Republicans Release Biden Family Bank Records Amid Money Laundering Claims

House Oversight Committee Republicans released a 36-page memo on Wednesday accusing members of the Biden family of earning millions of dollars during Joe Biden's term as vice president from a number of Chinese and Romanian companies they claim posed "potential threats" to the United States.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by Newsweek, includes redacted images of transactions involving a number of bank accounts purportedly belonging to members of the Biden family. It outlines a network of secretive bank accounts connected not only to Biden's son, Hunter, but to a number of other family members, all of whom committee Chairman James Comer accused of using Biden's position to curry favor with foreign governments and peddle influence on U.S. foreign policy.

The documents released Wednesday provide no evidence that President Biden was ever directly involved in the alleged schemes—or even if the payments in question resulted in tangible impact on U.S. policy.

However, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said that Biden served as a "walking billboard" for his son and other family members to collect money, with wire transfers between the foreign companies and a number of bank accounts connected to them that allegedly stopped the day Biden left office.

While there is no smoking gun connected to the release—the White House attempted to downplay it as a political stunt ahead of the limited release of documents Wednesday—Comer said there was enough for the committee, members of the press and even the Department of Justice to apply greater scrutiny to what may or may not have occurred surrounding the transactions.

"This committee will not pursue witch hunts, or string the American people along for years with false promises of evidence that is beyond circumstantial evidence," Comer said.

The narrative outlined in the 36-page memo, per the committee, was based on the review of "thousands" of records the Republican-led committee obtained via subpoena. Newsweek could not independently verify the content of those documents.

What do the documents say?

Shortly after the release, right-wing media outlets were quick to allege that the documents demonstrated Biden and his family had been clearly implicated in an extensive money laundering scheme between themselves and foreign governments.

The documents—and even members of the committee—point out that is not the case.

Based on subpoenas issued by the committee, House Oversight Republicans claim were able to establish that Biden family members and business associates created a web of more than 20 companies during Biden's vice presidency that did extensive business with foreign companies.

Bank records obtained by the committee claim to show that the Biden family, their business associates and companies associated with them received more than $10 million from companies in countries like China—directly refuting previous on-record statements President Biden has made about his son's business dealings—and Romania, which the United States was working with on anti-corruption legislation.

And Republicans claim records show that foreign companies attempted to shield themselves from those transactions using a web of shell companies allegedly tied to high-ranking figures in foreign governments like China, with the funds then being dispersed covertly through shell companies owned by the Bidens, most of which were set up during Biden's vice presidency.

What is still missing?

Already, the alleged connections made by the committee have prompted some to suggest criminal activity like those lodged in a previous subpoena the committee filed for a document they claim will demonstrate explicit evidence of influence peddling.

"If these allegations—any of these allegations—are proven true, someone with the last name Biden needs to be charged and prosecuted," South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace said Wednesday.

However, a lot of information appears to still be missing in order to get to that point. The form under subpoena is, in FBI parlance, nothing more than a tip sheet containing allegations of corruption.

And while the memo claims transactions investigated "show evidence of influence peddling and a correlation between Biden family and their business associates' work and then Vice President Biden's responsibilities while in office," the documents provided in Wednesday's memo don't demonstrate that.

"None of the bank records reviewed by Committee staff allege, or even suggest, any potential misconduct by President Biden, nor do they show President Biden's involvement in Hunter Biden's business relationships," Representative Jamie Raskin, the Democratic ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, wrote in a rebuttal of the GOP's findings after the press conference.

For now, the issue for Republicans is the timing of the transactions.

One set of records allegedly shows the Biden family's receipt of $3 million from a foreign company reportedly controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, the subject of a criminal probe and prosecution for corruption in Romania whom Hunter Biden previously represented as an attorney. The payments allegedly came within weeks of then-Vice President Biden delivering speeches and holding meetings with Romanian leaders regarding corruption in the country. However, the committee doesn't elaborate on an explicit connection between the two events, nor whether it explicitly resulted in a policy change, just that both events occurred.

"This illustrates the need for more robust financial disclosures regarding a president's or vice president's immediate family members who receive money from foreign companies and foreign nationals," the memo said.

The committee also raises questions about payments between Biden-owned accounts and a Hong Kong-based investment company that allegedly had no context—a sign the committee said could point to alleged corruption.

One of the companies Biden's family dealt with, CEFC, was connected to a pair of highly connected businessmen named Ye Jianming and Gongwen Dong, the former of whom faced charges of bribing a foreign official in 2018. (Biden's son, Hunter, sought to separate himself from his relationship with Ye, according to emails later obtained and verified by The Washington Post, and the deals ultimately never came to fruition.)

However, the receipts fall short of demonstrating any direct result from those business dealings. When pressed by reporters, Comer could not name a Biden policy they believed had been unduly influenced by one of his family members' transactions, while the memo stopped short of expressly implicating the Biden family in a crime—only that their finances appeared suspicious, and that President Biden's previous claims of having no knowledge about the transactions did not seem credible.

"The Committee recognizes there exist legitimate commercial transactions with China-based entities and individuals," the memo says. "However, the pattern of behavior engaged in by the Bidens and their Chinese counterparties—memorialized in relevant bank records—signals an attempt to layer companies and cloud the source of money. Furthermore, the purported services provided by Hunter Biden are inconsistent with the bank records."

What do we know?

At this point, Comer and other committee members stressed that the committee's investigation is ongoing. But even then, accepting money from a foreign company is not a crime just because the payments appear to be suspicious.

In the late 1970s, Congress investigated then-President Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy Carter, for a number of visits he'd made to Libya, where he was allegedly given a $220,000 loan that he repaid only $1,000 of. Later allegations claimed Libya paid Billy Carter $2 million, prompting a lengthy Senate report on alleged influence peddling that ultimately resulted in a reprimand and advice to President Carter to keep his brother out of foreign affairs.

During the administration of President Donald Trump, members of his family declined to follow through on promises to divest from foreign businesses, while Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, continued taxpayer-funded travel to countries like Saudi Arabia while serving as an adviser to the president, later securing a mystery-laden $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince just six months after leaving the White House.

Comer brushed off Kushner's dealings in a question-and-response period with reporters after Wednesday's press conference, saying that while he was not saying "whether I agreed with what he did or not," he "actually knew what his businesses are."

"If Hunter Biden committed a crime, he should be charged," Mark Zaid, a top national security attorney in Washington, tweeted after the press conference. "But making money off family name has been around for centuries. Anyone remember that Trump family? Chinese trademarks? Kushner & Middle East? Rule of Law requires consistent application. I'm all for it."

Update 5/10/23, 4:32 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and a statement from Representative Jamie Raskin.