Rep. James Comer accuses officials of ‘hindering’ Hunter Biden probe
The Republican congressman spearheading the investigation into the first family’s finances has accused Treasury Department officials of “operating in bad faith” by preventing his committee from accessing more than 150 bank reports of sketchy transactions tied to first son Hunter Biden.
House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said the Treasury had made “several excuses” to not comply with his initial Jan. 11 request for so-called “Suspicious Activity Reports” (SARs) — triggered by “unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions” executed by Hunter, first brother James Biden, their associates and related companies.
Comer made the accusations in a Friday letter to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oversight Isabella More, whom he invited to testify at a March 10 hearing focused on the department’s “various justifications” for not providing the SARs and other documents.
“The American people deserve transparency,” the lawmaker tweeted Monday. “Treasury’s failure to produce requested information related to the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes is unacceptable.”
Comer is looking into President Biden’s involvement in his son’s overseas business dealings, as well as whether the commander-in-chief had “compromised national security.”
Comer noted in his letter to More that he first requested financial documents pertaining to Hunter, James, their business partner Devon Archer, and others last summer before repeating the appeal last month after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives.
“Given the amount of time that has passed since our initial request and Treasury’s inability to provide a projected timeframe when the SAR’s will be produced, the Committee believes Treasury may be delaying its production to hinder our investigation and operating in bad faith,” he wrote Friday.
Comer added that More had emailed committee staff Feb. 23 and claimed that before giving up the documents “Treasury must confer with law enforcement partners, who may identify particular law enforcement conflicts or sensitivities … This entire process takes considerable time to complete.”
“Treasury’s excuses and delay tactics are unavailing given you have known about our request since last year and previously produced relevant SARs to others,” Comer wrote.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Last week, the committee threatened to reveal the identities of shadowy purchasers of Hunter Biden’s artwork, after the overseas lobbyist-turned-painter missed a deadline to share documents about his foreign business dealings with lawmakers.
Paintings by the self-taught artist have sold for up to $500,000, and Republicans have argued that the sales to unknown buyers raise “serious ethics concerns.”
A lawyer for an art dealer that works with Hunter snapped back this month, saying the buyers were unknown to the first family — a practice he said functioned as a “safeguard” for the White House to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars while sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings between 2014 and 2019 — a term that began when his father was vice president, and ended as he sought the top job himself.
Additionally, the first son was involved in business dealings with a Chinese energy tycoon who has not been seen since being arrested by Beijing for so-called economic crimes.
Hunter’s leveraging of his father’s influence to make money overseas was detailed on a computer he abandoned at a Delaware repair shop. The Post exclusively revealed the eyebrow-raising contents of the laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election.
Hunter, 53, has not been charged in connection with his foreign maneuvering, and both he and the president have denied accusations of untoward behavior.
The younger Biden is under federal investigation for tax evasion and illegally owning a gun, as President Biden, 80, is being probed by the feds for mishandling classified documents connected to his vice presidency and time in the Senate.
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