GOP leaders of the impeachment investigation into President Biden on Wednesday asked the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against the president’s son and brother, accusing the duo of lying to lawmakers during conversations with investigators.
A trio of House committees released the 65-page referral with little fanfare, even as the move escalates the stakes of an impeachment inquiry that’s grown quiet in recent months amid doubts about support among the conference.
The report accuses the president’s relatives of withholding information as part of “what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate Joe Biden from the duly authorized impeachment inquiry.” However, the matters in question have limited connection to the president.
“This is not the end of our efforts to hold the Bidens accountable; it’s only the beginning,” House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a release.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the referral, and attorneys for Hunter and James Biden did not respond to requests for comment.
The report accuses James Biden of lying to investigators about President Biden briefly meeting with Tony Bobulinsky, a short-lived business associate. James Biden told investigators Bobulisnki “never, to my knowledge, met with my brother.”
While the GOP said that was contradicted by Hunter Biden’s testimony, Hunter Biden said he was having coffee with his uncle and Bobulinski in a hotel lobby when his father briefly shook Bobulisnki’s hand. But Hunter Biden said there was “no meeting, per se” between the two to discuss anything of substance.
For Hunter Biden, the panels accuse him of being dishonest about serving as the corporate secretary of an entity called Rosemont Seneca Bohai — one of a series of businesses crafted with his then-business partner Devon Archer through which they conducted their foreign business dealings.
The basis for the claim zeroes in on a brief exchange during Hunter Biden’s six-hour deposition.
Republican investigators asked him during the interview whether he held the secretary role with the company, with Hunter Biden replying, “I didn’t even know that there was such a thing.”
But GOP investigators never had a chance to confront him with a document they obtained after the fact, showing Hunter Biden attesting to serving as its secretary, and when asked to do so during the interview by his attorney, a GOP staff member acknowledged in the moment they had no such document.
And Hunter Biden’s testimony was in line with that of Archer, who answered “no” Hunter Biden never held an official role with the company — “just equity.”
Hunter Biden had a number of different companies with names nodding to various towns in the finger lakes region of New York, many of which were used to conduct foreign business dealings.
Still, Republicans argue Hunter Biden didn’t want to be upfront about his role with the company because President Biden has met with some business associates of his son who wired money to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account.
The referral notes that Hunter Biden was not listed on financial documents associated with Rosemont Seneca Bohai, something they say raises questions about why he had transactions with the account given “when he had his own companies and credit cards.”
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