The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas to four major banks as part of a probe into financial dealings of President Joe Biden’s family.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer confirmed the suboenas issued to Bank of America, Cathay Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and HSBC USA N.A., as well as former Hunter Biden business associate Mervyn Yan, asking for financial records.
This is as Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, complained that Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, was hiding information regarding the investigation from Democrats on the committee.
Comer accused Democrats of trying to scare off potential witnesses from testifying, saying Raskin leaked the bank subpoena news in an attempt to “thwart cooperation” from others.
“Ranking Member Raskin have again disclosed Committee’s subpoenas in a cheap attempt to thwart cooperation from other witnesses.
“Given his antics with the first bank subpoena, the American people and media should be asking what information Ranking Member Raskin is trying to hide this time.
“No one should be fooled by Ranking Member Raskin’s games. We have the bank records, and the facts are not good for the Biden family,” the Committee Chairman tweeted after the news, first reported by Fox News, broke.
In a letter to Comer on Thursday, Raskin told the chairman that Democrats on the committee were being kept in the dark about information gathered by the Republican-led committee.
“Committee Republicans’ decision to conduct this probe behind a veil of secrecy runs counter to the Committee’s traditional commitment to transparency and raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation,” Raskin wrote.
In a memo to Oversight Committee Democratic staff, Raskin said that Republicans haven’t been publicizing their subpoenas or notifying Democrats, resulting in some targets of subpoenas being unaware that the committee is seeking their records.
“On February 27, 2023, Chairman Comer secretly issued the Committee’s first document subpoena as part of Committee Republicans’ ongoing investigation into the Biden family to Bank of America. This subpoena sought, among other information, “all financial records” from January 20, 2009, to the present — a staggering 14-year period — for John R. Walker, a private U.S. citizen… Yet, because of Chairman Comer’s use of a secret subpoena, Mr. Walker was never notified that the Committee had subpoenaed his financial records from Bank of America, he was never notified that Bank of America turned over his records to the Committee, and he was never notified that the Committee was publicly releasing information from these records,” the memo read in part.
Reports say Biden family financial records obtained by Comer through the committee’s subpoena power last month revealed the president’s daughter-in-law Hallie to be a “new” family member seemingly involved in Hunter’s overseas business interests.
The bank records show Hallie Biden, the widow of the President Biden’s late son Beau, received $35,000 in two transfers in 2017 from Biden family associate Rob Walker, who was wired $3 million on March 1, 2017, from State Energy HK Limited, a firm affiliated with CEFC China Energy.
It’s not the first time that financial institutions have been subpoenaed for financial records relating to the Biden family.
In 2019, Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who is handling the Justice Department’s federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase for the younger Biden’s transactions involving the Bank of China.
“Despite this massive investment of time and resources, Republican efforts on this and other congressional committees have failed to yield any evidence of misconduct by President Biden. Nevertheless, Chairman Comer has issued six document subpoenas for financial records as part of this renewed investigation, several of which have been based on information Committee Republicans know to be false,” Raskin said.
Some of the subpoenaed banks have promised to cooperate with the Oversight Committee.