son who had ties to a Chinese energy company.
The alleged payments came after the associate, Rob Walker, received a $3 million transfer in March 2017 from a Chinese energy company affiliated with another company with which Hunter Biden had been doing business. The recipients of the $1.3 million in payments were Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden and Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau Biden, Comer said.
«It is not clear what services were provided to obtain this exorbitant amount of money,» Comer said.
While the $3 million figure and payments to Hunter Biden were previously reported almost a year ago, Comer memo highlighted what the committee described as «new evidence» obtained from a subpoena of Walker’s bank records: two payments totaling $35,000 that went to Hallie Biden in 2017.
«The Committee is concerned about the information disclosed in these bank records,» including «why Hallie Biden, who was publicly reported to be working as a school counselor, received money» from Walker’s firm, the memo says.
Hunter Biden acknowledged during a 2019 interview with the new yorker magazine that Hallie Biden was romantically involved with him during that period.
An attorney for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a representative for James Biden declined to comment. An attempt to contact Hallie Biden for comment was unsuccessful.
White House spokesman Ian Sams responded Thursday to Comer’s memo by noting that the Kentucky Republican had suggested in an interview with Fox Business earlier this month that the Delaware federal prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden for tax fraud there should be indicted Beau Biden, who died in 2015.
«After a sickening attack lamenting that Beau, the president’s deceased son, was never prosecuted while alive, Congressman Comer has now decided to go after Beau’s widow,» Sams said in a statement. «Instead of bizarrely attacking the President’s family, perhaps House Republicans should focus on working with the President to achieve results for American families on important priorities like cutting costs 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 trail of money and facts to determine if President Biden is compromised by his family’s business schemes and whether there is a threat to national security.»
sarah fitzpatrick contributed.