Although the conservative heat has focused on the past business activities of President Biden’s son Hunter for three years, a leading Senate Republican told CBS News this week that newly obtained banking records express similar concerns. First brother James Biden.
“We have a man named Biden, who has Communist Party connections with Chinese businessmen,” Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a senior investigative reporter for CBS News, told the Judiciary Committee. “I think James was a part of Biden.”
Bank records released by Republican senators this week indicate that James Biden’s company, Lion Hall Group, received funding from a Chinese-funded consulting group in 2018, before his brother Joe announced that he was running for president. Grassley said that same year James Biden and the president’s son, Hunter, received a monthly retainer totaling $ 165,000 – হ 100,000 for Hunter and $ 65,000 for James.
Grassley said his team received records directly from the bank where the consulting group did business. He spent three years investigating and described the business dealings between James and Hunter Biden as “very disturbing.”
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In a September 2020 report with Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Grassley alleged that Hunter, James, and James’ wife Sarah tapped a credit hunter’s line to buy airline tickets, hotels, and restaurants with a Chinese business executive. .
Newly released records from Republican investigators show what the 2017 application for a $ 99,000 credit line signed by Hunter Biden and the Chinese executive looks like.
“These are the first records we have received that have been made public in this regard. No one else has them, “said Grassley.
CBS News also reports that more than 150 financial transactions involving Hunter or James Biden’s global business have been identified by U.S. banks as related for further review. These concerns include the transfer of some large wires. Such banking reviews can lead to deep problems – or they can prove innocence. Data shared with CBS News does not indicate the results of the banking review.
In 2019, a bank handling business for members of the Trump family flagged multiple transactions for similar review, according to a report in The New York Times. A spokesman for the Trump organization said at the time that company officials were unaware of the flagged transaction.
James Biden’s name was linked last year to a separate international business venture, which he left after flagging it for potential conflict of interest in a White House ethics review.
Members of the president’s family must report to the White House Counsel’s Office of Business Affairs, which is then reviewed for any conflict of interest. The office then advises family members on its outcome and decides how they should proceed.
James Biden, 72, is known to be involved in a number of financial and business ventures, including an insurance and political consulting job – even an interest in a nightclub.
President Biden has said he was not involved in the business dealings of his son and brother and no evidence has been found to substantiate this.
“I have never in my life taken a penny from any foreign source,” Mr. Biden said in a presidential debate in October 2020.
Advocacy group Public Citizen President Robert Weissman has criticized Hunter and James Bidens for their Chinese business dealings.
“I don’t think Hunter and James Biden should have entered into that relationship, full stop,” Weissman said. “The extent to which this happened during Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president is a concern that they expect to receive something directly from the Obama administration.”
Weissman added that even after Biden became vice president, “members of this family should have been concerned about the possibility of investing in future benefits… that Joe Biden would later become president.”
Weissman pointed to the apparent conflict of interest that arose under former President Donald Trump and criticized politicians.
“I think during the Trump administration, we saw a conflict of magnitude orders without precedent in American history. And the Republicans did not complain, “Weissman said.” Now, legitimate issues are being raised about Hunter Biden and they are shouting about them. But there is an obvious hypocrisy. “
Hunter Biden’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. CBS News contacted two lawyers representing James Biden, but they did not respond. The White House chief of staff said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that the actions of Hunter and James Biden were personal matters and did not involve the president. .
Federal officials have confirmed that Hunter Biden is the focus of an ongoing investigation outside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware. The investigation focuses on taxes and other financial matters. A 2019 federal subpona obtained by CBS News shows that the criminal investigation in Delaware sought the 2014 bank records of Hunter and James Bidens, when Joe Biden was vice president.
