Democrats Vote Down GOP Resolution to Investigate Hunter Biden

President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

The Democrat-controlled House Oversight Committee on Tuesday voted down a GOP effort to investigate President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, over his foreign business dealings.

Before it was voted down, Republicans proposed a resolution of inquiry that asks the president to hand over documents relating to the business dealings of Hunter Biden and other Biden family members, as well as their companies and investments.

Rep. James Comer (R-Tenn.), the ranking member on the Oversight Panel, accused the Biden family of providing “access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves” and said the investigation is needed due to national security implications.

“It is time for President Biden to answer some questions about his participation in his family’s business schemes with some of our most significant adversaries for years, including the Chinese Communist Party,” he said, likely referring to emails sourced from the younger Biden’s laptop that showed he had communications with a CCP-linked Chinese energy firm. In those emails, he also suggested giving a 10 percent cut in a corporate organization to the “big guy,” referring to Joe Biden.

“If the Democrats vote against this resolution, then they are continuing in their coordinated effort to shield a potentially compromised President from necessary congressional oversight,” Comer said Tuesday. “We must shed light on the Biden family’s international business schemes to determine if there is a national security threat.”

But longtime Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, said Republicans have “misplaced” priorities by trying to investigate the Bidens. “This is a nakedly partisan effort,” she said, claiming GOP lawmakers are “obsessed” with Hunter Biden, reported CNN.

Preview

Should Republicans retake the House after the 2022 midterm elections, Tuesday’s Oversight Committee vote suggests it is a sign of things to come. Other GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate have signaled a willingness to probe the Biden family’s overseas ties and family businesses.

“So do you mean to tell me that Joe Biden … had no idea that his son was engaged in the sale of a cobalt mine to a Chinese company at the same time when the centerpiece of Joe Biden’s energy policy is electric cars in the United States?” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) asked on Tuesday. “That is just crazy,” he said.

In late 2020, Hunter Biden revealed in a statement that he was being investigated by federal authorities over his taxes, although he did not elaborate. At the time, the younger Biden and then-candidate Joe Biden said they were confident that the probe would show he did nothing wrong.

Hunter Biden in late 2019 told ABC News that he acted in an ethical manner in relation to his private business deals.

“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it—I know that there was—did nothing wrong at all,” he said. “However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is...a swamp in—in—in many ways? Yeah.”

“I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father. That’s where I made the mistake,” Hunter Biden continued. “So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever.”