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.
They were allegedly paid after the associate, Rob Walker, received a $3 million wire transfer in March 2017 from a Chinese energy company affiliated with another company with whom Biden had been doing business. The recipients of the $1.3 million in payments were 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 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 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 in a 2019 interview with the new yorker that Hallie Biden was romantically involved with him during that period.
A spokesperson for Hunter Biden’s legal team responded to a request for comment Thursday night.
“Hunter Biden, a private citizen with full rights to start his own businesses, joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a legitimate privately owned energy company in China. As part of that joint venture, Hunter received his share of the initial good faith funds that he shared with his uncle, James Biden, and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved at the time, and shared the costs,» the spokesperson said in a statement. release. statement: «The accounts listed so dramatically by Rep. Comer belonged to Hunter, his and Hallie’s uncle, no one else.»
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 Comer had suggested in an interview with Fox Business this month that the Delaware federal prosecutor investigating tax fraud allegations against Hunter Biden should have indicted Beau Biden, who died in 2015.
«After a sickening attack lamenting that the President’s late son Beau 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 the medical attention».
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.