Hunter and James Biden Referred for Criminal Prosecution
House Republicans sent criminal referrals for James and Hunter Biden to the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday, accusing both of lying to Congress during testimony during the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
In a letter addressed to both Attorney General Merrick Garland and DOJ special counsel David Weiss, Reps. James Comer of Kentucky, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Jason Smith of Missouri said “Hunter Biden and James Biden made materially false statements” under oath.
The letter said every instance of false statements in the testimony “implicates Joe Biden’s knowledge of and role in his family’s influence peddling.”
The chairs of the Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees tied the alleged false statements to money earned by the Biden family overseas.
The congressmen said testimony by James and Hunter Biden about the cash, which they said was part of the family’s “influence peddling” scheme, was “provably false.”
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
We Are Referring Hunter and James Biden for Criminal Prosecution
Our Committee, along with @JudiciaryGOP and @WaysandMeansGOP, today sent criminal referrals to the DOJ recommending Hunter and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about… pic.twitter.com/gWM7S8grQm
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 5, 2024
“The Committees attach to this letter a referral for criminal charges against Hunter Biden and James Biden, under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements), and, additionally, for Hunter Biden under 18 U.S.C. § 1621 (perjury),” the letter said.
“As the attached referral shows, Hunter Biden and James Biden made provably false statements to the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee about key aspects of the impeachment inquiry, in what appears to be a conscious effort to hinder the investigation’s focus on President Joe Biden.”
The letter accused Hunter Biden of lying about his relationship to a business he is said to have used to funnel in money from overseas business deals.
“Hunter Biden made additional false statements as to whether he held positions at Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC. After deposing Hunter Biden, the Committees obtained documents showing Hunter Biden represented that he was the corporate secretary,” the letter charged.
The referral added:
“Additionally, Hunter Biden during his testimony relayed an entirely fictitious account about threatening text messages he sent to his Chinese business partner while invoking his father’s presence with him as he wrote the messages.
“Hunter Biden told the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee he had transmitted this threat to an unrelated individual with the same surname. However, documents released by the Committee on Ways and Means demonstrate conclusively that Hunter Biden made this threat to the intended individual, and bank records prove Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners wired millions of dollars to him after his threat. A portion of the proceeds has been traced to Joe Biden’s bank account.”
As it pertained to James Biden, who is Joe Biden’s brother, the letter said that he lied when he claimed under oath that he had never met with former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski.
“Specifically, James Biden stated he did not attend a meeting with Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Tony Bobulinski on May 2, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel,” House Republicans argued.
The committee chairs called the alleged false testimony a “calculated” and “clumsy attempt” to “insulate Joe Biden from the duly authorized impeachment inquiry.”
The letter concluded that both Hunter and James Biden should be charged with making false statements and Hunter Biden should be charged with perjury.
The committee chairs further asked Garland to weigh Hunter Biden’s “prior alleged criminal activity” while considering an indictment and mentioned his two ongoing federal tax and gun trials.
“Because Hunter Biden was federally indicted in two different jurisdictions at the time of his Congressional deposition, he was also subject to two federal court orders stating that he could not commit any crimes while on federal supervised release,” Comer, Jordan and Smith concluded.
Garland did not immediately respond to the criminal referral.
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