Comer subpoenas records of alleged China-paid Biden family credit cards
WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued subpoenas Thursday for records on “several” credit cards that the Chinese state-linked company CEFC China Energy allegedly provided members of President Biden’s family for personal expenses — including a card loaded with $100,000 for a “global spending spree.”
“We’re subpoenaing several credit card companies,” Comer (R-Ky.) said in a morning interview on Fox Business.
“Through the interviews and depositions we’ve conducted thus far, we’ve learned that there were several credit cards that were used by members of the Biden family — we believe for personal expenses — and we believe that these credit cards were being paid by CEFC or through CEFC-funded affiliates.”
An Oversight Committee staff member told The Post that the subpoenas cast a wide net for records as part of the impeachment inquiry into alleged corruption during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
CEFC, a now-defunct reputed cog in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence campaign, was one of the largest and most mysterious sources of overseas income for the first family.
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Former Biden family associate Rob Walker told impeachment investigators Jan. 26 that Joe Biden personally met CEFC chairman Ye Jianming in Washington in or around March 2017 — less than two months after he left office as vice president.
First brother James Biden and first son Hunter Biden reportedly netted more than $7 million in 2017 and 2018 from CEFC for what critics call influence peddling.
The first tranche of more than $1 million flowed shortly after Joe Biden met Ye and was a “thank you” for services during his vice presidency, Walker said.
Comer’s latest legally binding demands encompass more than just the Biden family and include their associates and business entities close to the CEFC venture.
CEFC allegedly provided James Biden and his wife, Sara Biden, with a credit card to go on a $100,000 “global spending spree,” according to a September 2020 report by Republican-led Senate committees.
The Oversight Committee rep said the panel recently received corroborating information from witnesses.
“The American people deserve transparency, and these subpoenas will be more evidence of the Biden family’s influence peddling around the globe,” the committee aide said.
“The subpoenas issued include financial records for Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Sara Biden; Biden family associates Eric Schwerin, Gongwen Dong, and Mervyn Yan; and several of the Bidens’ companies, including Rosemont Seneca Partners, Rosemont Seneca Advisors, Rosemont Seneca Bohai, Owasco, P.C., and Hudson West III.”
The committee staffer said that “these subpoenas will get us more evidence about the Biden family’s credit card activity involving a joint venture with the CCP-linked company CEFC.”
“Based upon recent testimony, we believe Sara Biden and Jim Biden used a CEFC-related company credit card and we want to review those suspicious transactions,” the Republican source said.
“In addition, we’re getting records related to Rosemont Seneca Partners, an advisory company, operated by Hunter Biden and Eric Schwerin — Joe Biden’s bookkeeper — as well as Hunter Biden’s credit card transactions involving some of his companies such as Rosemont Seneca Bohai, Rosemont Seneca Advisors, and Owasco, P.C.”
Spokespeople for the White House and attorneys for James and Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The CEFC venture has been the subject of explosive reporting linking the president to his family’s foreign revenue since the 2020 presidential campaign.
The Post’s second exclusive report on documents from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop in October 2020 revealed that Joe Biden, referred to as the “big guy,” at one point was penciled in for a 10% stake in a joint venture with CEFC, according to a May 2017 email written by former Biden family associate James Gilliar.
Former Biden family associate Tony Bobulinski, who testified in the impeachment inquiry Tuesday, alleges that he and Joe Biden discussed the CEFC dealings twice in May 2017.
Joe Biden later was named in an October 2017 email about CEFC attempts to purchase US natural gas.
The future president also was name-checked in a threatening July 2017 WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden wrote he was “sitting here with my father” and warned of retribution if an agreed-upon deal was not fulfilled. Within 10 days of the message, $5.1 million was transferred to bank accounts associated with the Biden family, according to information contained in the Senate report.
Changing their story
Hunter Biden carefully claimed Wednesday that his dad was not “financially involved” in his foreign influence peddling — a change in the previous denials. Joe Biden has said before he knew “nothing” about his son’s business. That has changed to wasn’t “involved” and now “financially involved.”
- “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses.” — Joe Biden, Aug. 28, 2019
- “He wasn’t given tens of millions of dollars [from foreign entities]. That was totally discredited.” — Joe Biden, Sept. 29, 2020
- “The president was never in business with his son.” — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, July 24, 2023
- “My father was not financially involved in my business.” — Hunter Biden, Dec. 13, 2023
Comer alleged in November that Joe Biden received $40,000 in CEFC funds that were “laundered” by James Biden, citing subpoenaed bank records. The White House and congressional Democrats say that James was repaying his older brother for a personal loan, but Republicans note the original alleged loan transfer to James appeared to come weeks earlier from a law firm associated with multiple members of the Biden family, rather than from Joe Biden’s personal account.
President Biden has repeatedly claimed that he “never” discussed business with Hunter or James Biden and in December claimed he “did not” interact with any of their foreign business associates — despite evidence that he did so repeatedly.
Joe Biden as vice president interacted with Hunter and James Biden’s patrons from Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Ukraine and had coffee in 2013 with the CEO of an earlier Chinese state-backed Hunter Biden venture, according to laptop evidence, photos and witness statements.
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