President Biden’s family was pocketing millions of dollars from foreign nationals in China and corruption-riddled Romania while he was vice president in the Obama administration, bank records show.
The information, discovered amid thousands of bank documents obtained through subpoena by House Republican investigators, showed that the Biden family and their business associates used a “complicated, suspicious” web of more than 20 companies to hide $10 million in payments from foreign nationals. Many of the transactions took place while Mr. Biden was vice president, lawmakers said.
The companies were based in Romania and China, among other countries, and several business associates who paid the Bidens had close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Republicans say Chinese nationals and companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party worked to conceal the sources of the money paid to the Bidens by layering domestic limited liability companies, or LLCs.
“From a historical standpoint, we’ve never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican.
The web of Biden family LLCs was uncovered by scouring four Biden family bank accounts. The companies were used in what investigators say was a complex money laundering scheme that filtered money from foreign companies, through Biden LLCs and eventually into the bank accounts of nine Biden family members, including one of the president’s grandchildren.
Republicans said a web of foreign transactions generated 170 suspicious activity reports by the banks where Biden family members and business associates deposited money.
The lawmakers did not provide hard evidence that the president was involved in any of the transactions. They said the business deals suggested corruption because they involved locations where Mr. Biden was “leading the United States’ effort in these countries.”
The findings also contradict statements from the president, who said his family did not receive any money from China.
“That was a lie,” Mr. Comer said. “And he continues to lie to the American people now. The Bidens have received millions of dollars from China. It is inconceivable that the president did not know it.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers have not been able to determine why the Biden family and their associates were provided the millions of dollars from foreign entities.
“What was the business, and what service did they provide? What value did they add? What did they do to warrant receipt of the money? That is the fundamental question, and no one seems to have an answer to that fundamental question,” Mr. Jordan said.
Democrats have dismissed the investigation and said Republicans have produced no evidence of wrongdoing and aim to damage Mr. Biden politically.
Instead, they say, Republicans should be investigating the children of former President Donald Trump, whom they accuse of using their time in public office to reap profits from their private businesses.
“Once again, Chairman Comer has failed to provide factual evidence to support his wild accusations about the president,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight panel. “He continues to bombard the public with innuendo, misrepresentations and outright lies, recycling baseless claims from stories that were debunked years ago. Unable to implicate the president directly, committee Republicans have resorted to using cherry-picked bank records, misrepresentations about confidential and unverified bank reports known as SARs, and baseless conspiracy theories to attack the President’s family, including his grandchildren.”
Mr. Comer said the family business deals, which also provided money to Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and current wife, capitalized on Mr. Biden’s public office and put national security at risk.
The FBI told the panel Wednesday that it would not comply after Mr. Comer asked FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to turn over a Biden-related whistleblower complaint by noon. The complaint says Mr. Biden took bribes from a foreign national while serving as vice president. The whistleblower is credible, Republicans said.
Mr. Comer has not indicated which country the whistleblower names.
The Biden family business deals in Romania took place from 2015 through 2017, congressional investigators found. They said the payments to the family suggest an influence-peddling scheme. As vice president, Mr. Biden lectured Romania on corruption and ethics while Hunter Biden and other family members were paid more than $1 million from a company controlled by a Romanian national accused of corruption, they said.
Mr. Comer said his committee is at “the beginning stages” of the investigation and lawmakers plan to examine records from a dozen banks.
The committee is seeking other documents and testimony from Hunter Biden, three Biden family business associates and the president’s brother James Biden.
“I think the American people understand that this stinks,” Mr. Comer said. “And I think they appreciate what we’re doing here.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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