House Oversight Chairman Seeks Biden Family Financial Transaction Data

CNN

In one of his first moves as House Oversight Chairman, Rep. James Comer information from the Treasury Department about the Biden family's financial dealings and he is urging several former Twitter executives to testify in public hearings.

The new round of letters from the committee comes as House Republicans seek to expand their investigative powers and follow through on a promise to look into the Biden family's finances and alleged political influence over tech companies, Twitter temporarily ran a story about Hunter Biden as of 2020 hidden. . his laptop

"Now that the Democrats don't have one-party government in Washington, comes oversight and accountability," Kamer Hunter said of his panel's investigation into the business dealings of Biden and the Biden family. "This investigation is a top priority for House Republicans in the 118th Congress."

Comer asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to provide reports to her panel on the banking activities of Hunter Biden, President Biden's brother James Biden and various employees of the Biden family and related businesses.

"The Oversight and Accountability Committee is investigating President Biden's involvement in his family's foreign business practices and international influence programs," Kamer Yellen wrote.

Kammer repeatedly tried to obtain these bank records, known as SARs, when Republicans were in the minority, but to no avail. Kamer said he only saw two and did not disclose the source of this report.

Comer previously pointed to bank records known as Suspicious Activity Reports as evidence of possible wrongdoing by Joe Biden's family members. However, such reports are inconclusive and do not necessarily indicate errors. Millions of suspicious transaction reports are submitted by financial institutions each year, and only a handful lead to law enforcement investigations.

The White House accused Republicans of a "political stunt" after Comer's investigation on Wednesday.

"In their first week as a majority government, House Republicans have taken no significant steps to fight inflation and cut costs for Americans, but they have resorted to political stunts from their party's most extreme MAGA members to grabbing news" - The White House A representative from Counselor Ian Sams' office said: "The president will continue to focus on the important issues that the American people want their leaders to work on, and we hope that House Republicans at will join him."

Kamar is also seeking reports from the Treasury Department, its Financial Crimes Unit and the White House on the family members and related businesses and employees, which he expects to return by January 25.

Letters from former Twitter executives pave the way for the timeline of Kammer's investigation. Law, policy and letter to former head of Vijay Ged Trust; former head of trust and security Yoel Roth; And former deputy general James Baker is pushing for the trio to appear at a public hearing the week of February 6. They came after Kamar sent an earlier series of letters asking for evidence in December.

"Your presence is needed because you helped end Americans' access to information about the Biden family on Twitter just before the 2020 election," each letter from former Twitter staffers read.

Republicans have seized the so-called Twitter files as evidence of government censorship, although none of the reports published so far indicate that the FBI is directly asking Twitter to suppress the story, which includes footage of a Hunter Biden laptop . The FBI agent at the center of the controversy, along with several federal officials and technical executives, denied the existence of such an order, CNN previously reported.

Meanwhile, Roth has said publicly that Hunter Biden's story looks like it could be the result of a hack-and-leak operation, but has denied that he personally tried to censor the story.

“It is well known that I personally directed the suppression of the Hunter Biden story. That's not true. That is absolutely and unequivocally not true,” Roth told tech journalist Kara Swisher in a podcast interview last year.

Kammer's demands come as both he and Chief Justice Jim Jordan have pledged to investigate the federal government's influence over tech companies.

In an interview with CNN earlier this week, Kamer suggested that justice personnel may participate in some of his committee's interviews if there is general interest, such as on Twitter.

"There's some overlap, but that's not going to be a problem for Jim and me," Kammer said in an interview. "He knows who we represent. We know who he represents."

This story was updated Wednesday with additional updates.