By Hudson Crozier
What’s new: After obtaining thousands of bank records, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee has uncovered that President Joe Biden’s family has received over $10 million from foreign countries as part of what it calls “influence peddling schemes.” The committee found that a network of shell companies was receiving money and disbursing it in incremental payments to the Bidens. These complicated transactions helped to obscure the money’s foreign origins and the size of the payments.
Who was paying who? Foreign nationals from China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman, and Romania were paying companies affiliated with Hunter Biden and his business associates, who would then pay individual Biden family members.
Examples: While Joe Biden was vice president, an associate of Hunter transferred over $1 million to the Bidens from a Romanian businessman who was under investigation and later convicted of bribery. Along with Hunter and Hallie Biden, one of the recipients was an unknown bank account labeled “Biden,” echoing a similar foreign deal the committee previously uncovered. The committee also identified individuals and companies with ties to the Chinese government, including one man who was also implicated in a bribery scheme.
Why it matters: The committee found that the Bidens appeared to be getting paid for “access and influence” related to Joe Biden’s status as a politician, which adds to the influence-peddling already revealed by Hunter’s emails. These foreign ties continue to raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest in Biden’s leadership. They also further disprove his claim in 2020 that “nobody” in his family “has made money from China.”
What’s next: The committee will continue investigating the Bidens’ financial history, a probe that the White House calls “politically-motivated.” The committee will also pursue legislation to increase transparency regarding foreign transactions with elected officials’ families. Simultaneously, the committee is pressuring the FBI to release records allegedly showing that Biden accepted bribes as vice president.