A senior House Republican wants the Treasury Department to turn over all suspicious activity reports on dealings between President Biden and his family and a Chinese business linked to the government.
Rep. James Comer, ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, stated in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that documents and testimony from a whistleblower suggest the Biden family “received millions of dollars from a Chinese business closely affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore the Chinese government, to sell American natural gas to China.”
The seven-page letter, including documents and emails obtained by committee Republicans, is a likely preview of the type of investigations into Mr. Biden and his family can expect if Republicans take control of the House after the November elections, as many forecasters predict.
The letter requests all Treasury reports on the Bidens and their connections to China, based on concerns the president may have compromised national security in his dealings with Beijing.
“The president has not only misled the American public about his past foreign business transactions, but he also failed to disclose that he played a critical role in arranging a business deal to sell American natural resources to the Chinese while planning to run for president,” Mr. Comer said.
The Kentucky Republican stated the information from the whistleblower shows “Joe Biden was involved with this arrangement as a business partner” and worked in office space provided to him by his son, Hunter Biden, and his company, Hudson West.
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“This comes to light at a time when the cost of natural gas is at a 14-year high and Americans struggle to pay their energy bills,” Mr. Comer said.
Spokesmen for the White House and Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hunter Biden could not be reached for comment. President Biden has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son’s business dealing in China or Ukraine.
Asked about his son’s troubles, Mr. Biden said during a CBS’ 60 Minutes interview broadcast Sunday that “there’s not a single thing that I’ve observed at all that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.”
Mr. Comer said in a statement his investigators need the Treasury reports to determine what role the president and his family played in the deal to sell natural gas to China.
“If President Biden has worked to enrich not only himself but his family by promising, in exchange for millions of dollars, access or policy influence in a future Biden administration, Congress and the American people are entitled to that information,” Mr. Comer said.
The Treasury Department notified the House Oversight Committee in a Sept. 2 letter that suspicious activity reports may be supplied based on a written request and official need for the information.
The documents provided in Mr. Comer’s letter included material from a 2017 presentation from JiaQi Bao, described in the letter as a former member of the Chinese Communist Party and Hunter Biden’s assistant at the investment firm Hudson West III LLC.
The presentation in Chinese includes maps of the United States, identifying Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming as potential sources of natural gas to be sold to China.
The deal involved selling the U.S. reserves through Hudson West, a relationship that the letter states was set up with help from Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy. CEFC went bankrupt in March 2020.
An audio recording obtained by the committee includes the statement by Hunter Biden who refers to CEFC founder Patrick Ho, who is also a client, as the “f—-ing spy chief of China,” the letter states.
According to the letter, in 2017 the Biden family received over $5 million from CEFC and its affiliates that Senate investigators identified as arms of the Chinese communist regime. The letter quotes a Biden associate, James Gillar, as stating in a decrypted correspondence dated May 20, 2017: “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when [you] are face to face, I know [you] know that but they are paranoid.”
Also according to the letter, the CEFC transaction was structured for Joe Biden to be “an obfuscated partner” in deal with China. Hunter Biden was to hold 10% of the proceeds for his father.
An email contained in the letter said that Hunter Biden, his father and CEFC officials would share offices at Hudson West.
“Please have keys made available for new office mates: Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden, Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary),” the email states, linking first lady Jill Biden to the deal, along with the president’s brother James.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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