House GOP Examines $1M In China-Linked Payments To Biden Family

On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee published a memo alleging Hunter Biden and two other family members received over $1 million indirectly from a Chinese company.

The Details: The records were obtained after a subpoena of Bank of America by committee chairman James Comer (R-KY). The payments came from accounts related to Rob Walker, Hunter’s business associate, and their Chinese business ventures in 2017. A day before the funds were wired from Walker’s account, he received a $3 million payment from Chinese company, State Energy HK Limited. Hunter Biden’s legal team stresses that the payments were made to family members, not the president himself.

For Context: The probe is led by Republicans, who won back a House majority in November.

Key Quotes: Rep. Comer said, “We will continue to follow the money trail and facts to determine if President Biden is compromised by his family’s business schemes and if there is a national security threat.” A spokesperson for Hunter Biden’s legal team called the probe a “baseless right-wing conspiracy”, and said Hunter and his partners were “seeking a joint venture with a privately-owned, legitimate energy company in China.”

How The Media Covered It: Despite being covered by some of the biggest outlets, the story was not widely covered across the spectrum. Fox News went more in-depth on Comer’s comments, while CNN did the same for the comments from Democratic representatives. Newsweek compared the payments to those received by business dealings of Former President Donald Trump