Two Biden family associates testified before Congress this week about their deep involvement in the family’s foreign business dealings, revealing information in respective closed-door interviews about Hunter BidenThe Bidens’ overseas commitments and the Bidens’ lack of experience in an industry in which they did business, according to lawmakers and sources familiar with the interviews.
THE Home monitoring and the judicial committees conducted the interviews as part of their impeachment investigation of the president. Joe Biden.
On Friday, the committees questioned Rob Walker, who previously distributed large sums of money from China and Romania to several members of the Biden family. They questioned another associate, Mervyn Yan, on Thursday.
Transcripts of the interviews have not yet been released, but lawmakers and sources have shared many of the findings.
Walker said Hunter Biden met in 2015 with the U.S. ambassador to Romania on behalf of Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian real estate mogul whom Hunter Biden was helping with his legal issues at the time, according to a source.
A company controlled by Popoviciu paid Hunter Biden received more than $1 million for his work that began in 2015, when Joe Biden was still vice president, according to the bank. recordings obtained by the House Oversight Committee. The money was funneled through a company owned by Walker, records show.
This revelation comes as questions intensify over why Hunter Biden never registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for his work abroad with government officials American. The Justice Department has considered charging the first son for failing to register as a foreign lobbyist and may continue to do so.
The source also said Walker provided context for bank records showing Walker distributed more than $1 million he received from a Chinese government-linked energy company to Hunter Biden, his sister-in-law Hallie Biden and his uncle James Biden. Walker said he transferred the money to Hallie and James Biden at Hunter Biden’s direction, even though the two men never worked for the energy company, according to the source.
Yan, who was also involved in dealings with Hunter Biden and Chinese energy companies, said the Bidens had “no experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors,” according to the watchdog president. James Comer (R-KY), a remark that comes as the GOP continues to point out that Hunter and James Biden offered no clear goods or services to those who invested in them.
Comer said Walker revealed that Joe Biden met with a Chinese energy official while other members of the Biden family were receiving payments.
“Today we learned that Joe Biden met with now-defunct CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming while Hunter Biden and his associates received $3 million from a Chinese entity controlled by CEFC. The evidence continues to reveal that the Bidens sold the ‘Biden brand’ to enrich the Biden family,” Comer said.
Yan “wasn’t sure what (the Bidens) brought to the table. His testimony raises many questions about the Bidens’ dealings with the Chinese government-linked energy company,” Comer said.
Another source said Walker and Yan denied that Joe Biden was involved in these ventures. Republicans have been investigating allegations that the president was involved in business ventures as part of their impeachment inquiry into whether Joe Biden abused his power for personal gain when he was vice president.
“To be clear, President Biden — whether in office or as a private citizen — has never been involved in any of the business activities we have engaged in,” Walker said, according to the source. “Any claim to the contrary is simply false.”
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Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) issued a lengthy statement after Yan’s testimony, saying the associate said he had no interactions with Joe Biden and had no knowledge that the president knew of or profited from his business activities son and his brother.
Comer has committed to releasing the transcripts of the two associates’ interviews as soon as they become available.