The leader of the House investigation of Biden family business deals said Hunter Biden’s legal team is trying to intimidate witnesses in the probe.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer is now evaluating whether to seek immunity from the Justice Department for certain witnesses to further the investigation, said a Republican aide familiar with the situation.
Mr. Comer said Hunter Biden’s lawyers have contacted some of the witnesses in what is believed to be an effort to intimidate them into remaining silent.
The lawyers, Mr. Comer said, warned the witnesses about their potential liability due to their involvement in the Biden business deals Republicans are investigating.
“Hunter Biden’s legal team is seeking to intimidate witnesses who are cooperating with our investigation into the Biden family’s suspicious business practices,” Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, told The Washington Times. “It’s a desperate attempt to slow this investigation, and it won’t work.”
Mr. Comer’s aides would not name the witnesses who were contacted by Hunter Biden’s lawyers.
The committee is seeking interviews with several Biden family business associates who worked with Hunter Biden and President Biden’s brother, James Biden, to secure foreign business deals that reaped massive profits.
At least one former associate, Eric Schwerin, is cooperating with the panel.
Mr. Schwerin was Hunter Biden’s close friend and business partner who also helped the Biden family manage their finances. Mr. Schwerin was president of the now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment management firm founded by Hunter Biden that pursued deals in Ukraine, Russia, China and other countries where his father wielded influence as vice president in the Obama administration.
The committee is also seeking to interview and obtain records and documents from John Robinson “Rob” Walker and Devon Archer. Mr. Walker distributed more than $1 million to Biden family members beginning in March 2017, making the payouts a day after he received a $3 million wire transfer from State Energy HK Ltd., an affiliate of CEFC China Energy Co., an oil company backed by the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr. Archer was a partner at Rosemont Seneca and served with Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma Holdings Ltd., a natural gas company based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company paid Rosemont Seneca $3.4 million in consulting fees meant for both Mr. Archer and Mr. Biden, who was allegedly hired to shield Burisma from corruption charges while his father served as vice president.
Hunter Biden and Mr. Archer were each paid $80,000 per month.
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Mr. Comer and Oversight Committee Republicans have been combing through suspicious activity reports generated by banks that flagged irregular financial activity by Hunter Biden, James Biden and the business associates.
Mr. Comer has subpoenaed records from several banks dating back 14 years for Biden family business associates, including Mr. Walker and Marvyn Yan, a former top official at CEFC China Energy.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not respond to an inquiry about Mr. Comer’s charge of witness intimidation.
Mr. Comer said the financial documents he has reviewed indicate up to a dozen Biden family members received money from the business deals.
“We’ve obtained thousands of pages of financial records that corroborate whistleblower accounts of the Biden family’s business schemes,” Mr. Comer said. “We will not be swayed by these tactics and will keep pushing forward to deliver accountability for the American people.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote to fellow Democrats on the panel last month to accuse Mr. Comer of conducting his investigation “behind a veil of secrecy.” He said the probe was aimed at bolstering former President Donald Trump’s reelection bid.
Mr. Raskin also said Republicans showed no interest in joining Democrats to investigate Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a former top aide in the Trump administration. Mr. Kushner was paid “billions of dollars” by Saudi, Qatari and Emirati governments shortly after Mr. Trump left office, the lawmaker said.
Mr. Kushner, who worked on Middle East policy in the Trump administration, received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi government for his firm, Affinity, six months after Mr. Trump left office.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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