Comer raises questions about $200k 'direct payment' from James Biden to Joe Biden in 2018
House Oversight Republicans say they uncovered evidence that Joe Biden received $200,0000 payment in 2018 as GOP probes possible connection between the president and family members' business dealings
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said his panel has uncovered evidence that Joe Biden, in 2018, received a "$200,000 direct payment" from his brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden, and is demanding the president answer questions about "financial arrangements" with members of his family.
Comer, R-Ky., has been leading an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings since January and whether President Biden was involved in those ventures or "personally benefited" from them.
Comer, in September, issued three subpoenas for the personal and business bank records belonging to both Hunter Biden and James Biden.
Comer, in a video posted to "X," formerly known as Twitter, detailing his committee’s latest findings. Comer said the check was written by James Biden to President Biden as a "loan repayment," but questioned the timing.
"Bank records obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have revealed a $200,000 direct payment from James and Sara Biden to Joe Biden in the form of a personal check," Comer states.
Comer explains that in 2018, James Biden "received $600,000 in loans from Americore —a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator."
"According to bankruptcy court documents, James Biden received these loans based upon representations that his last name Biden, could open doors; and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections," Comer said.
"On March 1, 2018, Americore wired a $200,000 loan into James and Sara Biden’s personal bank account—not their business bank account," he continued. "And then, on the very same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from this same personal bank account to Joe Biden."
Comer said James Biden "wrote this check to Joe Biden as a ‘loan repayment.’"
"Americore—a distressed company—loaned money to James Biden who then sent it to Joe Biden," Comer said.
But Comer said even if the payment was "a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling that Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings."
"Some immediate questions President Biden must answer for the American people: Does he have documents proving he lent such a large sum of money to his brother and what were the terms of such financial arrangement?" Comer asked. "Did he have similar financial arrangements with other family members that led them to make similar large payments to him?"
Comer also demanded Biden answer whether he knew that the same day he received the $200,000 check, "James Biden had just received a loan for the exact same amount from business dealings with a company that was in financial distress and failing."
"The House Oversight Committee will soon announce our next investigative actions and continue to follow the money," he said. "The bank records don’t end here. There is more to come."
Comer's findings come amid his months-long investigation. Comer, alongside House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., is leading the House impeachment inquiry against Biden.
So far, during his committee's investigation, Comer said he has found that Biden family members, their business associates and their "related companies" received "significant payments from individuals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Romania."
Comer said the House Oversight Committee has learned throughout its investigation that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by "selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world."
