House Republicans are demanding a U.S. Treasury Department official testify about the agency’s “delay” in providing documents about President Joe Biden’s family, weeks after an initial request for the materials.
Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer invited deputy assistant Treasury Secretary Isabella More to appear on March 10 to discuss justifications for not providing suspicious activity reports on foreign banking and other business transactions by Hunter Biden and Biden family members.
Comer wants the reports — which are used by banks to flag what they deem dubiously large transactions — as part of his panel’s probes into the family’s overseas dealings. The investigation is just one of the multiple inquiries into the Bidens that Republicans have launched, or are planning, since the party gained a majority in the House in January.
In an “interim” report released in November, Comer and other Republicans cited media reports that Treasury had “at least 150 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to Biden family members’ financial transactions.”
In a Jan. 11 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Comer requested all suspicious activity reports generated in connection to Hunter Biden, the president’s younger brother James Biden and his wife Sara, as well as associates of Hunter Biden.
The department has so far refused to turn over any such reports. Earlier this month, Jonathan Davidson, Treasury’s legislative affairs chief, told Comer in a letter that he needs more details about why the panel is seeking such “highly sensitive” information.
Without acknowledging whether such reports on the Bidens exist, Davidson instructed Comer that “improper disclosure” of such information can undermine the executive branch’s “conduct of law enforcement, intelligence, and national security activities.”
Comer’s letter to More mentions that she emailed a similar message to his committee staff on Feb. 23 stating, “Treasury must confer with law enforcement partners, who may identify particular law enforcement conflicts or sensitivities ... (T)his entire process takes considerable time to complete.”
But Comer responds in his letter, noting that, “Treasury’s excuses and delay tactics are unavailing given you have known about our request since last year and previously produced relevant SARs to others.”
The White House declined to comment on Comer’s letter.
