The House Oversight Committee obtained an interview in February with James Biden, the president’s brother, as part of its broader investigation into the Biden family’s financial dealings.
The interview will likely focus on two loans President Biden made to his brother, as well as other business deals James Biden made alongside his nephew Hunter Biden.
James Biden’s interview, scheduled for February 21, falls a week before Hunter Biden’s and comes after both men were subpoenaed by the committee.
House Republicans have focused on the business ventures of both Bidens, suggesting their work with foreign companies amounts to influence peddling and that loans between the two brothers could be part of a larger corruption scheme .
However, they have yet to find compelling evidence to support their corruption theory, and records filed with the committee and reviewed by The Hill show that bank accounts belonging to President Biden transferred money to his brother , which was quickly refunded.
“We look forward to his testimony,” the commission said in a brief message on X, the former Twitter platform, announcing the interview.
Although the committee worked to document the flow of money in and out of Hunter and James Biden’s accounts, it struggled to demonstrate a clear and inappropriate connection between the men’s work and Joe Biden. All financial transactions between men would be repayments of personal loans.
Republicans focused on two checks from James Biden to his brother — one for $200,000 and another for $40,000, both written while Joe Biden was not holding any political office.
James Biden’s $200,000 check was called a loan repayment and came after he received a loan from rural hospital operator Americore Health. While Biden apparently told the company his name could “open doors” in the Middle East, he did not follow through and the loan repayment appears to have no connection to working abroad.
Another $40,000 check between the brothers was also described in the check memo line as a loan repayment and came after Hunter Biden struck a major deal with a Chinese energy company and then transferred money money to his uncle. James Biden used part of these funds to reimburse his brother. Republicans used this to accuse President Biden of taking money laundered in China.
Democrats have argued that the funds show nothing more than a short-term loan between family members made while Biden was a private citizen.
The attempt to tie any funding to corruption allegations stems from debunked claims about President Biden’s efforts as vice president to remove Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Republicans say these measures are not due to Shokin’s failure to fight corruption, as Biden has said, but rather to benefit his son while he worked on the energy company’s board. Ukrainian Burisma.
But Biden’s actions were consistent with those of the international community, and State Department correspondence from the time shows that the United States suspended aid to Ukraine due to concerns that it could not of Shokin to undertake significant reforms.
Shokin wasn’t pursuing Burisma either; his deputy said an earlier investigation had become inactive by the time Biden was involved. U.S. concern about aid to Ukraine was due to Shokin’s inability to be an aggressive prosecutor.
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