Hunter Biden’s monthly payments to father raise questions of influence-peddling as probe intensifies

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A House panel investigating President Biden’s involvement in a suspected influence-peddling scheme produced new bank records that lawmakers say tie him to his family’s foreign business deals.

Bank records subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee show that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, provided monthly payments to his father from a business account that funneled money from deals made with China, Ukraine and other countries.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the money from Hunter Biden to his father was repayment for a loan from Mr. Biden to his son to purchase a truck.

Emails on Hunter Biden’s discarded computer laptop confirm he made a similar payment in January 2019.

The recurring checks to Mr. Biden were small — each totaling $1,380 — but House investigators say the deposits clash with President Biden’s claims that he did not receive money from the lucrative business deals made by family members and their business associates.

“This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world,” said James Comer, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.

An email found on Hunter Biden’s discarded laptop indicates that the money to his father was repayment for a truck loan.

The Jan. 14, 2019, email from Hunter Biden’s assistant lists a $1,380 payment as “Ford Raptor - Reimbursement to JRB.” The email lists other payments due, including $4,244.70 for Sidwell Friends, a private school in Washington, $318 for the Yale Club and $28,600.64 for University of Pennsylvania tuition for one of his children.

House investigators Monday highlighted three payments of $1,380 that were sent from the bank account of Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC, to his father’s bank account from September 2018 to November 2018, after Mr. Biden’s second term as vice president ended and before he declared his presidential candidacy.

Republicans say the money was paid from proceeds from business deals with China that ended up in the Owasco bank account and stemmed from transactions with Hunter Biden that originated during Mr. Biden’s time as vice president.

Some were delayed to avoid the appearance of corruption, former business associate Tony Bobulinski has testified. Additional money from China poured into the Owasco bank account after Hunter Biden threatened a Chinese business associate by evoking his father’s power and influence, according to a social media message uncovered by IRS agents investigating the president’s son for tax fraud.

The panel has uncovered additional checks to Mr. Biden, sent from his younger brother James Biden and totaling $240,000, that appear to be funded by business deals that Mr. Biden’s powerful name helped secure.

Mr. Comer subpoenaed James and Hunter Biden to testify in closed-door depositions this month. Mr. Comer rejected a public bid by Hunter Biden to instead provide his testimony in public, where he likely would be shielded by Democrats and prolonged partisan bickering.

In a letter to Mr. Lowell, Mr. Comer said his client must appear for the Dec. 13 deposition. The committee would videotape it and release the transcript, Mr. Comer said.

“Other Hunter Biden business associates are also cooperating with our subpoenas and not demanding a public hearing first,” Mr. Comer said. “Mr. Biden seems to believe that he should be treated differently than other witnesses before the committees.”

The oversight panel is leading the House impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden.

It has uncovered 20 shell companies that were used to provide Biden family members and associates with $24 million from 2015 through 2019 from foreign business deals that former business associates say sold Mr. Biden as “the brand.”

Hunter Biden’s Owasco law firm collected millions of dollars from energy companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party and from businesses in Ukraine, Russia and other countries.