Comer Accuses Biden of Abuse of Power Over Son’s Trips on Air Force Two, Demands Flight Records

President Joe Biden with son Hunter Biden arrives at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 4, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has accused President Joe Biden of abusing taxpayer-funded resources by allowing his son, Hunter Biden, to travel on Air Force Two over a dozen times while he was Vice President in order to “enrich the Biden family.”

In an Aug. 30 letter (pdf) to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Mr. Comer has requested documents, communications, and passenger manifests relating to then-Vice President Biden’s use of Air Force Two and Marine Two between 2009 and 2017.

“Then-Vice President Joe Biden abused Air Force Two by allowing his son to jet set around the world to sell ‘The Brand’ to enrich the Biden family,” Mr. Comer alleged in a statement.

“This is yet another example of then-Vice President Biden abusing his public office for his family’s financial gain,” Mr. Comer continued, adding that “there must be accountability for this abuse of taxpayer-funded resources.”

Mr. Comer’s letter cites recent media reports that the President’s son, Hunter Biden, traveled with his father to over 15 countries on Air Force Two.

It also references testimony by Hunter Biden’s former business associate, Devon Archer, who alleged that then-Vice President Biden met with at least one business associate of Hunter Biden’s in China while there on official business.

Mr. Comer, who is leading the House Oversight Committee probe into the Biden family’s business dealings, has given Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States at NARA, until Sept. 13 to comply with the request “so that we can provide the transparency that Americans demand and deserve.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to NARA and the White House for comment but did not receive a reply.

While President Biden has denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings, Mr. Archer has claimed that this is “categorically false.”

Mr. Archer’s testimony has provided a roadmap for the Committee’s investigation into the Biden family, according to Mr. Comer, who recently said that he expects that members of the Biden family will be subpoenaed in the course of the investigation.

Chairman of the Full Committee on Oversight and Accountability Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) speaks during a hearing with IRS whistleblowers about the Biden Criminal Investigation at the U.S. Congress in Washington on July 19, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Biden Family Investigation

Congressional testimony by Mr. Archer, former Hunter Biden business partner, provides a roadmap for the next steps in the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s business affairs.

Mr. Comer said in a recent interview with Just The News that Mr. Archer’s explosive testimony provided a number of leads in the Biden family probe that Congressional investigators will chase down.

These leads include broadening the panel’s investigation to include President Joe Biden’s brothers, Hunter Biden’s artwork sales, and a meeting the president and his son had with a Russian oligarch in 2014.

Mr. Comer told the outlet that he would try to interview Biden family members, including James Biden, the president’s brother.

“You know, this is a crime family. I mean, it really is. And the crime is selling access to our federal government, to adversaries around the world,” Mr. Comer told the outlet.

The Republican lawmaker said that Mr. Archer’s testimony shows that members of the Biden family have been selling access to the government for around two decades and that the president personally knew all the individuals whose bank records show allegedly wired millions of dollars to shell companies set up by Biden family members.

“This family has been actively doing that for two decades. And Joe Biden knew every single player that was involved in sending those wires, and I think we learned that today,” Mr. Comer said of Mr. Archer’s testimony.

In May, Mr. Comer announced the release of a second bank records memorandum (pdf) that discusses how financial records obtained by the Committee show that the Biden family and associates established a complicated network of companies during Joe Biden’s vice presidency and received millions of dollars from foreign sources.

“The Bidens intentionally sought to hide, confuse, and conceal their influence-peddling schemes, but bank records don’t lie. The Bidens made millions from foreign nationals providing what seems to be no services other than access and influence,” Mr. Comer said in a statement in mid-May.

In mid-August, Mr. Comer released the third bank memo (pdf) pertaining to the Bidens’ foreign business transactions. While the first two memos detailed the family’s dealings with entities and individuals in China and Romania, respectively, the third covered transactions in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

“It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.

“The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and our national security is threatened,” he added.

The committee has thus far subpoenaed the bank records of several businesses and individuals connected to the business activities of President Joe Biden’s family members. Those records showed more than $20 million in payments from foreign sources to at least nine members of the president’s family.

“We found more bank records that show the Bidens continue to rake in millions of dollars from our adversaries around the world, much of it while Joe Biden was vice president,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.

The records also revealed that the funds were funneled through a network of at least 20 shell companies before being transferred to those family members.

A day after the third bank records memo was released, Mr. Comer said that the Committee intends to subpoena members of the Biden family as part of the probe.

“Obviously, with all the opposition and obstruction we’re getting from the Biden attorneys now, we know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens,” Mr. Comer told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Aug. 10.

At the center, Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, arrives for closed-door testimony with the House Oversight Committee in Washington, on July 31, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Archer Testimony

Mr. Archer served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma along with Hunter Biden, and the pair later founded the investment firm Rosemont Seneca together, where Mr. Archer served as managing director.

He has long been seen by Republicans as a key witness in their search to directly connect President Joe Biden to his son’s various international business deals.

The president has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings, assertions Republicans have flatly dismissed as false and their hunt for “smoking gun” receipts to prove Mr. Biden was lying has brought them to Mr. Archer.

Mr. Comer issued a subpoena to Mr. Archer in June, saying his testimony would be critical to the panel’s probe into the Biden family.

A readout of some of Mr. Archer’s key revelations from July 31 closed-door testimony before the Oversight Committee include that Hunter Biden put his father, who was then Vice President, on speakerphone during business meetings over 20 times and that the elder Biden was put on the call to sell “the brand.”

Republicans saw Mr. Archer’s testimony as proof that the president lied about his alleged involvement in his son’s business affairs, while Democrats said that Mr. Archer’s testimony showed no such thing and that Hunter Biden merely sold the “illusion of access” to his father, whose interactions with his son’s business associates amounted to “casual” small talk.

The White House downplayed the significance of Mr. Archer’s testimony, with spokesperson Ian Sams saying it failed to provide the kind of bombshell evidence of wrongdoing that Republicans claimed.

“It appears that the House Republicans’ own much-hyped witness today testified that he never heard of President Biden discussing business with his son or his son’s associates or doing anything wrong,” Mr. Sams said in a statement.

But in his comments to Just The News, Mr. Comer said the final chapter in the Hunter Biden saga has yet to be written, as he vowed to chase down a number of leads that Mr. Archer’s testimony shed light on.

One area of further inquiry Mr. Comer said would be probed more deeply is the question of Hunter Biden’s art sales, which have been part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings.

Samantha Flom contributed to this report.