Comer says he will issue subpoenas 'today' for Hunter Biden, James Biden bank records
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced he will issue subpoenas for bank records for Hunter Biden and James Biden on Thursday as part of the House GOP impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The announcement was made at the end of the committee's first public hearing since Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered the inquiry on Sept. 12.
"Today I will subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden, James Biden and their affiliated companies," Comer said, calling it the the "next step of this investigation."
Top House Republicans see bank records as the possible "smoking gun" evidence missing so far from their allegations that President Biden was directly involved in and benefitted from his family's domestic and international business practices.
Earlier this week, Comer discussed on Fox News why he wanted to subpoena Hunter Biden and James Biden's records. He said they want to "follow the money" he says the two Bidens and other family members received from shell companies. There is no evidence, to date, that any of the money is linked to President Biden himself.
"We want to know what happened with the money once they were received by the Bidens in their personal accounts," Comer told Trey Gowdy on "Sunday Night in America."
Comer also didn't rule out subpoenaing President Biden's bank records.
"It's looking like we're going to be asking for his bank records," Comer said. "I mean, all roads lead to Joe Biden. From day one this has been an investigation into Joe Biden not his son. His son is a key central figure because we believe Hunter was the frontman for the Biden family influence scheme."
Late Tuesday, Comer announced the panel obtained bank records showing Hunter Biden received wires originating from Beijing that listed Joe Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home as the beneficiary address.
"Joe Biden's abuse of public office for his family's financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this money from Beijing?" Comer said in a statement, in which he added that "Americans demand and deserve accountability."
The committee said the two wires showed Hunter Biden received more than $250,000 in the summer of 2019. The panel did not release the bank wires in their announcement.
It has been reported that Hunter Biden often used his father's address and previously lived at the Wilmington home.
"Imagine them arguing that, if someone stayed at their parents' house during the pandemic, listed it as their permanent address for work, and got a paycheck, the parents somehow also worked for the employer," White House spokesperson Ian Sams wrote on X in response to the announcement. "It's bananas. Yet this is what extreme House Republicans have sunken to."
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said in a statement the wires were loans and that Hunter Biden's permanent address at the time was his father's home.
"This was a documented loan (not a distribution or pay-out) that was wired from a private individual to his new bank account which listed the address on his driver's license, his parents' address, because it was his only permanent address at the time," Lowell said.
