House Committee Probing ‘Suspicious’ Transaction Records Regarding Hunter Biden’s Alleged $50,000 Rent Payments at Joe Biden’s Home

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

The new chair of the House Oversight Committee said on Jan. 17 that the panel is looking into bank records and “suspicious activity reports” in connection with unconfirmed reports that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, paid nearly $50,000 per month in rent at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, told Sean Hannity of Fox News in a Jan. 17 interview that the panel is investigating financial records in connection with reports that Hunter Biden paid his father about half a million dollars in rent over the course of roughly 11 months.

There are reports, based on a document obtained by New York Post reporter Miranda Devine—the authenticity of which hasn’t been independently verified by The Epoch Times—that Hunter Biden allegedly moved into his father’s Wilmington home in March 2017 and moved out in February 2018 and that he paid roughly $49,910 per month in rent during that time.

At the same time, the president’s 2017 tax return (pdf) reporting income or loss from the Wilmington property states that it had $19,800 in “rents received,” while his 2018 tax return (pdf) doesn’t list any rents received.

The Epoch Times reached out to White House officials and Hunter Biden’s attorney with requests for comment but received no reply.

The president’s Wilmington home has surged into the spotlight after classified documents were found there and in other places, including a Washington think tank closet.

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 13, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

‘That Doesn’t Make Sense’

When Hannity asked Comer during the interview about reports that Hunter Biden was allegedly paying what Hannity characterized as an exorbitant sum for renting space in his father’s Wilmington home, the Republican lawmaker replied, “That doesn’t make sense; we’re looking into that.

“That’s one reason we’ve requested bank documents, bank records; we’re looking into the suspicious activity reports; we’re going to be looking at tax records, just like the House Ways and Means Committee did with former President Trump. We’re going to continue to look into this and all other areas of revenue from Joe Biden and from the Biden family.”

House Republicans have vowed to investigate the president for his alleged involvement in his son’s foreign business deals, allegations that the White House has repeatedly denied.

“I am committed to following the Biden family and associates’ money trail—consisting of many complex, international transactions worth millions of dollars—& providing answers to the American people,” Comer wrote in a Twitter post on Jan. 17.

“Is @POTUS compromised?” Comer asked, vowing that the committee will eventually “uncover the facts.”

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), then ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, during a hearing in Washington on July 27, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

‘Suspicious Activity Reports’

Earlier in January, Comer announced a series of new actions in relation to the long-promised investigation into the president, his son Hunter Biden, and social media companies that Comer alleges suppressed negative stories about the Hunter Biden laptop ahead of the 2020 election.

Among these actions, Comer asked the U.S. Treasury Department to provide a range of financial records, including so-called suspicious activity reports (SARs), related to the Biden family.

U.S. banks are required by law to flag cash transactions exceeding $10,000 per day and automatically file SARs with a Treasury Department agency in an effort to prevent criminal activities, such as money laundering and tax evasion.

The Epoch Times reached out to Treasury Department officials with a request for comment on Comer’s request for the financial records but didn’t receive a substantive response.

In a Jan. 11 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Comer requested all SARs that may have been generated in relation to Hunter Biden, the president’s brother James Biden, and several Biden family associates and their related companies.

Financial institutions file millions of SARs each year, and while they’re not evidence of wrongdoing, some do lead to law enforcement investigations.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes,” Comer said in the letter to the Treasury secretary while noting that during the 117th Congress, the Treasury had refused the panel’s request for information about the Biden family.

The panel is investigating “President Biden’s knowledge of and role in these schemes to assess whether he has compromised our national security at the expense of the American people,” Comer wrote.

The committee will consider drafting legislation to bolster federal ethics laws regarding government staff and their family members, he said.

Comer noted that the panel will also review federal laws and regulations to make sure financial institutions have proper protocols in place to alert federal agencies of potential money-laundering activity.

The president and Hunter Biden have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, while White House spokesman Ian Sams described Comer’s request for Biden family financial records as a political stunt.

GOP Probe Into Biden Family

Several months ago, Comer announced that when Republicans took control of the Oversight Committee in the 118th Congress, they would launch the long-promised probe.

At the time, Comer claimed that committee Republicans uncovered evidence of federal crimes committed by or to the benefit of the Biden family and released a report (pdf) outlining their findings.

“The Biden family’s business dealings implicate a wide range of criminality from human trafficking to potential violations of the Constitution,” Comer said at the time.

Such crimes, according to Comer, include conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax evasion, money laundering, and violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Citing media reports, Comer said in November 2022 that more than 150 transactions from the Bidens’ business dealings have been flagged by U.S. banks through suspicious activity report filings.

“One SAR generated by an American bank to the Treasury Department connects Hunter Biden and his business associates to international human trafficking, among other illegal activities,” Comer said at the time.

The Republican lawmaker said at the time that the Treasury refused to release the SARs to the panel and that he would renew his efforts to obtain those records in the new Congress, as Republicans now hold subpoena power.

Following Comer’s pledge in November 2022 to pursue the Biden family records, the White House issued a critical statement stating that “instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock-full of long-debunked conspiracy theories.”

‘Totally Irresponsible’

Besides looking into the Biden family business dealings, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee has also launched an investigation into the president’s handling of classified records from his time as vice president.

Classified documents linked to Biden have been found in several locations, including a closet in a Washington think tank and a storage space next to the garage at the president’s Wilmington home, where he keeps his classic Corvette.

Besides being an embarrassment to the president, the document finds have led to the appointment of a special counsel, who’s investigating the matter.

Republicans are pursuing their own probe.

Comer said on Jan. 10 that the House Oversight Committee had launched an investigation into Biden’s handling of sensitive materials.

“The committee is concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents,” Comer wrote in a Jan. 10 letter to White House Counsel Stuart Delery (pdf), while pointing out that Biden has previously called the mishandling of presidential records “totally irresponsible.”

Comer demanded that the White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provide documents and information related to their handling of Biden’s classified document stash.

Responding to an inquiry from The Epoch Times, NARA acknowledged receipt of the letter but provided no further comment.

Comer later accused NARA of stonewalling his inquiry.