Chairman Comer Invites President Biden to Testify Before the Oversight Committee
Calls on the President to provide answers about his involvement in the Bidens’ pay-for-influence schemes
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is offering President Joe Biden the opportunity to testify at a hearing in furtherance of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry and is calling on President Biden to answer questions about his participation in his family’s pay-for-influence schemes.
“During the 118th Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has been investigating influence peddling conducted by you and your family. The Committee has accounted for over $24 million that has flowed from foreign sources to you, your family, and their business associates. The Committee has identified no legitimate services to merit such lucrative payments. You have repeatedly denied playing any role in your family’s business activities, but the Committee has amassed evidence—including bank records and witness testimony—that wholly contradicts your position on these matters. Additionally, the White House has taken a position hostile to the Committee’s investigation and refuses to release certain information or make available witnesses to testify regarding issues relevant to the ongoing impeachment inquiry currently authorized by the full House of Representatives. In light of the yawning gap between your public statements and the evidence assembled by the Committee as well as the White House’s obstruction, it is in the best interest of the American people for you to answer questions from Members of Congress directly, and I hereby invite you to do so,” wrote Chairman Comer.
The Bidens received $15 million from China, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Romania and the Oversight Committee traced how $40,000 from CEFC, a Chinese government linked energy company, landed in Joe Biden’s bank account. During the investigation’s interview and deposition phase, Biden family associates provided evidence of Joe Biden’s knowledge of and participation in his family’s business schemes.
“The public is left with two irreconcilable narratives. The first—asserted by you—is that you did not engage in influence peddling in exchange for payments to your family. The second—asserted by witnesses and a body of evidence I will briefly review below—is that you were indeed involved in these pay-for-influence schemes and that you have been repeatedly untruthful regarding a matter relevant to national security and your own fitness to serve as President of the United States,” continued Chairman Comer. “As Chairman of the Committee, in addition to requesting that you answer the questions posed in this letter, I invite you to participate in a public hearing at which you will be afforded the opportunity to explain, under oath, your involvement with your family’s sources of income and the means it has used to generate it.”
In the letter to President Biden, Chairman Comer confronts President Biden about his previous statements about his family’s business dealings—including claims his family did not make money in China, he never interacted with his family’s business associates, and he never discussed business with his family and their associates—and requests President Biden answer questions about the evidence obtained by the Committee that refutes his claims in order to provide the truth to the American people.
The letter to President Biden can be found here.