James Comer criticized his eldest son, Hunter Biden, for announcing plans to skip this week’s hearing, threatening that Republicans could make criminal recommendations.
The House Oversight Committee chair raised the possibility after Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abby Lowell, declined a request to attend Wednesday’s hearing, dismissing it as a “carnival sideshow.” .
“I think we need to hear the inconsistencies during the investigation,” Comer (R-Ky.) said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “I fully expect Hunter Biden to show up.”
“If he doesn’t show up, it’s not going to end well for the Biden family, because we have three witnesses… who have a lot of information about what exactly Biden’s plan to spread influence was. Because they’ve already testified under oath to a different story.”
Mr Comer, 51, warned: “This is very serious because we are now at the criminal referral stage.”
The Kentucky Republican who is leading the three-panel impeachment inquiry says it is in Hunter Biden’s best interest to appear and refute the accusations spread by Biden’s former business associates. hinted at.
Three other witnesses scheduled to appear at the March 20 hearing are Hunter Biden’s former business associates Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis.
All three have previously testified before the impeachment committee or one of its committees about allegations that the Biden family spread influence abroad.
Comer declined to say who would be on the receiving end of the criminal referral.
“We spent a year investigating this. We faced massive obstruction from the White House and the Biden legal team, but still were unable to obtain perhaps 80 percent of the information we requested. We did it,” he said. “We have accumulated a lot of evidence of wrongdoing.”
“I can’t say the Biden family had any legitimate business other than spreading influence.”
President Biden and his son Hunter have strongly disputed Comer’s portrayal of his family’s circumstances. The president flatly denied any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden sat for more than six hours to testify before a panel on February 28th. Records show he was incredibly belligerent toward Republicans.
Previously, the scandal-plagued eldest son canceled an appearance scheduled for Dec. 13, 2023, and instead delivered an impromptu rebuke of Republicans on camera. He had requested a public hearing.
After weeks of negotiations, his team agreed to testify behind closed doors in February.
In a letter denying Hunter Biden’s request to appear in court on March 20, Lowell said the investigation is based on “a patchwork of conspiracies spun by convicted liars.” He reprimanded Comer, accused him of giving out invitations without “prior notice,” and called scheduled witnesses. “Untrustworthy”
Archer and Galanis are facing or serving prison terms in connection with a scheme to defraud Native American tribes.
Comer cited two payments that President Biden allegedly received from his son’s overseas plots as evidence that the president was profiting from his son’s business entanglements.
The first payment was for $40,000 in September 2017, and the second was for $200,000 in March 2018.
Comer previously claimed that the $40,000 was “laundered” from Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy, which paid Hunter Biden and James Biden at least $6.1 million in 2017 and 2018. did.
House Republicans also revealed that Hunter Biden moved money from a Chinese company to his Owasco company in August 2017, with about $150,000 of it transferred to Lion Hall Group, which is run by James Biden. points out and connects the dots with China.
Later that month, James Biden’s wife Sarah withdrew $50,000 from Lion Hall Group into the couple’s checking account. A few days later, Sarah Biden cut Joe Biden a check for $40,000 as “loan repayment.”
As for the $200,000, Comer noted that James Biden sent the money to Joe Biden on the same day James received the same $200,000 from Amecor Health.
“So Joe Biden benefited from $250,000. We proved Joe Biden lied more than a dozen times,” Comer argued.
White House officials accused Comer of omitting important context and spreading false stories about the Biden family.
White House Oversight and Investigations Press Secretary Ian Sams sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) last week urging him to halt the investigation.
“It’s clear that House Republican impeachment is over. It’s clearly time to move on.” Sams wrote. “The American people have too much important work to do to continue wasting their time on this travesty.”
Sams and other Biden supporters highlighted House Republicans’ concerns about moving forward with a full-scale impeachment of the president.
The newspaper has reached out to both Lowell and the White House for comment.
