Biden impeachment inquiry builds evidence

By Casey Harper
The Center Square

The impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is gaining momentum as more evidence comes out to back allegations that the president himself financially benefited from the overseas business dealings of his son, Hunter.

While Republicans will find it very difficult to get the needed supermajority to impeach Biden, the mounting evidence and media coverage would be another obstacle for Biden to overcome as he campaigns for reelection.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has filed a flurry of subpoenas in the investigation of Biden family members and associates this month, starting with Hunter Biden, the president’s son, James Biden, the president’s brother, and their business associate Bob Walker.

Comer then sent subpoenas for Hunter Biden’s business associates, Mervyn Yan and Eric Schwerin, as well as his gallerist, George Bergès, and art patron, Elizabeth Naftali.

As The Center Square previously reported, Hunter Biden’s art business has come under scrutiny as critics argue his expensive works were used to hide and funnel funds.

Comer has also sent a subpoena to former White House Counsel Dana Remus, raising concerns about Biden’s handling and retention of classified documents. Federal law enforcement found classified documents in Biden’s garage and his office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. from his time as Vice President.

Notably, former President Donald Trump faces criminal charges for the same offense. Biden has not yet been charged.

In the Remus subpoena, Comer is planning a deposition to find out more about Biden’s handling of classified documents and if there is any connection to those documents and the countries involved in his family’s overseas business dealings.

Notably, reporting has suggested some of the classified documents may have been related to Ukraine, a country that allegedly funneled millions of dollars to the Biden family.

“Facts continue to emerge showing that the White House’s narrative of President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents doesn’t add up,” Comer said in a statement. “It is imperative to learn whether President Biden retained sensitive documents related to any countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings that brought in millions for the Biden family. The Oversight Committee looks forward to hearing directly from Dana Remus and other central figures to further our investigation into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and determine whether our national security has been compromised.”

The committee has released evidence that the Biden family and associates received more than $24 million from entities in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Kazakhstan. Comer says that money was shuffled between shell companies to hide its origin and destination.

Comer has also released copies of two checks for a total of $240,000 from family members made out to the president. The memo says “loan repayment,” but Comer argues these payments are evidence of kickbacks going to the president as Hunter and associates used the president’s political clout to secure deals worldwide.

President Biden has repeatedly dismissed the idea that he personally benefited from any overseas deals.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry earlier this year, putting Comer, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Chair of the Judiciary Committee as well as Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., who leads the Ways and Means Committee, at the helm of the impeachment inquiry.

Comer, Jordan and Smith sent a letter last week to Hollywood lawyer and Democrat donor Kevin Morris requesting a transcribed interview. They pointed to media reports that Morris lent millions to Hunter Biden.

“Instead of investigating his loans as a potential campaign finance violation, the Justice Department, revealed in documents released by the Ways and Means Committee, said they had no interest in doing so, with one DOJ prosecutor saying they were not ‘personally interested’ in following the facts,” Smith said in a statement. “It’s time that Americans learn the truth about Kevin Morris’s monetary contributions to the Biden family business dealings.”

Comer, though, has largely spearheaded the investigation, releasing a series of documentation and evidence, including bank records and testimony from IRS whistleblowers who testified that the Biden administration interfered into their investigation into Hunter Biden.

Comer also requested transcribed interviews last week with four former White House employees: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Katharine Reilly, and Ashley Williams.

“The Oversight Committee has conducted transcribed interviews in connection with this matter, including with individuals who worked at Penn Biden Center, one of whom was present at Penn Biden Center on November 2, 2022—the day that, according to the President’s personal attorney, classified materials were first “unexpectedly discovered,’” Comer said in a letter to Williams. “The Committees are now aware that, in addition to Ms. Kathy Chung (a Department of Defense employee), at least five White House employees accessed Penn Biden Center prior to the “discovery” of classified materials on November 2 and accessed boxes stored therein—including yourself on October 12, 2022, with President Biden’s personal attorney, Patrick Moore, and again, the next day, on October 13, 2022.” 

* * *

Timeline of events

House Oversight Committee

Since taking the gavel in January, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability has accelerated its investigation of the Biden family’s domestic and international business practices to determine whether the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors, President Biden is compromised, and our national security is threatened. Records obtained through the Committee’s subpoenas to date reveal that the Bidens and their associates have received over $20 million in payments from foreign entities.

Below is a timeline that details key dates in our investigation.

The main points of interest are:

1) Romania: On September 28, 2015, Vice President Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House. Within five weeks of this meeting, a Romanian businessman involved with a high-profile corruption prosecution in Romania, Gabriel Popoviciu, began depositing a Biden associate’s bank account, which ultimately made their way into Biden family accounts. Popoviciu made sixteen of the seventeen payments, totaling over $3 million, to the Biden associate account while Joe Biden was Vice President.  Biden family accounts ultimately received approximately $1.038 million.  The total amount from Romania to the Biden family and their associates is over $3 million.

2) China- CEFC: On March 1, 2017—less than two months after Vice President Joe Biden left public office—State Energy HK Limited, a Chinese company, wired $3 million to a Biden associate’s account. This is the same bank account used in the above “Romania” section. After the Chinese company wired the Biden associate account the $3 million, the Biden family received approximately $1,065,692 over a three-month period in different bank accounts. Additionally, the CEFC Chairman gives Hunter Biden a diamond worth $80,000. Lastly, CEFC creates a joint venture with the Bidens in the summer of 2017.  The timeline lays out the “WhatsApp” messages and subsequent wires from the Chinese to the Bidens of $100,000 and $5 million. The total amount from China, specifically with CEFC and their related entities, to the Biden family and their associates is over $8 million.

3) China- Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. (BHR): More information will be provided in our upcoming Fourth Bank Memorandum.

4) Kazakhstan: On April 22, 2014, Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakhstani oligarch used his Singaporean entity, Novatus Holdings, to wire one of Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca entities $142,300. The very next day—April 23, 2014—the Rosemont Seneca entity transferred the exact same amount of money to a car dealership for a car for Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden and Devon Archer would represent Burisma in Kazakhstan in May/June of 2014 as the company attempted to broker a three-way deal among Burisma, the Kazakhstan government, and a Chinese state-owned energy company.

5) Ukraine: Devon Archer joined the Burisma board of directors in spring of 2014 and was joined by Hunter Biden shortly thereafter.  Hunter Biden joined the company as counsel, but after a meeting with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky in Lake Como, Italy, was elevated to the board of directors in the spring of 2014.  Both Biden and Archer were each paid $1 million per year for their positions on the board of directors.  In December 2015, after a Burisma board of directors meeting, Zlochevsky and Hunter Biden “called D.C.” in the wake of mounting pressures the company was facing.  Zlochevsky was later charged with bribing Ukrainian officials with $6 million in an attempt to delay or drop the investigation into his company.  The total amount from Ukraine to the Biden family and their associates is $6.5 million.

6) Russia: On February 14, 2014, a Russian oligarch and Russia’s richest woman, Yelena Baturina, wired a Rosemont Seneca entity $3.5 million.  On March 11, 2014, the wire was split up: $750,000 was transferred to Devon Archer, and the remainder was sent to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a company Devon Archer and Hunter Biden split equally.  In spring of 2014, Yelena Baturina joined Hunter Biden and Devon Archer to share a meal with then-Vice President Biden at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.  The total amount from Russia to the Biden family and their associates is $3.5 million.

Beyond this timeline, there links to the committee's bank emorandums that provide detailed descriptions and show actual bank records and wires at https://oversight.house.gov/