Hunter Biden’s business ventures took center stage at a House hearing about electric vehicles Tuesday with calls for him to testify about helping China take over mineral mines from U.S. firms.
The mines, it turns out, produce cobalt which is a critical component of electric vehicle batteries, and the U.S. increasingly relies on China for those specialized EV batteries.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, questioned why President Biden’s son Hunter Biden could not be a witness.
Mr. Comer sent a letter last Friday to Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney requesting that the younger Biden testify because he is “well-positioned to inform the committee about issues pertaining to African cobalt mines — a metal which is essential in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.”
The hearing, titled “It’s Electric: Developing the Postal Service Fleet of the Future,” focused on converting the mail service’s fleet to electric vehicles over the next decade.
Mr. Comer chided the committee’s Democrats for wanting to mandate expensive electric vehicles for the Postal Service while Hunter Biden’s lucrative business deals made the U.S. more reliant on China to manufacture them.
Hunter Biden helped arrange the deal with a Chinese Energy conglomerate CEFC China energy in 2016, while his father was vice president in the Obama administration.
The mining deals included a $2.65 billion purchase of a cobalt and copper mine that Chinese company China Molybdenum bought from the American company Freeport-McMoRan
“There are many problems with the Democrats’ plan, but one could be to access the critical elements needed to produce the electric vehicle batteries. And the president’s own son has made it more difficult to do that,” Mr. Comer said.
Cobalt is a key component for electric car batteries, solar panels and other forms of renewable energy and, Mr. Comer noted, China dominates the cobalt market.
“This is a national security threat and a blow to America’s ability to lead in green technology. In fact, CEFC China Energy thought so much of Hunter Biden’s expertise that it paid entities controlled by Mr. Biden and his uncle $4.8 million for 14 months of work. What did China get for nearly $5 million?” Mr. Comer asked.
Mrs. Maloney, New York Democrat, accused the congressman of conducting “political theater,” saying his office sent his witness request to her just one business day before the hearing.
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“I do want to note that recently, you wrote to me, saying that you were interested in legitimate oversight instead of playing ’political games.’ But bringing up Hunter Biden is nothing but political theater, plain and simple,” she said.
She continued, “We need to get off of Russian oil, we have to stop consuming so much oil, we have to move to alternatives. And one great alternative is moving to electric vehicles. The private sector is doing that. They’re way ahead of us, and the largest fleet in the federal government is the Postal Service. we should be setting an example.”
Mr. Comer interjected, “Hunter Biden is an expert on Russian oil as well. But with all due respect, when we talk about converting to electric vehicles, rare earth minerals are a huge component of that and China has the competitive advantage over us and you know, we need to talk about rare earth minerals.”
Later, Rep. Andy Biggs motioned that the committee subpoena Hunter Biden as an additional witness for the hearing.
“It’s obvious that Hunter Biden has valuable expertise, which he can share with us today at this hearing on electrifying the federal fleet of postal vehicles,” said the Arizona Republican.
Mrs. Maloney placed the motion in abeyance, and the Democratic majority on the committee later tabled the motion, effectively killing it.
Other Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, questioned witnesses about the consequences of relying on China for key components in electric car batteries.
“So we are asking the American people to literally pay billions of dollars for batteries that we are going to get from the Chinese,” Mr. Donalds said.
Mrs. Maloney accused Republicans of attempting to “hijack” the hearing and “score cheap political points.” She said the focus on Hunter Biden and China had “nothing to do with health, the environment or the postal service.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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