One of the first priorities of the GOP House will be to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), incoming chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, respectively, announced on Nov. 17, that they plan to examine whether President Biden “is a security risk and whether he is compromised by foreign governments” in connection with Hunter Biden’s murky overseas business deals. The soon-to-be committee chairmen said they had discovered evidence that Joe Biden was a partner in his son’s businesses. He is “the big guy” referenced in the infamous laptop emails after all, they say.
Goals of the GOP House
“Our investigation is about Joe Biden,” Rep. Comer said. “Was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals and is he compromised? That’s our investigation.” The incoming House Committee on Oversight and Reform chairman explained that Republicans have their eyes on several goals, and that there will be a division of labor. While some see the coming investigations as the sole focus of the GOP House, Comer pointed out that it’s just one facet of the whole. One of the promises made by Republicans was to hold the Biden administration accountable. That’s the job of the Oversight Committee, Comer explained, and so that’s the subject of their probe.
For Rep. Jordan and his Judiciary Committee, the focus will be on the perceived politicization of the FBI and DOJ. Everyone is to be treated equally under the law, Jordan explained, and these federal agencies should act according to the law, not political ideology. During a Nov. 17 press conference, Mr. Jordan summarized some of the claims he heard from 14 FBI whistleblowers:
“So, I’ve been in Congress a few years now. I’ve never seen anything like it – 14 agents come talk to us, while we’re in the minority, about how political that place has become. Talking about the purging going on… these are terms they use, not we [sic]… purging of agents, the pressure to categorize cases in a political fashion, putting the threat tag label on moms and dads who show up at school board meetings… “
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has tried on multiple occasions to suppress potentially damaging news stories, from “debunking” certain stories – only to admit later they were true – to leaning on social media platforms to apply politically biased censorship. “Maybe it would be nice if the FBI and the Justice Department just stayed out of it and let we the people decide who we think should represent us and who we think should lead us,” he concluded.
As for the GOP House at large, Comer explained that the number one legislative issue is “repeal the 87,000 IRS agents, to reduce the size of the government, because that’s tackling inflation. We have inflation because the Democrats have spent too much money.” And what about investigating the treatment of January 6 detainees? That’s a question for Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Comer said.
SARs and the Hunter Biden Connection
Comer’s probe will follow Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to Hunter Biden, of which there are said to be at least 150. Since the terrorist attack of 2001, anytime a transaction occurs that seems like it might involve terrorist or criminal elements, or that seems like an attempt at money laundering, a bank must generate a SAR and file it with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, so that government and law enforcement agencies have access to the data. All suspicious activity is to be reported, but so are any transactions over a certain dollar amount. There have been between 21,000 and 63,000 SARs generated per year since 2014, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and such a report doesn’t guarantee any criminal activity.
That said, the Department of the Treasury has yet to release to the Oversight Committee any of the 150 or more SARs regarding Hunter Biden, despite the fact that, under previous administrations, any congressional committee would have been given access. Under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, these reports were open to members of Congress. Only after Biden took office did the rule change. That in itself is suspicious to Jordan, and as Comer pointed out, one of the two SARs they managed to get by other means details transactions between Hunter Biden and an escort service suspected of human trafficking.
What the remaining SARs might reveal is anyone’s guess at this point, as the administration is blocking access to them, but according to Comer, just what they have already is damning enough.
Bad News for the Big Guy?
(Photo by Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA)
According to Rep. Comer, the SARs they have studied show that Joe and Hunter Biden’s finances were to an extent co-mingled, if not shared entirely, and that they and Jim Biden, Joe’s brother, shared offices. President Biden denied having any knowledge of his son’s business dealings, but the evidence collected thus far indicates otherwise. “The Bidens flourished and made millions simply by selling access to the family,” Comer declared. Records show that Hunter did business with criminals and anti-American regimes like China. They show that Jim Biden used the family name to make money. And they claim the evidence will show that Joe Biden knew about it and was involved.
These investigations are just the beginning, but the crimes already being considered include conspiracy or defrauding the United States, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and violation of the Foreign Agents Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In other words, the upcoming GOP House might be very bad news for “the big guy” indeed.