Comer subpoenas Hunter Biden art dealer, business associates for testimony as part of ongoing probe
Fox News
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Thursday issued additional subpoenas for Hunter Biden’s business associates, including his art dealers and individuals involved in the more than $200,000 in alleged “loans” James Biden repaid President Biden for in 2017 and 2018, Fox News Digital has learned.
Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s business associate Eric Schwerin and Mervyn Yan. He also subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s gallerist George Bergès and art patron Elizabeth Naftali. The subpoenas compel all the individuals to testify before the committee.
The committee subpoenaed Yan in April for financial records connected to business dealings with Hunter Biden.
In January, Comer demanded Bergès turn over all communications between his gallery and the White House related to a reported deal to withhold all records of the prices and final buyers for Hunter Biden’s art. Fox News Digital previously reported that Bergès has long-standing ties to China and said in 2015 that he wanted to be the art world’s “lead guy in China.”
Comer also requested transcribed interviews with former Americore Holdings, LLC, representatives. Americore Holdings was a financially distressed rural hospital operator that provided $600,000 in loans to James Biden, who, in 2018, eventually wrote a check, allegedly using those funds, for $200,000 to Joe Biden.
“The House Oversight Committee is leaving no stone unturned as we investigate President Joe Biden’s central role in his family’s domestic and international business dealings,” Comer said Thursday.
The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to Hunter Biden, James Biden and business associate Rob Walker. Walker worked on the Biden family’s joint venture called Sinohawk Holdings, which was meant to be a partnership with Chinese energy firm CEFC.
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The committee also requested transcribed interviews from James Biden’s wife, Sara Biden; President Biden’s daughter-in-law, Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s son, Beau, who later was romantically involved with Hunter; Hallie Biden’s older sister, Elizabeth Secundy; and Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen.
The committee also requested a transcribed interview with Hunter Biden’s former business associate, Tony Bobulinski, who was also involved in Sinohawk Holdings.
Comer said the subpoenas were issued due to the “record of evidence obtained by this Committee.”
“A plethora of bank records, texts, emails, and a transcribed interview with Biden family associate Devon Archer all show the Bidens and their business partners sold access to the highest levels of our government, including Joe Biden himself, to the detriment of America’s interests,” Comer said. “Americans across this country have made it clear to President Joe Biden, the Biden family, and their associates that the gig is up.”
Comer added: “The House Oversight Committee, along with the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, are determined to follow the facts, and deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand, deserve, and expect.”
The subpoenas come as part of the committee’s months-long investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings and whether President Biden benefited from or was involved in his family’s business ventures.
The investigation, led by Comer, also feeds into the broader House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. That inquiry is being led by Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
The subpoenaed and voluntary testimony will likely feed into the larger impeachment inquiry as Republicans seek to determine whether President Biden abused his office or committed any type of high crime or misdemeanor.
Comer, in September, subpoenaed personal and business bank records belonging to both Hunter Biden and James Biden. Those subpoenaed records have revealed new lines of questioning with regard to whether President Biden knew about or was involved in his family’s business dealings.
Last week, Comer said those subpoenaed bank records revealed that President Biden himself received $40,000 in “laundered China money” from the bank account belonging to James Biden and Sara Biden.
Subpoenaed financial records also revealed that Joe Biden received a “$200,000 direct payment” in 2018 in the form of a “personal check” from James Biden and Sara Biden. That check was also labeled “loan repayment.” The check for $200,000 came the same day Americore wired $200,000 into James and Sara Biden’s personal bank account.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell blasted the investigation as “partisan,” and penned a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Wednesday to demand that he stop Comer, Jordan and Smith from continuing their investigation.
“This is yet another political stunt aimed at distracting from the glaring failure of Rep. Comer and his MAGA allies to prove a single one of their wild and now discredited conspiracies about the Biden family,” Lowell said in a statement.
As for the subpoena for Hunter Biden’s testimony, Lowell said the president’s son “is eager to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these matters with the Committee.”