WASHINGTON – President Biden tried to laugh off a question Thursday about whether he will comply with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s request to obtain his banking records ahead of a possible impeachment inquiry into his role in Trump’s foreign dealings. their first son Hunter.
“Hee-hee-hee,” the 80-year-old president laughed during a group with reporters at FEMA headquarters in Washington after discussing the impact of Tropical Storm Idalia on Florida and nearby states.
“Let’s talk about why I’m here,” Biden deflected.
Biden had responded without complaint to several previous questions unrelated to the storm, including Overdose Awareness Day, the health of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a possible partial government shutdown.
After declining to discuss his financial statements, Biden proceeded to answer another unrelated question about the storm, about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s possible attendance at next month’s G20 summit in India.
Biden declined to answer the same question about his banking records as he left the East Room of the White House on Monday after an event focused on civil rights.
President Biden laughed when asked about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy requesting his bank records. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
McCarthy has said Congress could launch an impeachment inquiry into Biden.AP Photo/J. Scott Apple White
McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that launching an impeachment inquiry was “a natural step forward” that “provides Congress with the apex of legal power to get all the information it needs,” citing alleged obstruction. of various requests for information. .
McCarthy said on Aug. 8 that he wants Biden to “give us his bank statements” to resolve questions about whether he personally benefited from his family’s businesses in countries where he exerted influence as vice president.
Hunter Biden wrote in emails recovered from his old laptop that he had to give “half” of his income to Joe Biden, and the House Oversight Committee in May identified nine Biden family members who allegedly received income. foreign.
Biden declined to answer the question again when asked later at an event in the East Room of the White House. REUTERS/Leah Millis
The Oversight Committee has requested a wide range of records (most recently demanding from the National Archives emails containing Joe Biden’s use of the pseudonyms “Robin Ware” and “Robert L. Peters”), of which There are reportedly more than 5,000 in existence.
The panel is also seeking flight manifests from Air Force Two showing Hunter’s use of the plane and has issued subpoenas to banks seeking records about foreign transactions, although it is unclear if any have yet been issued to members. from the Biden family rather than his associates.
Joe Biden’s role as vice president repeatedly intersected with Hunter’s foreign dealings.
The then-second son co-founded the BHR Partners investment fund with Chinese state entities in 2013, just 12 days after Hunter joined Vice President Biden aboard Air Force Two for an official trip to Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File
Hunter introduced his father to BHR CEO Jonathan Li during the trip to China’s capital, and Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s children.
Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer told the Oversight Committee in a July 31 interview that Joe Biden had coffee with Li during the 2013 trip, instead of a simple handshake as previously reported, and that Hunter put his father on speakerphone with Li during a later business meeting. trip to Beijing.
The then vice president was put on speakerphone by his son during about 20 business meetings with associates from various countries and dined at least twice in Washington with his son’s Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh associates, Archer said.
Hunter Biden held a 10% stake in BHR for at least part of his father’s first year in office and the status of his purported divestment in late 2021 remains unclear. The alleged leaked BHR documents suggest that Hunter’s “sugar brother,” Kevin Morris, a wealthy Hollywood lawyer whom he met at a 2019 fundraiser, may have taken over the stake.
Hunter and James Biden later launched a second business venture in China with another government-linked company, CEFC China Energy, which was part of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence campaign.
Months after stepping down as vice president, Joe Biden reportedly met twice with his son’s and brother’s CEFC partners and in a May 2017 email about CEFC referred to him as the intended “big guy.” for a 10% cut.
Two of Hunter Biden’s former partners in the firm, Tony Bobulinski and James Gilliar, identified the president as the “big guy.”
Bobulinski alleges that he discussed the CEFC deal with Joe Biden and an October 2017 email from the laptop of first son Hunter Biden identifies Joe Biden as a participant in a call about CEFC’s attempt to buy American natural gas.
Biden speaking at FEMA headquarters on Aug. 31, 2023. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
The relationship with the CEFC seems to have started around 2015, when Hunter connected with Vuk Jeremic, a former Serbian foreign minister and president of the United Nations General Assembly who was running for UN Secretary General, as his father was vice president.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who have investigated Hunter for three and five years, respectively, said in recent congressional testimony that Justice Department officials prevented them from investigating Joe Biden’s role in business, despite that the communications mention it directly.
Shapley provided the panel with a July 30, 2017 WhatsApp message in which Hunter wrote that he was “sitting here with my father” and threatened retaliation if the deal was cancelled, immediately prior to the $5.1 million transfer. from CEFC China Energy to the Biden-linked company. accounts, plus more than $1 million transferred earlier in the year.
Shapley said Delaware prosecutors who negotiated a parole deal rejected last month by a federal judge also failed to inform the IRS team that a paid FBI informant provided a tip that Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which paid Hunter up to $1 million a year starting in 2014, said in 2016 that it was “forced” to pay $10 million in bribes to Joe and Hunter Biden in exchange for the then-Vice President’s help in getting a prosecutor fired.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn