House GOP Releases Memo on Biden Family Foreign Deals

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Facts

  • US House Republicans on Tuesday released alleged records of $10M in payments received by members of the Biden family from foreign entities, with Oversight Committee Chair James Comer claiming they used the family name to enrich themselves and that the president was "involved."1
  • Weeks after then-Vice President Joe Biden met with Romanian Pres. Klaus Iohannis in 2015, Rob Walker, Hunter Biden's business partner, received $3M from Romanian business executive Gabriel Popoviciu. He reportedly then wired $1M to Hunter, his business associate James Gillian, and his brother's widow Hallie, with whom Hunter had a romantic relationship.2
  • Hunter and James Biden also allegedly received at least $4.8M from Chinese company CEFC, which played a role in China's "Belt and Road" initiative in 2017 and 2018. The former foreign minister of Serbia and president of the UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, appears to have helped connect the Biden family with the company.3
  • While running to head the UN in 2016, documents show Jeremic emailed Hunter Biden and a business associate, Eric Schwerin, asking to "meet with VPOTUS National Security Advisor Colin Kahl" related to the election. In a follow up he said, "[m]y meeting with Colin did not last very long, but didn’t go too bad, I think."2
  • The memo adds that Hunter’s company, Hudson West V — among more than 20 companies created by the family during Biden's vice presidency — received a $24M wire from Ye Jianming related to the CEFC partnership, with the energy company later wiring $100K to Hunter's Owasco, P.C.4
  • Beyond the wire transfer records, the receipts provided do not show any direct result from the business dealings. However, the memo argues that "the pattern of behavior engaged in by the Bidens and their Chinese counterparties... signals an attempt to layer companies and cloud the source of money."5

Sources: 1BBC News, 2CNN, 3New York Post, 4FOX News, and 5Newsweek.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by New York Times. In Romania, Hunter Biden, a lawyer, was paid for legal services to defend Popoviciu but was unsuccessful. Furthermore, none of this money went to Joe Biden himself, and no evidence of any quid pro quo has been revealed. After all the hyperbole from the GOP, what we know is that some Biden family members pursued international business deals, which is not illegal in the slightest. This is what the GOP would say is a "political witch hunt."
  • Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. If these deals had nothing to do with now-President Joe Biden, then why would Chinese businesses make million-dollar deals with Hunter, someone with no business knowledge whatsoever? Foreign companies and governments wanted access to American money and political influence. The government needs to dig deeper into this issue because there is no way Joe Biden wasn't in on these shady deals.
  • Cynical narrative, as provided by Washington Post. The tidal wave of dark money and thorny foreign business dealings has washed over both Democrats and Republicans and has debased American democracy as a whole. Both sides are fully culpable, and both parties have shamefully put US national security at risk. It's time to clean up this mess once and for all.