House Republicans say Biden family received payments from China, Romania nationals

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Republican-led US House Oversight Committee alleged Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s family, including son, Hunter, received millions in payments from foreign nationals in China and Romania.

Committee Chair James Comer, who sent a memorandum early Wednesday to Republican members of the panel investigating Bidens, said at a news conference that many wire payments occurred while Biden was vice president.

Comer accused Hunter Biden and his associates of capitalizing on a "lucrative financial relationship with the Romanian national who was under investigation for and later convicted of corruption in Romania."

He alleged that the Bidens received more than $1 million for the deal, most of which, he said, occurred when Biden was vice president, adding that the payments show "a pattern of influence peddling."

Biden's alleged relationship with China, Comer said, includes two individuals, one of which the committee is particularly concerned -- Ye Jianming -- who had "close ties to the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party and operated a multibillion-dollar energy company with access to large sums of money."

"The Committee has identified over 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members and their business associates, formed mostly in Delaware and Washington, D.C.," according to the memorandum.

"The services provided by some of these companies, the purpose for creating such a complicated corporate structure, and whether ethics/financial disclosure laws should require a public official to publicly disclose the identities of such companies remain under scrutiny by the Committee," it added.

White House spokesman for oversight and investigations Ian Sams dismissed the claims, saying House Republicans are "really microwaving old debunked stuff."

Hours after the memorandum was released, House Oversight Democratic staff issued a memo, accusing Republicans of "promoting conspiracy theories and claims against Hunter Biden," adding that it "fueled negative reporting upon which financial institutions have then relied to inform the filing of SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports)."

"In turn, Committee Republicans are using these SARs as the basis to make additional novel and unfounded claims for media consumption," they said.