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Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, signed subpoenas for President Joe Biden's son Hunter and his brother James, along with Hunter's business associate Rob Walker on Wednesday.
The subpoenas are part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, which the Kentucky congressman's Republican-led panel has been looking into ever since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, announced the investigation in early September.
At the center of Biden's impeachment inquiry is his alleged involvement in his son's foreign business dealings. The White House has repeatedly denied that Biden ever had any involvement in his son's dealings.
White House spokesman Ian Sams wrote in a memo addressing the subpoenas, "With just over a week to go until House Republicans may again thrust the country into a harmful and chaotic government shutdown, the most extreme voices in their party like James Comer are trying to distract from their repeated failures to govern."
Sams added: "Instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan political smear campaign against the President and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs."
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
The House Oversight Committee began investigating the Biden family nine months before McCarthy made his announcement. They have issued subpoenas for Hunter and James' bank records and former associates of the president's son to testify.
Republicans have received thousands of bank wires and documents from their subpoenas to banks and said that based on the information they have received, the Biden family has cumulatively received more than $24 million from foreign nationals, including from countries like China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan, over a five-year period.
"The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family's influence peddling schemes. Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence," Comer said in a statement, adding that the records reveal how the Biden family benefited from the business dealings "to the detriment of U.S. interests."
Newsweek reached out to Comer via email for comment.
Hunter is being asked to appear for a deposition on December 13, James is expected to attend a deposition on December 6 and Walker is scheduled for November 29.
Comer's been criticized for not having enough evidence to impeach the President, but he's held firm in his resolve to pursue the impeachment. In October, Comer said the investigation was in the "downhill phase" and that it should wrap up soon.
"The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family's influence peddling schemes," Comer said in a statement announcing the subpoenas. "Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence."
In July, Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, testified before the House Oversight Committee. While he said he believed the Biden family brand helped Hunter prove his worth at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, Archer said Joe Biden did not talk on business calls nor steer policy to help his son.
On Wednesday, Comer also requested other members of the Biden family and their associates to appear for transcribed interviews including Hunter's wife, Melissa Cohen, James' wife Sarah Biden, the widow of the president's son Joseph "Beau" Biden, Hallie Biden, and her sister, Elizabeth Secundy.
Hunter's former business associate Tony Bobulinski has also been requested by the panel to be interviewed. Bobulinski was accused by Hunter's attorney of repeatedly lying about his relationship with Hunter and the dealings he witnessed.
Update: 11/08/23 4:28 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more