A top Republican investigator subpoenaed at least one bank for records tied to Hunter Biden business associates as part of the congressman’s efforts to learn more about the business dealings President Joe Biden’s son had with Chinese businessmen.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, subpoenaed Bank of America for financial records on three people, including Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. The revelation was made in a Monday letter to Comer from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the committee.
COMER FIGHTS TO OBTAIN SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS FROM TREASURY ON HUNTER BIDEN
Raskin said in his letter that Comer had subpoenaed the bank for “all financial records” from three people — only one of whom, Walker, was named by the Democrat — for the time period from Jan. 20, 2009, to the present. The Democrat said the subpoena was underpinned by Comer’s statement that “by 2017, Biden family members and their associates, including John R. Walker, formed a joint venture with CEFC China executives.”
CEFC was a multibillion-dollar Chinese conglomerate founded by Ye Jianming, a Chinese Communist Party-linked business tycoon who has since disappeared in China but with whom Hunter Biden had attempted to work out numerous deals.
“The Oversight Committee has subpoenaed and obtained financial records related to the Biden family’s influence peddling,” a spokesperson for the Comer-led House Oversight Committee told the Washington Examiner. “These documents solidify our understanding of several areas of concern and have opened new avenues of investigation about the Biden family’s business schemes.”
Walker was one of the recipients of a May 13, 2017, email from Hunter Biden business partner James Gilliar to himself, Hunter and James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski detailing a proposed business deal with CEFC that included a reference to “the big guy” — who Bobulinski says was Joe Biden.
Raskin said the subpoena “compelled the production of and obtained thousands of pages of Mr. Walker’s private financial information” and claimed that “these documents go well beyond any business deal with Hunter Biden or CEFC.”
Hunter Biden and his associated businesses received at least $5 million in payments from CEFC in 2017 and 2018, and CEFC deputy Patrick Ho also agreed to pay Hunter Biden a $1 million retainer. Hunter Biden referred to Ho as "the f***ing spy chief of China" in a May 11, 2018, voice recording.
Ho was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2019 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was deported to Hong Kong in June 2021 after serving his sentence.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware is conducting a criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.
Comer spent much of 2022 and early 2023 repeatedly pushing Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to hand over the suspicious bank activity reports linked to Biden family businesses as he argued that the Treasury Department’s meager responses continued to stonewall his efforts to get answers on the financial transactions of Joe Biden's son linked to China, Russia, and elsewhere.
The Republican also asked the Treasury Department to hand over all suspicious activity reports and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network documents related to Walker in January.
Comer is demanding that a Treasury Department official appear for a transcribed interview related to the department’s refusal to hand over suspicious activity reports on Hunter Biden.
He added last month that another former Hunter Biden business associate, Eric Schwerin, is “cooperating” with his committee.
Much of Raskin’s Monday letter related to long-running efforts by Democrats to obtain and release information related to former President Donald Trump from the tax group Mazars, with Raskin arguing that “the Committee simply cannot coordinate with former President Trump’s attorneys to obstruct a lawful subpoena investigating his demonstrated corruption, then issue an invasive and overbroad subpoena based on an investigation of the business dealings of his political rival’s son.”
“The accusation by ranking member Raskin is completely unfounded and untrue,” a spokesperson for the Comer-led House Oversight Committee told the Washington Examiner. “So what is the point of the letter? To try to get ahead of the information the Oversight Committee is receiving in its investigation of the Biden family's influence peddling.”
Comer has demanded a host of records from Hunter Biden and from the president’s brother and Hunter’s uncle James related to the duo’s overseas dealings with Chinese intelligence-linked businessmen.
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“Biden family members attempted to sell access around the world, including individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party, to enrich themselves to the detriment of American interests,” Comer said last month. “If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision-making, this is a threat to national security.”
While Joe Biden was vice president, his son profited greatly as a member of the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma. He also pursued business deals in China and elsewhere during and after his father’s tenure, raking in millions due to these associations. The younger Biden believed some of the Chinese businessmen he was working with were tied to Chinese intelligence.