WASHINGTON – House Republicans seek testimony from Biden family business associate Michael Lewitt as part of their indictment investigation in President Joe Biden.
In a Thursday letterHouse Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan cited Lewitt’s ties to James Biden, the president’s younger brother and a former business associate of Lewitt.
“The committees have identified you as possessing information relevant to the impeachment inquiry and are seeking your testimony on related matters,” the letter from Comer, R-Ky., and Jordan, R-Ohio, said.
Specifically, the GOP chairs referenced a $200,000 loan the president gave his brother in 2018. NBC News reported that James Biden repaid the loan a few months later, and Comer noted that bank records obtained by his committee show that James Biden paid his brother $200,000 the same day he received $200,000 from Americore Health, a company that was at the at the time involved in bankruptcy proceedings.
“Given the above, the committees are interested in your involvement with Americore and your relationship with James Biden,” Comer and Jordan said in the letter. “In particular, the committees are seeking information you possess regarding your business dealings with Americore and James Biden, including, but not limited to, ‘loans’ James Biden received from the financially troubled company.
A lawyer for James Biden also previously described the House Oversight Committee’s characterization of the $200,000 check as “highly selective and misleading.”
The White House and a lawyer for James Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Attempts to reach Lewitt for comment were unsuccessful.
Comer and Jordan want Lewitt to voluntarily come forward for a transcribed interview. The GOP-led panel reserves the right to subpoena him if he doesn’t cooperate. They asked Lewitt to contact their staff by January 11 to schedule an interview.
Lewitt was sued in October by the Securities and Exchange Commission, who alleged that Lewitt and his Third Friday Management group misled investors and engaged in “fraudulent conduct and flagrant violations of fiduciary duties.” Comer and Jordan cited the lawsuit in their letter as one of the reasons they wanted to interview him. James Biden is not accused of wrongdoing in the SEC lawsuit.
House Republicans voted for authorize an impeachment inquiry became president this month. Comer said members of the Biden family had been involved in “shady business practices” but that none of the committees involved in the impeachment inquiry had provided evidence of wrongdoing or influence peddling from the president.
Biden called the investigation a “baseless Republican impeachment stunt” in a statement this month.
Ryan Nobles And Sarah Fitzpatrick contributed.
