Comer: Bank investigator flagged questionable payments to Hunter Biden

(The Center Square) — House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has released email communication showing that a bank investigator raised concerns about Hunter Biden’s overseas deals with a China-linked company.

Comer’s office said one of his several subpoenas to Biden family members and associates uncovered an email where a bank investigator raised concerns about “$5 million funding from Northern International Capital Holdings, a CEFC affiliated entity linked to the Chinese government, and the subsequent erratic payments to Hudson West III, Hunter Biden’s joint venture with a Chinese national, and Owasco, P.C, an entity owned by Hunter Biden.”

Comer has released copies of two checks from Biden family members to the president totaling $240,000, the most eyebrow-raising evidence to come out tying the president to his son’s alleged deals. Those checks note they are for debt repayment in the memo of the check, but Comer said those payments were actually the last stop for money that was funneled from foreign interests through several shell companies and bank accounts.

Notably, Comer said one of those checks to the president came after the funding from the Chinese-connected company arrived.

The Oversight Committee laid out the alleged timeline in the release of the latest evidence:

The money that landed in Joe Biden’s bank account was funded by a complex web of financial transactions that began with the initial $5 million funding from Northern International Capital Holdings. On August 8, 2017, Northern International Capital sent $5 million to Hudson West III. That same day, Hudson West III sent $400,000 to Owasco, P.C. On August 14, 2017, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, LLC, a company owned by President Biden’s brother James and sister-in-law Sara Biden. On August 28, 2017, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group and then deposited the money into her and James Biden’s personal checking account on the same day. On September 3, 2017, Sara Biden cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000 for a “loan repayment.”

A copy of the email published online appears to show that the bank investigator was concerned about China’s habit of targeting the “children of politicians to purchase political influence through ‘sweetheart deals.'”

The check payments to the president are now the center of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president.

President Biden has repeatedly denied claims that he benefited from any overseas deals.

“Long before our investigation into President Biden’s corruption, a bank money laundering investigator raised the exact concerns that we raised publicly about the Biden family business: ‘payments appear erratic,’ ‘does not appear to have any services rendered,’ ‘no current business purpose,’ and ‘China target[s] children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals,'” Comer said. “Those are the words of a bank investigator who was just doing his job. The bank investigator was so concerned about Hunter Biden’s financial transactions with the Chinese company, he wanted to re-evaluate the bank’s relationship with the customer.”

Earlier this week, Hunter Biden requested to publicly testify after receiving a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee. House Republicans say the president’s son must still appear for a private deposition but will also be able to testify publicly at a later date.

The bank investigator email, which is online with the name redacted, is the latest development in the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The Oversight Committee has released bank records and testimony fro IRS whistleblowers and Hunter Biden’s associate Devon Archer to back allegations that the Biden family and associates raked in more than $24 million dollars from entities in China, Russia, Ukraine and other nations.

“Even worse, we know that the sitting President of the United States knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s shady China dealings,” Comer said. “Joe Biden showed up to his son’s CEFC meetings and benefited from the money wired from China. The White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and coverup this blatant corruption is appalling to the American people. House Republicans will continue to unearth the facts and provide the accountability the American people deserve.”