House Republicans released bank records of President Biden’s brother, James Biden, on Friday, which they say raises more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family’s business ventures.
Bank records released by the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee reveal a $200,000 personal check paid to Mr. Biden by his brother, James Biden, and his sister-in-law, Sarah Biden. The personal check, which was labeled as a loan repayment, was issued before Biden’s presidency, on the same date in 2018 that Americore Health LLC, a health care company that operates rural hospitals in the United States, also wired a $200,000 loan to the bank. James Biden’s PNC account.
In video remarks released to X, Congressman James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, argued, “Joe Biden’s ability to get money from his brother depends on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings.”
In a bankruptcy filing last year, Americore Health LLC alleged that James Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from the company on the promise that his last name “could ‘open doors'” and that he could receive a major investment from the Middle East, based on of his political connections.”
After Americore Health LLC later sued for nonpayment, James Biden agreed to a $350,000 settlement with Americore Health LLC.
James Biden’s lawyer took issue with the way the GOP-led group has described the investigation.
“The oversight committee’s description of the $200,000 check is highly selective and misleading,” said Paul Fishman, a lawyer for James Biden. “The committee has bank documents which show both the loan Jim received from his brother in January 2018 and the check payment six weeks later. At no time did Jim interfere with his brother in any of his business dealings.’
This latest document release comes after Rep. Comer vowed to “continue to follow the money” in his investigation into the Biden family’s businesses, even as the House remains in chaos without an elected speaker for more than two weeks. Shortly after Congressman Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, Comer said the Oversight Committee would continue to “read emails, text messages, put together charts, trying to get people to come in.”
In September, the Oversight Committee said it “revealed how Biden and their associates created more than 20 shell companies — most of which were created when Joe Biden was vice president — and earned more than $24 million between 2014-2019.” , adding the committee investigators have “identified nine members of the Biden family who participated in or benefited from these business schemes.” President Biden was not among those named by the committee.
The House remains deadlocked, with majority Republicans back to square one after dropping Rep. Jim Jordan as their speaker nominee after his third failed attempt to win the speakership on Friday. Republicans will try again to agree on a nominee on Monday, nearly three weeks after Congressman Kevin McCarthy first lost his chairmanship earlier this month.
“It’s no coincidence that they rushed in with another distraction just minutes after another failed vote for the president,” Ian Sams, the White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, said in a statement to CBS News.
“After digging through thousands of pages of private bank records, they again found no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden — and that’s because there is none.”