Joe Biden denies Chinese money story that Hunter Biden confirmed: ‘That’s not true’
Jerry Dunleavy
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President Joe Biden denied members of his family received more than $1 million from a Hunter Biden business associate — even though the president’s son appeared to confirm it.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) revealed the new financial details last week after he obtained them through a subpoena of Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker’s bank records. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman revealed that “from 2015 through 2017, Biden family members and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments” from accounts tied to Walker.
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Comer said more than $1 million was sent in incremental payments to Hunter Biden, his uncle and Joe’s brother James Biden, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s deceased son, Beau Biden, with whom Hunter was having a romantic relationship in 2017 following his brother’s death, shortly after Walker received a $3 million wire from a Chinese company.
A reporter asked Joe Biden if he had “any reaction to House GOP’s new memo about your family dealings” during brief questioning on the South Lawn on Friday, and he replied, “My family dealings?” The reporter added a few more details, saying, “Yes, revealing that Hunter Biden’s business associate sent over a million dollars to three of your family members?”
“That’s not true,” the president replied.
But Hunter Biden’s legal team had seemingly confirmed, and defended, the payments in a Thursday statement.
“Hunter Biden, a private citizen with every right to pursue his own business endeavors, joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a privately owned, legitimate energy company in China,” a Hunter spokesman said. “As part of that joint venture, Hunter received his portion of good faith seed funds, which he shared with his uncle James Biden and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved with at the time and sharing expenses.”
Hunter’s legal team contended Thursday that the accounts “belonged to Hunter, his uncle, and Hallie — nobody else.” The statement did not dispute the amounts that Comer had detailed.
Comer released a memo stating that two months after Joe Biden left the vice presidency, the Chinese company State Energy HK wired $3 million to Robinson Walker, an account belonging to Walker. The Republican added that “Biden family members and their companies began receiving incremental payments over a period of approximately three months” after Robinson Walker received the Chinese wire and that recipients of the money included Hallie Biden, companies associated with Hunter Biden and James Biden, and an unknown bank account identified only as “Biden.”
Comer said Hallie Biden received $10,000 from Robinson Walker on Feb. 13, 2017, before the Chinese wire payment, and $25,000 on March 20, 2017.
White House investigations spokesman Ian Sams accused Comer of “going after Beau’s widow” on Thursday but did not dispute the existence of the payments as the president had.
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“The Oversight Committee is concerned about the national security implications resulting from President Biden’s family receiving millions of dollars from foreign nationals,” Comer said Thursday. “We will continue to follow the money trail and facts to determine if President Biden is compromised by his family’s business schemes and if there is a national security threat.”
Joe Biden claimed during a 2020 debate with then-President Donald Trump that Hunter Biden had not made any money from Chinese business deals, saying, “My son has not made money in terms of this thing about — what are you talking about — China.” The Biden White House stood by that claim.