by Steven Richards and John Solomon
The 291-page report lays out evidence of the Biden family’s foreign payments and the family patriarch’s role in meeting or speaking with partners.
The Republican-led House committees leading the impeachment probe into Joe Biden concluded Monday the president engaged in impeachable conduct by helping to enrich his family with millions of dollars in business schemes that traded on his name and then defrauded voters by lying to cover up the scandal.
The House Oversight, Ways and Means and Judiciary Committees said they believe the evidence from their nine-month investigation establishes that Biden abused his office and violated his oaths under the Constitution, according to the 291-page report reviewed by Just the News.
“First and foremost, overwhelming evidence demonstrates that President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family,” the committee’s concluded in the the report released the day Biden was to be honored at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“Among other aspects of this conspiracy, the Biden family and their business associates received tens of millions of dollars from foreign interests by leading those interests to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with President Biden,” the executive summary added.
The report puts a finishing touch on a scandal that began in 2019 during the advent of the last presidential election, but it is unlikely to result in a formal impeachment since Biden has stepped down and handed over the reins of the Democratic Party to his vice president, Kamala Harris.
The committee cited evidence that Biden “actively participated” in an influence-peddling conspiracy by attending dinners with his family’s foreign associates and speaking to them over the phone. These interactions were documented by email evidence and testimony from several of Hunter Biden’s ex-business partners, including Devon Archer and Jason Galanis.
The committees also said evidence shows Hunter Biden used his father’s official position as vice president to “garner favorable outcomes in foreign business dealings and legal proceedings.”
Beyond Biden’s conduct as vice president, the report argued the Justice Department during his presidency deviated from normal practices in order to provide favorable treatment to Hunter Biden, throwing up roadblocks in the investigation and preventing attorneys from pursuing certain avenues of inquiry, as two IRS whistleblowers testified to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The president also engaged in a coverup himself by lying about his and his family’s conduct, the report alleged.
“President Joe Biden conspired to commit influence peddling and grift,” the committees wrote. “In doing so, he abused his office and, by repeatedly lying about his abuse of office, has defrauded the United States to enrich his family.”
You can read the full impeachment inquiry report below:
Here are the most important findings of the impeachment investigation:
Biden family received more than $27 million from foreign sources
The committee’s investigation found Hunter Biden and other family members received over $27 million from foreign sources. These funds were often obscured in “shell companies” to hide their true origins, the committee says. Some of the funds sent from China, for example, ended up directly in Joe Biden’s bank account.
As part of the $27 million, Hunter Biden received significant compensation from several foreign ventures and positions.
For example, his role on the board of directors of the embattled Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, whose owner Mykola Zlochevksy was facing corruption allegations in Ukraine. Biden received a $1 million a year salary for his role on the board.
After receiving that position he would use his influence in Washington, D.C. to help organize a public relations campaign for the company and work to shut down the corruption investigation into Zlochevsky, even meeting personally with State Department officials.
In another instance, Hunter Biden received a $5 million loan in 2017 from entities connected to the energy firm CEFC China Energy. Just the News reported in 2022 that Hunter Biden had received this $5 million "interest free," forgivable loan. Emails from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop showed that the loan was intended to benefit the Biden family, referred to as the "BD family."
Biden’s status as vice president a selling point
The committees also found evidence that Joe Biden used his role as vice president to “garner favorable outcomes for his son’s and his business partners’ foreign business dealings.”
Witnesses interviewed as part of the inquiry confirmed Biden was involved, whether through meetings or phone calls, with his son’s foreign business partners.
“Then-Vice President Biden met or spoke with nearly every one of the Biden family’s foreign business associates, including those from Ukraine, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. As a result, the Biden family has received millions of dollars from these foreign entities,” the report reads.
Just the News previously reported that major payments or business developments for Hunter Biden often followed key meetings or phone calls between his partners and his father, according to emails, testimony, and other evidence uncovered by the impeachment probe.
For example, in 2014 Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina deposited $3.5 into a bank account tied to Hunter Biden’s businesses and also committed to invest in a New York City real estate project with Biden's partner just weeks before she reportedly met Joe Biden at a dinner in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
In another example, one former business partner testified, in early 2017, Hunter Biden and his business associates met with a CEFC delegation, including its Chairman Ye Jianming, at a lunch in Washington, D.C. A private citizen at the time, Joe Biden joined his son and the delegation of CEFC officials at the lunch and even spoke to the assembled group, Just the News reported.
Shortly after that lunch where Ye Jianming met the former vice president, a CEFC affiliate wired $3 million to Walker’s company, Robinson Walker LLC, the first transfer in the deal between the Chinese energy company and Hunter Biden’s group, the witness told the committee.
Biden name used to obtain $8 million in loans from Democratic donors
The committees also identified significant financial assistance to Biden family members from Democratic donors. The committees argue the Biden family used Joe Biden’s “positions of public trust” to obtain the “over $8 million in loans” from those donors.
For example, Just the News first uncovered in November 2023 that Hollywood entertainment lawyer and Democratic donor Kevin Morris provided Hunter Biden nearly $6 million in financial assistance at the height of his father’s 2020 presidential campaign. This came after the younger Biden’s foreign business deals began drying up amid his recovery from addiction and as scrutiny increased because of the campaign.
Federal and congressional investigators identified promissory notes between Morris and Biden exceeding $5 million, many covering payments that Morris sent directly to vendors and debtors of Hunter Biden totaling at least $4.4 million, Just the News previously reported.
The assistance covered many aspects of Hunter Biden’s lifestyle, including five-figure monthly rents at California homes, child support payments, some travel, legal bills, and federal and local tax debts totaling over $2 million.
In his testimony before the Oversight Committee, presidential brother James Biden told investigators that he too received loans from Democratic donors. The first loan uncovered by the impeachment investigators was an $800,000 loan from Joey Langston, a friend of President Biden and donor to his campaigns. Langston was convicted and spent time in prison for attempting to illegally influence a judge for his client during the same time period he was loaning James Biden money.
The second loan, which the committee alleges was for $900,000, came from a wealthy Delaware car dealer, John Hynansky. James Biden confirmed that Joe Biden has met with the car dealer in the past, who also donated to Biden’s campaigns. FEC records show that Hynansky is a major donor to Democratic candidates and their PAC's, having donated tens of thousands of dollars in only the last several years.
The Justice Department granted favorable treatment to Hunter Biden
The IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who worked together on the Hunter Biden investigation, approached Congress last year with complaints that the Justice Department was improperly giving Biden “preferential treatment” to avoid filing charges against him. In his first letter to Congress, Shapley also asserted that DOJ officials were limiting prosecutor David Weiss’ ability to pursue charges against the first son.
In a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee in July 2023, Shapley testified that Justice Department officials concealed evidence from the IRS investigative team, delayed key investigative steps for political reasons, and blocked them from pursuing any lines of investigation that involved Joe Biden.
In one episode that illustrates the whistleblowers’ frustrations, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Wolf—a deputy to Weiss—intervened to stop a search warrant at Joe Biden’s Delaware home over “optics” concerns despite admitting there would be evidence at that location, Shapley testified.
“AUSA Wolf also told investigators they should not ask about President Biden during witness interviews even when the business communications of his son clearly referenced him,” Shapley said in his opening statement.
In another instance, the IRS Whistleblowers said they were prevented from pursuing evidence that indicated additional crimes were committed by Hunter Biden. Federal prosecutors recently confirmed in a California tax case against Biden what Shapley has told Congress since last year, that they possessed evidence of potential Foreign Agents Registration Act violations, but that the IRS investigators were “precluded” from pursuing it further, Just the News reported.
Steven Richards and John Solomon
Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/emb-5am-819-house-committees-conclude-joe-biden-engaged-impeachable
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