GOP-Led House Oversight Committee Encounters Resistance in Probe of Biden Family Foreign Dealings

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Capitol Hill Republicans believe they have evidence supporting the allegations of a global pay-to-play scheme that sold access to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

They're pledging to dig deeper into what they contend is the Biden family profiting at the expense of America's national interests.

Republican members of the House Oversight Committee recently laid out what they believe is a global web of Biden family influence peddling.

The 36-page memorandum alleges that foreign businessmen sent millions of dollars in wire transfers to numerous limited liability companies that then transferred the cash to bank accounts of at least nine Biden family members.

Much of the money came from China, including transactions involving the Chinese energy company, State Energy HK Limited,
 
Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), said, "A Biden associate, Rob Walker, used his company to funnel money from the Chinese to various Biden family members. Democrats dismissed the evidence even though it was based on bank records directly from the bank. Hunter Biden's representatives claim the money was quote, 'good faith seed funds,' but couldn't explain why those funds had to go through an intermediary in what appears to be an attempt to hide the transfers from the Chinese."

The Republicans contend that subpeonaed bank records show the chairman of the now-defunct CEFC Company, Ye Jianming, gave Hunter Biden a 3-carat diamond ring worth $80,000.

In February, 2017, 9 dadys after he met Ye in Miami, $3 million was wired to a company owned by Hunter Biden business associate Robert Walker, followed by another $3 million the next month. 
 
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit listed the transfers as "suspicious activity."

At least $500,000 made its way from Walker's LLC to Hunter Biden's Owasco Company that year. Byron Donalds 

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Florida) noted, "The only logical conclusion of a financial professional is you are concealing money. Let me restate this. You are concealing money from either the IRS or from credit agencies or from other people in general, as the only reason you set up a structure like this."                  

Former Assistant Federal Prosecutor for Northern California John O'Connor sees a troubling pattern.

"Everything points to criminal behavior, "he said. "I think there's plenty there, in my view, to show, number one, money laundering and what they call structuring – having different devices intended to fool the authorities as to what was happening in a corrupt transaction"

While the House Government Oversight Committee has not yet declared the money transfers illegal, members are planning additional subpeonaes in hopes of uncovering the truth.

"Every time we turn over a rock, there's more information, there's more possible corruption, there's more possible allegations that need to be investigated," stated Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina.

The G.O.P. also charges the F.B.I. is not cooperating with the investigation. That's because the F.B.I. refused a subpoena demanding it hand over a key document tying Joe Biden to an alleged bribery scheme with a foreign national. 

The bureau claims that turning over the document would harm "confidential cocurses and information."

Now, Oversight Committee members aso have allegations from an I-R-S whistleblower who reports the entire team investigating Hunter Biden for tax evasion has been disbanded.

O'Connor claims, "This is a massacre, but it's done by stealth and by poisoning. And nobody was supposed to know about this. And and it really is very bothersome. That's another thing that I think it's well within the congressional purview to investigate, because that itself is a form of obstruction of justice."
 
Chairman Comer points to other Biden administration actions hindering his committee's investigation.

On Fox News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Comer revealed that a confidential source in the probe is now missing.  

"Unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," he said. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible. We have people that want to come forward, but honestly, they fear for their lives. Not only are the Biden lawyers and the Biden White House intimidating them, but the media is also trying to intimidate and discredit them."

Comer contends the mainstream media is helping Biden, by either ignoring the allegations or misreporting the facts, including the transfer of one million dollars to Biden family members when Joe Biden was vice president. The money allegedly came from Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu.

"While Vice President Biden was lecturing Romania on anti-corruption policies, in reality he was a walking billboard for his son and famliy to collect money," Comer charged. "In fact, the money stops flowing from the Romanian national soon after Joe Biden leaves the vice presidency." 

So, what is the likely outcome of the Oversight Committee investigation? 

O'Connor believes charges may be brought against Hunter Biden for not registering as a foreign agent, and that might begin to spell trouble for his presidential father.

"If Joe Biden knew this and participated in the scheme for him to his son to act as an unregistered foreign agent, corruptly or otherwise, just as an unregistered foreign agent, that puts him as a potentially in the line of fire here," O'Connor said.

Furthermore, O'Connor believes a special counsel should be appointed immediately.

"There's clear evidence of a conflict because after all, Joe Biden's the boss of (Justice Secretary) Merrick Garland. So, you have to appoint one."

The public is likely to support the appointment of a special counsel. A Harvard University Political Studies poll released last month found that 67 percent of American adults felt that, if found to be true, Hunter Biden selling access to his father is an impeachable offense for President Biden.

Rep. Mace maintains, "The American people do not trust the federal government, they don't trust Congress, they don't even trust current presidents because of the kind of possible and alleged corruption that we see at every level of government, and no one is ever held to account."

So far, however, Republicans are alone in their accountability efforts. Democrats and various news outlets are either debunking or ignoring the committee's findings.

O'Connor concluded, "So, if a scandal falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it, is there a scandal? And that's what's happening here."