House Republicans referred Hunter and James Biden to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution, alleging they lied under oath during testimony on Capitol Hill.
They say Hunter lied about using his last name to help business partners with visa issues, his association with a company that was taking in massive foreign payments and threatening a Chinese businessman over WhatsApp.
‘We’ve caught President Biden’s son and brother making blatant lies to Congress in what appears to be a concerted effort to hide Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s schemes,’ Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement.
‘This is not the end of our efforts to hold the Bidens accountable; it’s only the beginning.’
Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith said:
‘Lying to Congress to impede an ongoing congressional investigation is a serious crime. If the Department of Justice fails to act on our criminal referral and hold Hunter Biden accountable, they will once again be telling the American people there are two tiers of justice in this country. One for the wealthy and politically connected, and one for everyone else.’
Smith, Comer and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan claimed Hunter and James had told lies as part of a ‘conscious, calculated effort to insulate Joe Biden from the duly authorized impeachment inquiry.’
They recommended the president’s son and brother be charged with making false statements and perjury and said the DOJ should ‘consider Hunter Biden’s prior alleged criminal activity when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements.’
Hunter is in court this week for charges relating to lying on a gun form.
They noted that Hunter had been federally indicted in two different jurisdictions at the time of his deposition and therefore was subject to two federal court orders stating he could not commit any crimes while on federal supervised release.
The DOJ is unlikely to take up the referrals under Biden. But a second Trump administration could reinvigorate the effort to prosecute the Biden family members.
Here are the purported lies they cite to suggest Hunter and James should be criminally prosecuted:
Hunter Biden distanced himself from Rosemont Seneca Bohai affiliation
The referral claims Hunter ‘falsely distanced himself’ from Rosemont Seneca Bohai – a corporate entity that received millions from foreign business people, many who paid up shortly after meetings with then-Vice President Joe Biden.
After Hunter Biden’s testimony, the committee received documents showing Hunter was the corporate secretary of the company.
Ex-associate Devon Archer had testified that he and Hunter had equal stake in Rosemont Seneca Bohai and evidence offered by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler showed Hunter was the beneficial owner of the entity’s associated bank account.
That account was used to receive Hunter’s $50,000-a-month salary for being on the board of Burisma and other foreign wires, such as one from a Kazakhstani oligarch that was the same amount – $142,000 – as a Porsche purchased by Hunter one day later.
In the spring of 2014, Joe joined Hunter and a handful of his business partners for dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C. Those at the dinner included Kazakhs Kenes Rakishev, Karim Massimov, Yelena Baturina and possibly Eric Schwerin.
On April 22, $142,300 was wired into the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account from Rakishev.
Neither Rosemont Seneca Bohai, nor its associated bank accounts, were ‘under my control nor affiliated with me,’ Hunter said in his interview.
Ziegler provided the committee with evidence that Hunter was the beneficial owner of a bank account named Rosemont Seneca Bohai and a signed document that reads: ‘I, Robert Hunter Biden, hereby certify that I am the duly elected, qualified and acting Secretary of Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.’
That document was used to enter into a contract with Porsche Financial Services.
Hunter claims he texted wrong ‘Zhao’ – wasn’t his Chinese business affiliate
Republicans also said Hunter lied about his now-infamous WhatsApp message with Chinese energy company CEFC official Raymond Zhao.
At one point Hunter messaged the Chinese associate: ‘I’m sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment has not been fulfilled.’
Shortly after $5 million flowed from CEFC affiliates to companies connected to Hunter and James Biden.
But Hunter claimed he sent that message to the wrong ‘Zhao.’
‘The Zhao that this is sent to is not the Zhao connected to CEFC,’ Hunter claimed. He ‘had no understanding or even remotely knew what the hell I was even Goddamn talking about.’
Phone records of Hunter Biden’s WhatsApp account show that he only ever communicated with one Zhao – Raymond Zhao – and he continued to send messages with that same ‘Zhao’ about CEFC matters for months afterward.
James denies Beverly Hills Hilton meeting with Devon Archer and Joe
James Biden denied that he, Joe and Hunter had ever met with Bobulinski at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles in May 2017.
Investigators then read a message from Bobulinski to James Biden dated May 2, 2017: ‘Great to meet you and spend some time together. Please thank Joe for his time. It was great to talk. Tony B.’
James then said: ‘Joe Biden never met with Tony Bobulinski.
After the prompting of his attorney, he added: ‘to my knowledge.’
Bobulinski told impeachment investigators about a May 2017 meeting between Hunter, Joe, James and him at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
‘The sole reason Hunter wanted me to meet his father was because I was the CEO of Sinohawk,’ he said, referring to the China-affiliated venture Hunter would later be a part of.
Bobulinski said the meeting lasted ’45 minutes to an hour.’
James Biden told investigators he did not recall such a meeting ever taking place.
Hunter Biden, too, conflicted that testimony.
‘We were in the lobby bar with Mr. Bobulinski having coffee. … My uncle and myself. I think my uncle was also staying at that hotel. And so yeah. I know that, if you go further, it says — but I think that the reality is that he didn’t — anyway, my dad went and shook hands with Tony. They talked about — I believe at that time, I don’t know whether it was Tony’s father was suffering from cancer, and his sister was suffering from cancer, and he invited him to the speech at the Milken Conference.’