On Wednesday, Republican staff on the House Oversight Committee are for the first time reviewing dozens of “suspicious activity reports” that U.S. banks have flagged regarding transactions involving Biden family members and associates.
Committee chairman Rep. James Comer lobbied for access to the information in what he calls Biden family “influence peddling” and the Treasury granted the request on Monday.
This allowed Comer staff, who focus their efforts on the business practices of Biden family members, to travel to the Treasury Department to view the sensitive information in person.
“Oversight committee staff will begin reviewing suspicious activity reports behind closed doors at the Treasury Department on Wednesday afternoon. The SARs are those included in Chairman Comer’s January 11 request,’ a spokeswoman for the committee told DailyMail.com.
CBS News reported that financial institutions made 150 suspicious activity reports regarding electronic transactions for Hunter Biden or the President’s brother James Biden. Reports trigger a review and include issues such as large wire transfers, but don’t necessarily mean anything inappropriate happened. The committee’s action comes after Comer quietly subpoenaed Bank of America over the financial records of a Hunter Biden associate.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, (r) R-Ky., won the ability for committee staff to view suspicious activity reports filed by financial institutions
Comer and two high-ranking Republican senators who polled Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election have long had views on China’s business dealings as well as Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian energy company.
Comer claims new Treasury and bank documents he obtained potentially implicate an unnamed Biden ‘family member’ who has not previously been identified as participating in what has been described as ‘influence peddling’ .
Comer made the comment to Fox News after announcing that his panel had obtained Treasury Department documents known as “suspicious activity reports” that he had requested.
His claim comes days after it was revealed that the committee had quietly subpoenaed Bank of America for information on financial pulls from a Hunter Biden associate, John R. Walker.
“I won’t release this new name because it really changes things, because we thought it was pretty much the president’s son and two brothers, but now a new name has emerged. And they a Biden, ‘Comer told Fox News host Bill Hemmer on Tuesday.
Documents are seen ‘behind closed doors’ at Treasury, rather than handed over to committee
James Comer said a “new name” emerged in his committee’s investigation and the person was “a Biden.” Comer clarified that the person is not Hunter Biden, nor President Frank’s brothers or Joe Biden – meaning it was someone new
“So we have a problem here trying to figure out what exactly this family was doing to receive these transactions from China,” he said, suggesting a coordinated effort. “It’s important, and I think every American should care about this national security issue.”
Daytime host Bill Hemmer told the new panel chair that the information seemed “significant,” then cautioned, “Let’s see where this goes.”
“It’s been five years – a long time to investigate,” Hemmer added.
The White House has long denied that President Biden had knowledge of the affairs of his family members.
Hunter Biden is the subject of a federal investigation related to tax and financial matters. After Republicans win the House, Comer says he will investigate ‘influence peddling’
It came hours after Comer made a similar claim on opinion host Sean Hannity’s program, where he clarified that Bank of America records revealed a $3 million transaction from a Chinese energy company to Walker, Biden’s associate.
“Two weeks ago, Sean, I subpoenaed a bank for the records of three different former business associates of Hunter Biden. One such associate in particular was Rob Walker. We have his account. We confirmed this account about two months after Joe Biden stepped down as vice president, received a three million dollar wire transfer from two people directly associated with the Chinese Communist Party.
He said the next day, the Walker account “began transferring money to three different Biden family member accounts, including a new Biden family member who had never before been identified as someone involved in influence peddling”.
He called it “very serious information”.
“It shows a pattern that the Biden family was getting money directly from China and the question I have for Sean is what were they doing in return for that money? It’s just one account, there are many more accounts and many more associates,” he said.
Comer did not provide evidence of wrongdoing by members of the Biden family, and the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee previously released a report detailing transfers to an LLC for Walker’s company.
His charges came a day after the Democratic panel Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote a scathing letter accusing Comer of running a ‘political net’ seeking to uncover private details about Walker’s life, with bank records spanning a ‘amazing period of 14 years.’
Raskin appears to have heard of the majority subpoena, but he chastised Comer in his letter, dated Sunday, for exceeding the usual 48-hour notice period.
And he accuses Comer of meddling in the private details of Walker, who was involved in a joint venture with Chinese company CEFC energy, part of what Comer presents as a web of entanglements benefiting members of the Biden family. .
Raskin called Bank of America’s subpoena “extremely broad.” He also noted that Comer requested documents from the ‘estranged mother of Hunter Biden’s child’ who sued him for paternity and child support, a reference to Lunden Alexis Roberts.
Comer claimed there were three different members of the Biden family who got “a share” of the $3 million he mentioned, and dismissed the idea that it might be for services rendered.
“So our question is, what exactly did they do to receive this money? What was the purpose of this transfer of 3 million dollars?
“Now this is just the first thread we’ve been able to get bank statements,” he continued. ‘There are many, many more.’
