House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is leading an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, mischaracterized evidence of payments from Hunter Biden to his father, suggesting purported business dealings with foreign entities, according to The Washington Post.
On Monday, the House Oversight Committee announced that Comer had obtained bank records of Hunter Biden’s legal firm, Owasco PC, making direct monthly payments to Joe Biden in between his time as vice president and president. In an email to reporters, a spokesperson for Comer claimed that the payments “are part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in and benefited from his family’s influence-peddling schemes.”
Comer also claimed in a video that “this wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world.”
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) December 4, 2023
Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco P.C., made DIRECT monthly payments to Joe Biden.
@RepJamesComer explains 👇 pic.twitter.com/7bXyGYmWVZ
But documents reviewed by The Post indicate that $1,380 payments made by Hunter Biden, which occurred in September, October and November 2018, were made to repay his father for a truck payment that he couldn't finance himself.
Hunter Biden’s credit was low at the time and he “was in the depths of addiction” when Joe Biden signed for the truck and had it in his name, a source close to the Bidens told The Post.
"This is an area where law and politics diverge,” Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor, told Salon. “Members of Congress are not bound by the same ethical and evidentiary rules that prosecutors are.”
Comer's “apparent mischaracterization” of the financial transactions will have no effect on him or the impeachment proceedings, he added. Similarly, he can't be held liable for any misstatements since the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution protects legislators from defamation or other lawsuits for statements made on the House or Senate floor.
The White House has previously also said that the president “was never in business with his son.”
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell criticized Comer’s actions, saying in a statement that the chair is “reheating what is old as new” in an attempt “to revive his sham of an investigation.”
“The truth is Hunter’s father helped him when he was struggling financially due to his addiction and could not secure credit to finance a truck,” Lowell said. “When Hunter was able to, he paid his father back and took over the payments himself.”
Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on X/Twitter referenced a New York Post story in response to Comer. The article featured leaked emails from a hard drive allegedly owned by the younger Biden, which included a list of expenses that his then-personal assistant said in an email Joe Biden would temporarily cover as Hunter "transitions in his career." Among these expenses was a recurring $1,380 payment for a 2018 Ford Raptor truck.
“Chair Comer is digging up old public reporting, distorting the facts, and presenting it as ‘breaking news,’” Raskin wrote. “As a private citizen, Joe Biden made car payments for his son.”
He ended his thread by saying if Comer had “any actual evidence of wrongdoing” by the president, then he would “not repeatedly resort to distorting the facts and recycling Trump-Giuliani conspiracy theories.”
Oversight Republicans and Comer omitted any reference to a truck when they released the records of the payments. However, they contend that these records reveal that the current president benefited from his family's international business dealings.
“Joe Biden and the White House can’t continue to claim he wasn’t involved with his son’s shady businesses now,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., posted on X.
For months, the GOP has targeted Hunter Biden in an attempt to construct an impeachment case against President Biden, attempting to find evidence supporting allegations that Joe Biden corruptly profited from his family’s foreign business dealings. However, Republicans so far have been unsuccessful in presenting any compelling evidence to substantiate their claims.
The crux of their inquiry has been centered on Hunter Biden's work with companies in Ukraine, China among other countries. Republicans have even insisted that he testify in a closed-door deposition before the committee next week.
Hunter Biden has told them he would be willing to testify, but only in a public forum to prevent any potential distortion or selective leaking of his statements. But Republicans have rejected that offer saying a closed-door deposition is necessary.
