A House investigation has accused President Biden of leveraging his office to secure millions for his family through foreign business deals, raising serious allegations of corruption and abuse of power.
House lawmakers have concluded that President Biden committed impeachable offenses by assisting his family in securing millions of dollars through lucrative foreign and domestic business deals, and subsequently conspiring to conceal the evidence and obstruct a Congressional investigation. This conclusion is drawn from a nearly yearlong investigation by three House committees—Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means—which released their findings in a report on Monday.
The report, made public just hours before President Biden was to be honored at the Democratic National Convention, casts a shadow over the remainder of his term. Despite the findings, the Republican-led House is unlikely to pursue impeachment against Mr. Biden, who is not seeking a second term. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
The 291-page report details evidence gathered from over a dozen witnesses and thousands of banking records and documents. It alleges that President Biden, referred to as the “big guy,” played a recurring role in helping his family, particularly his son Hunter Biden, secure profitable business deals with countries such as Ukraine, Russia, and China, dating back to his time as vice president. The report describes instances where Mr. Biden made phone calls to gatherings of potential business associates arranged by his son, or appeared briefly at meetings, actions that reportedly helped secure millions of dollars in profits for his family.
According to the report, foreign business partners paid $18 million to the Biden family between 2014 and 2023. These funds were traced to accounts belonging to Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden’s brother James Biden, James Biden’s wife Sara Biden, and other members of the Biden family, including the president’s daughters-in-law and grandchildren. The report also alleges that Mr. Biden personally received some of the profits, including two checks labeled as loan repayments totaling $240,000 from his brother James Biden in 2018, following a payment James received from an American hospital venture.
The report contradicts President Biden’s repeated denials of involvement in or profit from any family business deals. Lawmakers claim the evidence shows a pattern of influence peddling and corruption, accusing the president of abusing his office and defrauding the United States to enrich his family.
One notable instance detailed in the report involves a 2015 phone call between Hunter Biden, executives from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, and Vice President Biden. The report suggests that following this call, Vice President Biden pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees. This incident, along with others, is used to illustrate what the report describes as a consistent pattern of using his office to benefit his family’s business interests.
The report also alleges that Mr. Biden attempted to shield his son from prosecution for tax fraud and gun charges during his time as vice president. It cites evidence from IRS whistleblowers who claimed that the Justice Department deviated from standard investigative practices to give Hunter Biden favorable treatment, including delaying investigations to allow the statute of limitations to expire on serious charges.
Additionally, the report addresses allegations that President Biden used his office to cover up the mishandling of classified documents, which he allegedly removed as vice president and used to aid in writing a memoir for which he received an $8 million advance. The case was reviewed by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who concluded that while Mr. Biden willfully retained the classified material, he was not charged, partly due to concerns about the president’s cognitive decline.
House Democrats did not participate in the impeachment investigation and have dismissed the report as a politically motivated witch hunt, arguing that Republicans have not provided solid evidence of any wrongdoing by the president. Despite this, House Republicans have sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for James and Hunter Biden for lying to Congress and obstructing an investigation, though prosecutions are considered unlikely under the current administration.
.png)