In a speech at the Capitol, McCarthy announced that “serious and credible allegations” into the president's conduct have been uncovered demonstrating the extent of his corruption that need to be investigated further.
Hunter Biden’s international business dealings have long been causes of major concern, particularly those with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. In addition, his dealings with a private equity firm in China and consulting work for a Romanian real estate magnate have also come under fire. The Biden family has reportedly earned millions of dollars from these dealings.
Not surprisingly, President Biden has denied involvement in Hunter’s business dealings. However, Biden is believed to have sat in on at least two dozen calls between Hunter and his business partners and was referenced using nicknames like “the big guy” by business associates of his son. Moreover, Biden reportedly used pseudonyms like “Robin Ware” to talk about Ukraine-related activities with Hunter while he was serving as vice president.
Some former associates of Hunter have testified that Joe did speak to his business associates.
McCarthy noted: “Eye witnesses have testified that the President joined on multiple phone calls, and had multiple interactions, dinners, resulting in cars and millions of dollars into his son’s and his son's business partners.”
As part of their investigation, House investigators will issue subpoenas for the president's bank records as well as those of family members like Hunter and Joe's brother James. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is also seeking transcribed interviews involving business associates of Hunter such as Rob Walker and Eric Schwerin.
Hunter is believed to have made around $40 million via a series of shell companies that were formed during his father’s vice presidency. A bank records memo released by Comer this summer showed that the Biden family received more than $20 million during the Obama administration from oligarchs in Russia as well as Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
According to Comer, at least 12 Biden family members may have benefited from the influence peddling activities of Hunter and Joe. In addition to James, one of the parties identified was Hallie Biden, the widow of Joe’s son Beau who later became involved romantically with Hunter after Beau passed away. Hallie reportedly received a payment of $35,000 linked to a Chinese firm Hunter had dealings with.
Devon Archer, a business associate of Hunter, has stated that Joe was “the brand” that Hunter essentially sold to his foreign business partners. He also said Biden attended business dinners and conference calls with these individuals.
An FBI informant file described how the owner of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings was coerced into paying off Hunter and Joe with $5 million each. Mykola Zlochevsky said that Hunter was “stupid” but that he needed to keep him on the board of Burisma so he could use his father’s influence to ensure that a Ukrainian prosecutor who had been investigating the company, Viktor Shokin, would be fired.
Zlochevsky explained how he went out of his way to avoid raising suspicion when making the payments and said it would take investigators a decade to find records of the illicit payments made to the Bidens. He also said that he didn’t want to pay them but felt coerced to do so. When asked whether it was Joe or Hunter who told him he needed to keep Hunter on the board, Zlochevsky replied that “they both did.”
Biden then used $1 billion of U.S. loan guarantees as leverage to force Shokin out of office in 2016.
Sources for this article include: