A reporter asked President Joe Biden’s brother, James, if his nephew Hunter smoked crack in the White House as James arrived on Capitol Hill for his testimony Wednesday.
The president’s younger brother will testify as part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into whether Biden engaged in an influencing peddling scheme connected to his son Hunter and his overseas business dealings. James arrived on Capitol Hill at around 10:30 a.m. in response to a subpoena he received in November to appear for a closed-door deposition.
“Did Hunter smoke crack at the White House?” a reporter shouted, followed by no response.
The president’s brother did not answer any reporters’ questions upon arrival.
James’ deposition comes months after House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer issued subpoenas for both James and Hunter’s personal and business bank records in September. The Committee has taken interest in two checks classified as loan repayments that James and his wife Sara each paid to Joe. (RELATED: Ex-Joe Biden Associate Says He Loaned James Biden $800,000 And Only Got Half The Money Back)
The House Oversight Committee revealed James received a $200,000 check from healthcare firm Americore on March 1, 2018. That same day, James wired Joe a check for $200,000 and classified it as a “loan repayment,” according to the Oversight Committee.
In the summer of 2017, Northern International Capital, a company associated with CEFC, sent $5 million dollars to Hudson West III, a joint venture founded by Hunter and a CEFC associate, bank records released by Comer show. Hudson West III then sent Owasco P.C., a firm owned by Hunter, $400,000. Then, Owasco P.C. wired $150,000 to James and Sara Biden’s company, Lion Hall Group. Sara then deposited $50,000 she withdrew from Lion Hall Group into her and James’ personal checking account. Lastly, Sara then sent a “loan repayment” check to Joe Biden for $40,000 a couple of days later.
Bankruptcy court documents show James told Americore his name could “open doors” and promised to secure an investment with the Middle East.
“Joe Biden loaned his brother some money. His brother paid it back a few weeks later,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said on Twitter in October 2023. “Comer and @GOPoversight know this yet they shamelessly smear anyway Anything to distract from their own Speakerless chaos.”
The Oversight Committee found the Biden family and its associates brought in $24 million from Ukraine, Russia, China, Romania and Kazakhstan between 2014 and 2019.
Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said the deposition will center around “the money, the business, the brand,” ABC News reported.
“Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma. Not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter said at a press conference in Dec. 2023 after he defied a congressional subpoena.