The White House sought to explain away a new finding in a House investigation into the Biden family’s finances, prompting blowback by critics who found glaring problems with the reasoning.
The House Oversight Committee announced on Tuesday that Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, received $260,000 from wires originating from Chinese nationals with his father’s Wilmington, Delaware, home listed as the beneficiary address at a time when the elder Biden was running for president.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Ian Sams fired back in a post to X responding to journalist and author James Surowiecki saying that Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) was perpetuating a “fake would-be gotcha” because, he claimed, Hunter Biden was living at the address during that period of time.
“Imagine them arguing that, if someone stayed at their parents’ house during the pandemic, listed it as their permanent address for work, and got a paycheck, the parents somehow also worked for the employer,” Sams said in response. “It’s bananas,” he added, “Yet this is what extreme House Republicans have sunken to.”
A wave of commenters quickly picked apart the statement made by Sams, disputing some of the assertions made by him and Surowiecki.
“When exactly do you think the pandemic began?” asked Stephen Miller, who served as a leading adviser in former President Donald Trump’s White House and founded America First Legal, a conservative group that has challenged Biden administration initiatives in court.
“Just to be clear: you’re claiming that the Chinese wired money to an account with Joe Biden’s home address in 2019 because Hunter was ‘staying at [his] parents’ house during the pandemic’?” asked The Federalist’s Sean Davis. “There was no COVID pandemic in 2019 when that wire transfer occurred. COVID was 2020.”
Tiana Lowe Doescher, a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner, said the “Beijing payment to Joe Biden’s Delaware home was in the summer of 2019, well before the pandemic and when this then-49 year old dad was living in California with his second wife. Why would he be listing a presidential candidates address as his own?”
There was also pushback from Congress.
“Imagine misleading the public about when Hunter Biden received over $250,000 in payments from China and listed Joe Biden’s house as his address,” said Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS). “It’s bananas,” he added, “Yet this is what the Biden White House has sunken to.”
Others quipped about a need for a Community Note and shared a screenshot in case Sams deleted the post, panned as an attempt to gaslight the public.
“A White House spokesman doesn’t know the payment was pre-pandemic when Hunter was living on the west coast. But the White House staff concerned about misinformation wants to weigh in anyway,” said conservative radio host Erick Erickson.
President Biden is facing an impeachment inquiry on corruption allegations, and his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings are very much a focus. Democrats have dismissed the probe as a politically motivated endeavor lacking evidence, while the White House has called on the media to assist in its efforts to ward off the investigation.
The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to hold its first impeachment hearing on Thursday. The witnesses have been revealed to be forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky, former Assistant Attorney General Eileen O’Connor, and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley.
Comer, in disclosing the wire transfers this week, said House investigators have “uncovered an overwhelming amount of evidence showing President Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain.”
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