House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer engaged in a heated exchange with a reporter at the Capitol on Wednesday following Hunter Biden’s refusal to attend a closed-door deposition. Biden had arrived at the U.S. Capitol for a press conference, where he criticized his political opponents regarding the impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden. Despite being subpoenaed by Congress, Hunter Biden preferred to testify publicly rather than behind closed doors.
Comer underscored the significance of transparency, asserting that the American public deserves information about the purported $24 million payments to the Biden family and its associates from Ukraine, Romania, and China. Nevertheless, when pressed by Jacqueline Alemany, a congressional investigations reporter at The Washington Post, about the absence of evidence regarding wrongdoing or criminal behavior, Comer’s response was abruptly halted.
The reporter questioned Comer’s claims, particularly regarding a $40,000 check paid to President Biden, suggesting it was “law firm money” rather than funds from the Chinese energy company CEFC. However, bank records contradict this argument.
Comer challenged the reporter, questioning her certainty about the origins of the money and suggesting that she was defending Biden. He pointed out that the bank records indicated that Biden received a $40,000 check after his family had received cash from Chinese business associates. The records also revealed that Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Sara Biden had wired money through multiple accounts before Sara sent Hunter a check as a “loan repayment” shortly after James Biden’s business relationship with Hudson West III, Hunter’s business venture with CEFC, commenced.
Before the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden falsely claimed that his son had never made money from China and that he had never discussed business matters with him or his associates.
However, it has been revealed that Biden attended two dinners with his son’s business associates—one with a Russian oligarch in 2014 and another with Burisma executive Vadim Pozharskyi in 2015. The nature of the discussions during those dinners remains unknown.
Due to Hunter Biden’s refusal to comply with the subpoena, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan and Comer threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress. In response, Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, offered the compromise of testifying publicly instead of in a closed deposition.
