CNN News Central anchor Boris Sanchez on Wednesday traded barbs with Republican Rep. Tim Burchett (Tenn.) over the House Republicans’ probe into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and their potential ties to his father, President Biden.
Hunter Biden sat Wednesday for a closed-door testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where Republicans grilled him over his foreign business deals. Republicans — who have placed Hunter Biden at the very center of their impeachment inquiry into President Biden — had for months demanded the testimony.
Asked by Sanchez what specific allegation he wanted to ask the younger Biden about, Burchett said he wanted most to know about the $20 million that the committee accused Hunter Biden of taking from foreign nationals.
Burchett also pointed to a claim often repeated by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) that alleges the Biden family and associates used more 20 shell companies to receive bank wires from foreign nationals. He also mentioned two payments, $200,000 and $40,000, made to the president from his brother, James Biden. Democrats have said the checks were simply loan repayments.
“Normal businesses don’t have 20 so-called shell corporations or 20 bank accounts to run their money through, so it’s a very circuitous route,” Burchett said, adding later, “You know I loaned my brother $50 two Christmases ago, but $200,000 seems to be stretch; I don’t know what kind of pickup truck he was buying, but that was pretty extensive. I think we just follow that … trail, right there.”
“Those two are conflated, though, because the $200,000 was — according to documents that are coming out from the Oversight Committee — a loan that Joe Biden gave to his brother James, that was then paid back,” Sanchez interjected. “The documents support that it was a loan. And that also happened in 2017, when Joe Biden was not vice president and then you have the pickup truck money that was given back by Hunter to his father, also supported by documentation also happening in 2018 when Mike Pence was vice president.”
The two continued to spar, with Burchett at one point saying, “C’mon, I know you’re CNN, but the reality is —”
“Oh sir, don’t make this about the network, let’s make this about the facts, sir, let’s make this about the facts,” Sanchez interjected. “Because you’re again … making an assertion.”
“You keep saying the money down, you keep saying the money, then you say, ‘well, only $5 million.’ Well, does that make it OK then?” Burchett responded.
“No sir, there is a huge distinction … between whether it’s appropriate for the family of a president to make money off of his name and whether that’s ethical. But the question is specifically about what Joe Biden did when he was in office and vice president, whether he abused his power or whether he enriched his family members and right now, there is zero evidence coming from the Oversight Committee that when he was vice president, he did either of those things.”
“There’s $20 million that flowed there. You saw these accounts,” Burchett responded to which Sanchez shot back, “That’s incorrect sir, the bank records don’t reflect that … they don’t specifically say — I looked at the bank records — they don’t say that Joe Biden got any money from them. Have you read the bank records? Cause they don’t list Joe Biden’s name.”
Burchett then asked Sanchez if he is going to let him speak, to which Sanchez replied, “I’m not going to let you say things that aren’t true, sir.”
Their back-and-forth lasted another few minutes before Sanchez told Burchett he “enjoyed” their discussion” and “looks forward” to another one in the future.
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