House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) downplayed the significance of Hunter Biden’s pending plea deal with the Department of Justice, saying that his focus remains on uncovering President Joe Biden’s business dealings.
Despite the charges, Comer says he remains focused on his mission to uncover the truth of Biden’s business dealings with foreign nationals. Evidence unearthed by a trusted FBI informant alleges that the president accepted at least $5 million as a bribe from a foreign national, but more recent allegations put that figure at at least $10 million, in part through the use of shell companies.
“This is an investigation of Joe Biden,” Comer said. “So what happened today [with Hunter Biden] really doesn’t matter.”
Comer made the comments ahead of a 4 p.m. meeting in the House sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) where he is set to review another FD-1023 form, a form from an FBI informant making allegations of potentially criminal conduct.
“With respect to things, we’ve still got people coming in that we hope to depose in the next weeks and months,” said Comer. “And we also have more bank records coming in.”
One reporter asked Comer what he might find that other investigators could not find.
“What could you find that [Trump’s DOJ] didn’t find? They looked into a lot of these issues.”
“I don’t know. I would ask the U.S. attorney, did you look into the shell companies? Did you look at the money laundering? Did you consider the fact that—let’s say Joe Biden had nothing to do with this money—then would that not make the president’s son an unregistered foreign agent? What about wire fraud? How do you justify taking wires that were laundered through shell companies from foreign nationals? In my opinion, that’s three crimes ... you got wire fraud, you’ve got money laundering, you’ve got racketeering.”
However, the DOJ investigation into the younger Biden is reportedly ongoing.
Nevertheless, Comer expressed dissatisfaction with the length of time taken for the investigation, which he said should have been “easy” in view of the charges.
“We don’t know exactly what the U.S. attorney was investigating,” Comer said.
‘Sweetheart Deal’
The right-wing of the House Republican conference was critical of Biden’s deal with the DOJ, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) describing it as “a sweetheart deal.”“Hunter Biden pleading guilty to a gun charge and misdemeanor tax charges with no jail time is a stunt to make him look like he is just cooperating with the DOJ,” Greene said.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) described it as “part of a deflection scheme” to keep attention off Special Counsel John Durham’s upcoming testimony to Congress about unlawful uses of surveillance and law enforcement authority against Trump and his allies.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told the Epoch Times that Republicans would not be dissuaded by the charges against Hunter Biden from continuing their investigation into his business dealings.
“It will not keep us away from any truth,” McCarthy said. “It’s a real concern to me, that it just shows what we’ve been complaining about for quite some time about a two justice system—here’s an individual who, because he’s the son of the president, looks like he just gets a slap on the wrist.
“But it will not stop any of our investigation into the Biden family ... the millions that they received from foreign entities to move through shell companies to pay their families. The other thing that’s even more interesting, it can only make us work harder because there’s no excuse now from the DOJ not to provide the information that we need to pick up.”
