House Republicans, who had just secured a majority, immediately turned their attention to investigating the foreign business dealings of President Biden’s son Hunter Biden and younger brother James Biden.
The probe’s ultimate goal is to question whether the president has been “compromised” by a foreign government as the GOP shifts its focus from disappointing midterm elections to surveillance — and the 2024 presidential race.
“We will be evaluating the state of Joe Biden’s relationship with his family’s foreign partners and whether he is a president who has been compromised or influenced by foreign money and influence,” House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement. The media said Wednesday morning’s meeting.
“I want to be clear: This is the investigation of Joe Biden. That’s what the committee will focus on in the next Congress,” Comer said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said his group will assist the oversight committee in its investigation of the Biden family and its investigations into the FBI and Justice Department’s alleged politicization.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee also released a 32-page interim staff report on Thursday about the investigation into the Biden family. Staff reviewed a copy of Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, but Republicans have made a conscious attempt to distance themselves from its more salacious content in the investigation.
The final pages of the report say the Biden family business will continue to be investigated to inform legislation “regarding the ability of family members of government employees to lobby or hire government officials for financial gain.”
They also said the investigation would involve “mandatory disclosure by elected officials of financial interests entrusted to family members or associates, and interests held in businesses controlled or funded by U.S. adversaries.”
A Washington Post investigation into Hunter Biden’s arrangements with a Chinese energy group found no evidence that President Biden personally benefited from the deals or knew the details, though House Republicans believe there is information to suggest otherwise. in this way.
During his 2020 campaign, Biden said the then-candidate “had never considered doing business with family, or any overseas business.”
Thursday’s press conference was pre-planned ahead of the election, but came the morning after election forecasts predicted the Republicans would win the 218th House seat, making them the official majority party. Six House races have yet to be called.
It underscores the focus Republicans plan on monitoring and investigating the Biden administration over the next two years, as Democratic control of the Senate and White House makes the chances of passing conservative priorities into law slim, if not impossible.
Other GOP priorities include investigating the origins of the COVID-19 virus, the Biden administration’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and U.S.-Mexico border policy.
The news conference was the first held by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee in the past two years.
Comer said the committee “would be happy to talk to someone in the Biden family,” but his first priority was to obtain reports of suspicious activity from the Treasury Department related to transactions by the president’s son and his associates.
CBS News reported in April that Bank of America had flagged more than 150 financial transactions related to the business affairs of Hunter or the president’s younger brother, James Biden, for review.
These reports do not necessarily mean that illegal activity has occurred, and only a fraction of the millions of bank reports filed each year lead to law enforcement investigations.