New evidence that allegedly ties millions of dollars in financial payments from a Biden family associate to the family is politically damaging and could lead to legal troubles, a former federal prosecutor told Newsweek.
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday made public recently obtained financial records related to John Robinson Walker, a Biden family associate, and his limited liability company, Robinson Walker, LLC, that was established in 2008 in Delaware and is linked to multiple Biden children.
The committee made the Biden family’s financial records a priority when gaining the House majority in November’s election.
“Democrats described our subpoena as providing nothing more than records for Papa John’s and Starbucks, but they failed to mention the records we’ve received documenting the Biden family’s business schemes,” Republican Committee Chair James Comer said Thursday. “Over the course of several years, members of the Biden family and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments from accounts related to their associate, Rob Walker.”
Comer’s mention of Papa John’s and Starbucks is a dig at Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, the committee’s ranking member, who reportedly said Walker’s purchases were for “Papa John’s” and “coffee at Starbucks.”
“Chairman Comer’s memo proved once again that, after four years of investigations by Senate and House Republicans into Hunter Biden, they have found no connection to the president of the United States or indeed any government official at all,” Raskin told Newsweek by email.
He added that if Comer is so concerned about “national security” issues surrounding Biden and his family, then “surely he will be a thousand times more interested in investigating the billions of dollars recently paid to Jared Kushner [former President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law] by the Saudi government.”
That is a reference to Kushner reportedly received a $2 billion investment for his private equity firm Affinity Partners from the Public Investment Fund, led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after leaving the White House.
Former federal Prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek there’s a reason the Treasury Department flagged some the Bidens’ transactions as suspicious.
“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “You’re talking about more than a million dollars to Hunter Biden, Hallie and others. This was after one of their associates receives $3 million from a Chinese company. When I was a federal prosecutor, I always followed the money.”
According to the financial records:
- On March 1, 2017, Walker reportedly received a $3 million wire transfer from Chinese company State Energy HK Limited in 2017 about two months after Joe Biden left his position as vice president.
- The next day, Walker’s company reportedly wired $1.065 million to Abu Dhabi-based European Energy and Infrastructure Group (EEIG), a company associated with James Gilliar, a business partner of Hunter Biden who was allegedly involved in foreign transactions with the Biden family.
- Records obtained via a February 27 subpoena found that Biden family members and their companies received more than $1.3 million in payments from Walker-related accounts between 2015 and 2017.
- Those who received money were purportedly Hallie Biden, who received two separate payments totaling $35,000 in 2017; James Brian Biden Sr. (James Biden); and Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden).
- The Biden family received about $1.065 million over a three-month period in different bank accounts including Gilliar’s affiliated company, EEIG, which had received a nearly identical amount on March 2, 2017.
“From the bank records, it appears that the Biden family received approximately one-third of the money obtained from the China wire,” the Oversight Committee said.
A bank account identified as an unknown “Biden” is still being investigated by the committee to determine the account holder.
A spokesperson for a Democratic member of the Oversight Committee told Newsweek via email that Comer’s memo is “based on speculation and a handful of cherry-picked facts in order to gin up new interest in a previously-reported transaction.
“They have stooped to attacking yet another member of the president’s family, Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden, by highlighting a single transfer to give the impression she was involved in receiving money from China.
“In reality, Mr. Walker had already transferred money to Hallie Biden the month before any funds were received from China. Concealing this context paints a typically distorted picture and marks another depressing low for this investigation.”
The Treasury Department on Tuesday responded to Comer’s letter, which was originally written to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on January 11, granting suspicious activity reports involving the Biden family and their associates’ “unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions.”
Ultimately, the American people deserve transparency into the extent of the Biden family’s influence peddling.
We intend to deliver legislation that will preclude family members from capitalizing on their relatives’ public office as we suspect the Bidens to have done.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) March 16, 2023
The committee intends to continue to chase the money trail, with more investigation into why the Chinese energy company waited less than two months after Biden left office. Also, it wants to learn why Walker’s company received the payment instead of the Biden family members’ companies directly.
Rahmani’s questions include what type of services were performed, why was money paid to Biden family members, and was the money properly reported.
Also, he said questions about foreign money relating to politicians or elected officials can lead into inquiries related to lobbying and whether financial activity was registered with foreign entities.
The worst-case scenario would involve bribes or outright money laundering, he said.
“At a minimum, it’s a terrible look, especially with the way things are with China,” Rahmani added, referencing strained U.S.-China relations because of the war in Ukraine, trade and questions surrounding human rights violations, etc.
Newsweek reached out to Comer for comment.
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