Biden family investigation
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The Biden family investigation by the US House Committee on Oversight began on January 11, 2023 to determine whether the Biden family's business dealings, both domestically and internationally, compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality. During the 2022 midterm elections campaign, Republicans promised to investigate the Hunter Biden laptop and related matters if they gained control of the House of Representatives; they are following through on their promise.[1] Concerns about the Biden family stem from the family's pattern of peddling access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves, often to the detriment of U.S. interests. Records obtained through the Committee's subpoenas reveal that the Bidens and their associates have received significant payments exceeding $20 million from foreign sources.[2]
Key points of interest include:
- Romania: Following a meeting between Vice President Biden and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in September 2015, a Romanian businessman linked to a corruption case in Romania began depositing funds into a Biden associate's account. Ultimately, over $3 million was transferred to the Biden family and their associates from Romania.
- China: Less than two months after leaving office, a Chinese company wired $3 million to a Biden associate's account, resulting in over $8 million being transferred to the Bidens from Chinese entities.
- Kazakhstan: A Kazakhstani oligarch wired $142,300 to a Rosemont Seneca entity owned by Hunter Biden in April 2014, coinciding with his representation of Burisma in Kazakhstan.
- Ukraine: Hunter Biden and Devon Archer joined the board of Burisma in 2014, each receiving $1 million annually. Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky was later charged with bribery, with the total amount transferred to the Bidens from Ukraine amounting to $6.5 million.
- Russia: Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina wired $3.5 million to a Rosemont Seneca entity in February 2014. Hunter Biden and Devon Archer later split the funds, with Baturina joining them for a meal with then-Vice President Biden in Washington, D.C.
Background
In 2006, Joe Biden's brother James joined his son Hunter in purchasing a New York City-based hedge fund, Paradigm.[3] In 2014, Hunter accepted a business consulting engagement with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and was appointed to the company's board of directors.[4] Joe Biden and the State Department expressed concerns about Hunter's involvement with Burisma due to its history of corruption, and potential conflicts with Obama administration policy.[5] In 2017, Hunter also co-founded international investment fund BHR Partners, based in China.[6]
When Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president in 2019, the Trump presidential re-election campaign sought evidence of possible financial impropriety and influence peddling.[7] Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a team of associates traveled to Ukraine during 2019.[8] In 2020, the FBI and Scott Brady, a US attorney appointed by Trump and assigned by attorney general Bill Barr, had examined these allegations but were unable to substantiate them.[9][10]
Joe Biden claimed to have no knowledge of, or investments in, his son's foreign business ventures.[11][12] A 2020 investigation led by Republican senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley were unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden, noting only that Hunter Biden had used his family name to develop business relationships.[13]
In October 2020, the New York Post reported on a laptop once belonging to Hunter Biden. The laptop included two emails to Hunter Biden that passingly mentioned Joe Biden. While neither email indicated that Joe Biden was involved in any of the business matters;[14][5] the laptop garnered significant attention from Republicans and conservative media, and came to be known as the Hunter Biden laptop controversy. Despite no evidence being found during the initial investigation, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability continued the investigation.
From January 2023–September 2023, the Oversight Committee has revealed details concerning the establishment of more than 20 shell companies by the Bidens and their affiliates, the accrual of over $24 million from foreign entities including China, and the involvement of nine Biden family members in various business endeavors. Additionally, it has been confirmed that Joe Biden engaged with his family's business associates on approximately two dozen occasions. Following the initiation of an impeachment inquiry, Chairman Comer highlighted ongoing investigations by the Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means into potential impeachable actions by President Biden as per the U.S. Constitution. These committees are committed to tracking financial transactions and evidence to ensure accountability, and prevent public offices from becoming tainted by monetary influence.[15]
The former narrative of the Democrats and many in mainstream media about the investigation into the Biden family was that Hunter Biden's laptop was "Russian disinformation", and that Hunter is a legitimate businessman like Jared Kushner.[16][17] President Biden said no money ever came from China while he was Vice President, and that he knew nothing about Hunter's dealings. He also denied ever meeting with or speaking to any foreign nationals who "had wired the family money".[18] According to the House Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) “All of those things have been proven wrong because of the Republican majority and our investigation.”[18] He explained how the Oversight Committee conducted its investigation, and in doing so, it has been revealed that "President Biden was involved in his family’s influence peddling schemes despite lying to the American people."[18] Tony Bobulinski is the former business partner of Hunter Biden who, in 2020, exposed the Biden family business in detail, but mainstream media ignored him. Bobulinski testified before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees in February 2024, confirming "how the Bidens sold political influence and the family 'brand'."[19]
In 2019, Trump unsuccessfully attempted to pressure Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into announcing his government was investigating the Bidens. The Democrats turned Trump's pressuring of Zelensky into a scandal that resulted in Trump's first impeachment. The impeachment failed to gain traction in the Senate, and Trump was acquitted.[20] As of February 2024, Oversight Chairman Comer is "seeking classified documents referenced in the Special Counsel’s report which relate to then-Vice President Biden’s December 2015 phone call with the then-Ukrainian prime minister. This phone call occurred during the timeframe when then-Vice President Biden called for the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, the Ukrainian energy holdings company where Hunter Biden sat on the board."[21]
Proceedings
Committee chairman Comer launched the investigation on January 11, 2023, with a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding alleged Biden family "foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes". Comer also wrote several former Twitter executives to request their testimony before the committee in February.[22][23]
First hearing
As Vice President during the Obama administration, Joe Biden had spearheaded the effort to encourage adopting economic and democratic reforms for the government of Ukraine.[24][25][26] In 2016, Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to fire prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, due to concerns of ineffectiveness and corruption.[27][28] Despite Biden acting in accordance with American, EU, and IMF policy, Trump allies had alleged Shokin was fired to protect Burisma and Hunter Biden from corruption investigations.[29][30][a]
During the committee's first public hearing on February 8, Comer asserted in an opening statement that Biden did so to end an investigation of Burisma. This allegation was first published in an October 2020 New York Post story.[32][33][34][35] Prior to the hearing, many Republicans had alleged Twitter and the FBI had colluded to suppress the October 2020 New York Post story on Hunter Biden's laptop. Four former Twitter employees testified at the first committee hearing, contradicting the claims.[36]
In September 2019, Trump had tweeted that Chrissy Teigen was "filthy mouthed"; and Teigen tweeted vulgarities in response. During the hearing, it was disclosed that the Trump White House later asked Twitter to remove the tweet, but got declined. Committee Democrats suggested hypocrisy among Republicans for complaining of government influence on Twitter and suppression of free speech.[36]
Later developments
In March 2023, Jamie Raskin, Democratic ranking member of the Oversight Committee, disclosed that the chairman had quietly issued sweeping subpoenas of fourteen years of banking records of Hunter Biden associates involved with CEFC China Energy. Raskin also alleged cooperation between committee Republicans and a Trump attorney to quietly drop an Oversight Committee investigation into whether Trump improperly profited from his presidency.[37][38]
Joe Biden bribery allegation
On May 3, 2023, Comer and Republican senator Chuck Grassley wrote to attorney general Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher Wray asserting they had information from a "highly credible" whistleblower. They claimed to find about an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and policy decisions relating to exchange for money from a foreign national. This whistleblower was a suspended FBI agent, Alexander Smirnov, who claimed the FBI had buried the tip.[39] In February 2024, the FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, was indicted by the US Justice Department on allegations he had fabricated his account based on Russian intelligence officials instructions.[40] Prosecutors said Smirnov had been "actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections" since meeting with Russian agents in late 2023.[41][42]
Comer subpoenaed the FBI for a document from June 2020, despite the form being used by FBI officials to note tips from informants, regardless of them being verified. Committee ranking member Raskin characterized the subpoena as a "baseless partisan stunt".[43][44][45] On May 10, the FBI declined to provide the form, citing confidentiality and the lack of credibility it would provide.[46]
One purported informant the committee sought to interview was Gal Luft, who claimed to inform FBI and Justice Department agents in March 2019 of alleged Biden corruption. A dual US-Israeli citizen, Luft was arrested in Cyprus in February 2023 at the request of American authorities seeking extradition; he was released on bail and became a fugitive. In July, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment of Luft on eight counts related to arms trafficking, and in 2016, paying a high-ranking government official and advisor to Donald Trump, as an unregistered agent for Chinese interests. Comer had characterized Luft as a "very credible witness" three days before the indictment.[47][48][49]
The New York Times reported that some of the materials Brady reviewed were "junk and plainly not credible", but that Brady forwarded some materials to other prosecutors.[50] Raskin also said that the tip from the highly credible informant was a recounting of conversations with a Ukrainian energy magnate, but the informant could not vouch for the veracity of what that person had said, and that after an initial assessment the Brady investigators closed the matter in August 2020.[51][52]
Senator Ron Johnson later said the source was believed to be Mykola Zlochevsky, a co-founder of Burisma Holdings. Giuliani sought Zlochevsky's assistance in 2019 to seek dirt on the Bidens, though Zlochevsky told a journalist at the time that he had never spoken with Joe Biden.[53] Zlochevsky was implicated in paying $5 million in bribes to Ukrainian officials in June 2020.[54]
Multiple Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the existence of the recordings have yet to be verified. [55][56][57] Asked about Zlochevsky on June 15, Comer replied, "Unfortunately, nobody's had any contact with him for the last three years".[58]
Grassley publicly released the form on July 20, 2023. According to the document, Zlochevsky told the FBI informant in 2016 that he had paid the Bidens $5 million each, which the informant could not confirm. The account was contradicted by an earlier conversation with Zlochevsky, provided to Congress in January 2020. The FBI criticized the release of the document, asserting it "unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source".[59]
May 2023 report
On May 10, 2023, Comer released a 36-page report of interim findings and held a press conference with other Republican members of the committee. The report did not find any evidence of wrongdoing or money directed to Biden. Asked by reporters if he could name a specific official policy decision Joe Biden had made that may have been directly influenced by foreign payments, Comer said he could not.[60][61][62][63]
Allegation of Justice Department cover-up
On June 20, 2023, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses, which some Republicans characterized as a "sweetheart deal" and an example of an alleged "two-tiered justice system" that goes easy on Democrats. Legal experts said charges are rarely brought under circumstances such as Biden's.[64][65][66][67] Two days later, the House Ways and Means Committee released depositions from two IRS investigators who worked on the Biden case and who alleged Justice Department interference in the investigation by "slow-walking investigative steps". One investigator said that he had begun raising concerns about "irregularities" in how the Biden investigation was being conducted beginning in the summer of 2020 – when Trump was president and Bill Barr was attorney general. He alleged the Delaware US attorney leading the investigation, David Weiss, had in March 2020 requested the Justice Department grant him special counsel status but that his request was denied. In a July 10 letter to senator Lindsey Graham, Weiss denied he had requested special counsel status, explaining he had discussed with DOJ officials being given "special attorney" status that would allow him to file charges in any DOJ district; he wrote that he was assured he would be granted such authority if it became necessary and that he had "never been denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction".[68] The IRS investigator asserted other irregularities persisted into the Biden administration. On the day the depositions were released, Comer released a statement asserting "Now we know that Biden's Justice Department has been actively engaged in a cover-up to protect the Bidens from facing justice". Attorney general Merrick Garland the next day forcefully rejected allegations of political considerations in the Biden case.[69][70][71] The Weiss letter to Graham supported Garland's earlier congressional testimony that the prosecutor had been given full authority over his investigation; some Republicans had asserted that the IRS investigator allegations showed Garland had lied to congress and should be impeached.[72][73] One of the IRS investigators, Gary Shapley, told congressional investigators that he had witnessed Weiss say in a meeting of senior FBI and IRS investigators that he was "not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," though a high-ranking FBI agent who also attended that meeting later told congressional investigators that Weiss did not make such a comment.[74]
As House Republicans sought closed-door interviews with Weiss and others, on July 24 the Justice Department proposed Weiss provide public testimony to dispute what it saw as misrepresentations about his investigation.[75] Weiss told a closed-door session of the House Judiciary Committee on November 7 that he was the decision-maker in the investigation, he was not hindered in any way and there were no political considerations involved.[76]
Raskin sent Comer an 11-page letter on July 28 alleging Republicans were "concealing key evidence" that disproves their allegations against the Bidens. Specifically, the committee had released "key takeaways" from a recent deposition of a former FBI supervisory agent, asserting it supported the testimony of the two IRS whistleblowers, rather than releasing the full transcript. Raskin wrote that the transcript discredited the testimony by showing the investigation of Hunter Biden followed procedure and was free of political considerations. Raskin also chastised Comer for alleging Joe Biden had laundered money through his granddaughter's bank account.[77]
Devon Archer testimony
Former Hunter Biden business partner and fellow Burisma board member Devon Archer provided more than five hours of closed-door testimony to committee members on July 31. Republicans had long considered Archer a key witness in their search to directly connect the president to his son's business activities. Both Republicans and Democrats who attended the interview later said Archer testified that over the course of ten years Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone about twenty times while in the presence of business associates but that Joe Biden "never once spoke about any business dealings". Democratic congressman Dan Goldman told reporters that Archer characterized the calls as "all casual conversation, niceties, the weather, 'What's going on?'" Goldman said Archer testified Hunter Biden sold the "illusion of access" to his father in business meetings.
Hunter Biden's former business partner insisted in testimony to Congress Monday that President Joe Biden was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter would often put his famous father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates.[78]
Goldman said Archer was asked about bribery allegations against the Bidens and responded he was unaware of any bribes and would be shocked if there were any.[79]
Archer contradicted a claim made by Trump and the Comer committee that in 2014 Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina wired $3.5 million to a shell company account controlled by him and Hunter Biden. Trump alleged the payment went to Joe Biden. Archer testified the wire was a commission payment for a Brooklyn real estate transaction he had brokered for Baturina that accidentally went into a wrong account for a company Hunter Biden had an ownership stake in, and that Biden had no role in the real estate deal.[80][81]
Some Republicans misrepresented the Archer testimony, in some cases asserting the opposite of what he had said. Comer said on Hannity "Every day this bribery scandal becomes more credible", though the testimony indicated there was no evidence of bribery. Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert falsely asserted Archer testified Joe Biden had participated in his son's business deals over twenty times, though Archer testified Joe Biden never discussed business.[80][82][83] On Hannity, Comer and Jim Jordan alleged that in December 2015 Hunter Biden phoned his father asking him to help Burisma and that the vice president traveled to Ukraine five days later to call for Shokin's removal, though the trip had been publicly announced weeks earlier. Archer testified Hunter had called someone in Washington but was not sure it was Joe Biden.[80] Republican congressman Andy Biggs said the Archer testimony implicated the president directly and that an impeachment inquiry was necessary. Comer released a statement[84] asserting the testimony "confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son's business dealings and was not involved". Greene concurred and said a formal impeachment inquiry was the logical next step.[84][78][85]
Impeachment considerations
By late summer 2023, House Republicans were debating whether to open a formal impeachment inquiry that might lead to impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden. A House vote was expected soon after the August recess. Following months of formal investigation, Republicans had been unable to corroborate various public allegations they had made against the president, and were concerned that not proceeding with an inquiry might create an impression they had cleared him of wrongdoing. By this time, the Comer investigation had not found sufficient evidence to support a bribery allegation or that any wire transfers were linked directly to the president. No illegality had been found among wire transfers involving Hunter Biden and his associates, nor was there evidence Joe Biden had been improperly influenced. Suggestions that SARs indicated wrongdoing were inconclusive. In an August 9 memo to committee Democrats, Republicans pivoted to a new position, asserting they didn't need to show direct evidence the president had benefited from his son's business ventures in order to pursue impeachment.
Republicans instead appeared focused on assertions Joe Biden lied by saying he had never been involved in his son's business affairs, by pointing to the Archer testimony. Republicans also appeared to focus on the IRS whistleblower allegations that the Biden administration had undue influence on the investigation of Hunter Biden. Most Republicans believed that opening an inquiry would inevitably lead to impeachment proceedings, but Republicans had only a four-vote margin in a House vote to move forward, and eighteen represented districts Biden won in 2020. Some Republican donors conveyed to party leaders their concerns that impeachment was a risky political strategy; Republican committee member Nancy Mace warned impeachment could cost Republicans their House majority in 2024. Raskin asserted an inquiry was intended to distract from Trump's "mounting criminal indictments and deepening legal morass".[86][87][88]
McCarthy said on September 1 that he would not initiate an impeachment inquiry without a full House vote, though it appeared he did not have sufficient Republican support to pass such a measure.[89][90] He announced on September 12 that he was directing the Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees to begin such an inquiry, to be led by Comer. McCarthy did not mention whether a full House vote might be held.[91] The first impeachment inquiry hearing was scheduled for September 28, as Comer announced he expected to subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden and his uncle, James.[92]
Eric Schwerin interview
Schwerin is a former Hunter Biden business partner who also provided administrative and bookkeeping work for Joe Biden throughout his vice presidency. He met with Democratic and Republican committee staffers in March 2023 for an untranscribed interview. A spokesman for committee Republicans told Fox News in September that the committee "never interviewed Schwerin" but had only met with him regarding the production of documents they had asked him for in February. In a September letter to Comer, Raskin asserted Schwerin "spent hours answering substantive questions from Republican and Democratic staff about his relationship with Hunter Biden, as well as the history, structure, and operations of Hunter Biden's various business entities." Raskin added that Schwerin had access to Joe Biden's bank account transactions and asserted he had said "he was not aware of any involvement by President Biden in the financial conduct of his family members' businesses, much less any transactions into or out of the then-vice president's bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member." Raskin further asserted Schwerin had provided exonerating statements that Republicans found inconvenient. Schwerin's attorney confirmed Democrats' characterization of the interview.[93][94]
Presentation of interim findings
In August, Glenn Kessler, the lead fact-checker for The Washington Post, analyzed the committee's presentation of its interim findings in staff memos and Comer's comments in conservative media and on Twitter. Kessler found the memos, while written in a partisan tone that ignored or downplayed contrary information, tended to use more restrained language than did Comer in public statements. Another memo described "$20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates," while on Newsmax Comer said "The Biden family received over $20 million from our enemies around the world." Kessler found that payments from foreign sources totaled $23 million, though all but $7.5 million went to Hunter Biden business associates, and nothing was traced to Joe Biden.[95]
Fox News interviews with Shokin and Poroshenko
Fox News served as an important platform for Comer and his allies to broadcast unfounded allegations against the Bidens. Host Brian Kilmeade interviewed Viktor Shokin on One Nation with Brian Kilmeade in August 2023. Shokin said he was fired as prosecutor general "at the insistence of then-Vice President [Biden] because I was investigating Burisma." One month later Kilmeade interviewed former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko on his program, asking for his reaction to Shokin's assertion. Poroshenko responded:
First of all, this is a completely crazy person. There is something wrong with him. Second, there is not one single word of truth. And third, I hate the idea to make any comments and to make any intervention in an American election. We have very much enjoyed the bipartisan support, and please, do not use such a person like Shokin to undermine the trust between bipartisan support and Ukraine.
Kilmeade responded, "Okay, so that is not true. He didn't get fired because of Joe Biden." Poroshenko confirmed this, adding Shokin was fired by the Ukrainian parliament "for his own statement" and "he played a very dirty game unfortunately."[96][97]
Impeachment inquiry developments
On 25 September, the committee issued a subpoena for Hunter Biden's bank records. They found two wire transfers in summer 2019 from Chinese nationals that listed his father's Delaware home as the beneficiary address. Hunter's attorney stated that these were loans from a Chinese company that Hunter had invested in; and that the address listed was for his new bank account, which used his parents' address as his only permanent address at the time. [98]
The committee held its only public hearing under an impeachment inquiry on September 28. Comer said in his opening statement that investigators had "uncovered a mountain of evidence", but committee members did not present clear evidence to support the allegation. Three expert witnesses called by committee Republicans testified there was not impeachable evidence against Biden at that point. Committee Republicans made several false or misleading statements during the hearing. Nancy Mace falsely stated, "We already know the president took bribes from Burisma." Byron Donalds presented a text message from James Biden to suggest that Joe Biden would help in Hunter Biden's business matters, though preceding texts showed the discussion related to the younger Biden's alimony payments and other personal expenses. Pat Fallon asserted "Hunter admitted that he talked to his dad about business, specifically Burisma," referencing a 2019 New Yorker interview. In 2015, an Obama administration special envoy to Ukraine raised the issue of Hunter Biden sitting on the Burisma board with the vice president. Hunter recounted in that 2019 interview that "Dad said, 'I hope you know what you're doing,' and I said, 'I do'".[99][100][101]
On 20 October, Comer released a bank check from March 2018 noted as "loan repayment" from James Biden's account to Joe Biden, for $200,000. A few days later, fact checkers also found a check for $40,000 in September 2017, also marked "loan repayment," which Comer released soon thereafter. During a 12 December Newsmax appearance, Comer asserted that the payment involved a Hunter Biden company and was giving Joe Biden a 10% cut of the deal. Joe Biden was not mentioned in the final deal proposal and the deal never closed.[102][103][104][105]
Comer also presented an email from a bank money laundering investigator who wrote the Owasco account activity "appears unusual with no current business purpose." Comer asserted on Fox News on December 3 that the investigator had found evidence of money laundering and tax evasion. Committee Democrats soon released three other pages from the same email chain indicating an Owasco official had explained to bank investigators how the company seeks large, complex deals with substantial up-front expenses and fees before deals close and begin generating revenue. Another email showed a more senior bank investigator had found the activity "reasonable and consistent with the business profile" of the company and "clearly written in operating agreements," recommending the matter be waived.[106]
The Washington Post reported that during a November 7 luncheon with the Republican Governance Group, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated there was insufficient evidence to initiate formal impeachment proceedings.[107]
Since February 2023, Comer had sent letters requesting documents, records, and communications to Hunter Biden and his associates. Abbe Lowell, a Hunter Biden attorney, rebuffed the request, responding in a letter that the committee did not have any legitimate legislative purpose and that Comer had "shamelessly maligned" his client.[108][109] On November 28, Hunter Biden's attorney told the committee his client was prepared to testify, but only in public rather than in a closed-door setting. Comer rejected the proposal, saying Hunter Biden should have an opportunity for public testimony after his private interview.[110] Committee ranking member Raskin responded:
Let me get this straight. After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose?[111]
Despite lacking evidence of wrongdoing by the president, on December 13 majority House Republicans unanimously approved a resolution to initiate formal impeachment proceedings. Democrats unanimously voted against the resolution.[112]
Throughout his investigation, Comer promised transparency by publicly releasing transcripts of closed-door witness interviews, though by January 2024 only two of eight transcripts had been released. The committee interviewed Kevin Morris, an attorney and writer who is a Hunter Biden friend, on January 18. Morris had lent millions of dollars to Biden in 2019 to pay back taxes and cover personal expenses. The interview transcript was not immediately released, but alleged "Morris admitted he has 'loaned' the president's son at least $5 million. These 'loans' don't have to be repaid until after the next presidential election and the 'loans' may ultimately be forgiven." Morris' attorney quickly wrote Comer that the statement contained several inaccuracies, asserting that the loans were reviewed by attorneys for both men and included "proper loan terms such as interest and a term." The attorney wrote that Morris repeatedly testified he fully expected the loans to be repaid and did not say they would be forgiven. Morris' attorney wrote Comer that at the start of his client's testimony he had "specifically pointed out the practice of Republicans in making partial leaks of witness' statements rather than releasing the actual transcript so the public would know the truth and not your often inaccurate spin and misstatements." In a statement, Morris said, "Here's what they do: They bring up something totally innocuous and legal, get nowhere with it, and they run to the cameras and make spooky noises. What they do has an elementary school quality to it." [113][114]
Notes
- ^ In March 2016, testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former ambassador to Ukraine John E. Herbst stated, "By late fall of 2015, the EU and the United States joined the chorus of those seeking Mr. Shokin's removal" and that Joe Biden "spoke publicly about this before and during his December visit to Kyiv". During the same hearing, assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland stated, "we have pegged our next $1 billion loan guarantee, first and foremost, to having a rebooting of the reform coalition so that we know who we are working with, but secondarily, to ensuring that the prosecutor general's office gets cleaned up".[31]
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In June 2020, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates were seeking to revive debunked claims alleging Biden pressured Ukraine in 2016 to fire a prosecutor investigating his son, Hunter Biden, over his role on the board of the energy company Burisma. The FBI later assessed that Russia was promoting disinformation campaigns aimed at denigrating Biden in an effort to interfere in the 2020 election, including via a Russian agent who worked with Giuliani
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External links
- Biden Family Investigation, House Oversight Committee
- Comer Announces New Actions in Biden Family Investigation, press release, January 11, 2023
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- Presidency of Joe Biden
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- Hunter Biden