Comer invites Biden to testify publicly as part of House impeachment inquiry

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, in an unprecedented transfer, invited President Biden to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry in opposition to him, stressing that it’s “in the best interest of the American people” for him to reply questions from members of Congress. 

Comer urged Biden to settle for his invitation in a letter despatched Thursday, obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“During the 118th Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has been investigating influence peddling conducted by you and your family,” Comer wrote, noting that the committee has “accounted for over $24 million that has flowed from foreign sources to you, your family, and their business associates.” 

Comer stated the committee has recognized “no legitimate services to merit such lucrative payments.” 

HUNTER BIDEN ADMITS HE PUT HIS FATHER ON SPEAKERPHONE, INVITED HIM TO MEETINGS, BUT DENIES ‘INVOLVEMENT’

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s marketing campaign despatched a fundraising e-mail to supporters stating that impeaching President Biden will probably not be the “culmination” of his probe

“You have repeatedly denied playing any role in your family’s business activities, but the Committee has amassed evidence—including bank records and witness testimony—that wholly contradicts your position on these matters,” Comer wrote. 

Comer went on to say that the White House “has taken a position hostile to the Committee’s investigation and refuses to release certain information or make available witnesses to testify regarding issues relevant to the ongoing impeachment inquiry currently authorized by the full House of Representatives.” 

President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. (Getty Images)

“In light of the yawning gap between your public statements and evidence assembled by the Committee, as well as the White House’s obstruction, it is in the best interest of the American people for you to answer questions from Members of Congress directly, and I hereby invite you to do so,” Comer wrote. 

Comer stated that the committee is “open to accommodating your schedule but proposes April 16, 2024, for the hearing to occur.”

Comer stated that the impeachment investigation has moved “in phases, beginning with a review of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) held by the Treasury Department. Comer said those SARs gave the committee “adequate info to decide which financial institution accounts to narrowly goal in issuing subpoenas.”

Next, Comer said the committee issued subpoenas for bank accounts belonging to Biden family members and their entities that received foreign funds. 

“This part highlighted the over $15 million acquired by members of your loved ones, and the Committee has traced tens of hundreds of {dollars} from China to your checking account as properly,” he wrote. 

Comer said the next phase was the “interview part,” explaining that the committee brought in multiple witnesses, including Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James Biden, for depositions. Comer said those witnesses provided “inconsistent testimony concerning your function in your loved ones’s companies.”

Hunter Biden appeared for his highly anticipated closed-door deposition last month before both the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, where he maintained that his father was never involved in, nor ever benefited from his businesses. 

James Biden (left) and President Joe Biden (right). (AP/Getty Images)

The committee also heard testimony from James Biden, the president’s younger brother, who testified the same. 

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Hunter Biden did admit, however, that he put his father on speakerphone with his business associates and invited him to drop by his business lunches. 

But Comer said two of those witnesses, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, testified publicly that Biden “participated in schemes to present entry to your or others’ places of work in change for funds to your loved ones.” 

Bobulinski worked on a joint-venture with Hunter Biden and a Chinese energy company. Galanis worked with Hunter Biden as well. Galanis is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence related to securities fraud. He has testified as part of the inquiry twice from prison. 

“The public is left with two irreconcilable narratives. The first—asserted by you—is that you just didn’t interact in affect peddling in change for funds to your loved ones,” Comer wrote, adding that the second is that Biden was “certainly concerned in these pay-for-influence schemes and that you’ve got been repeatedly untruthful concerning a matter related to nationwide safety and your individual health to serve as President of the United States.” 

Comer went on to detail the “physique of proof” collected through testimony and records, including meetings Biden had with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners. 

“You have asserted your loved ones has not made cash from China. However, the Committee has recognized roughly $10 million originating from China related to Biden affect peddling. Former enterprise associates of your loved ones have testified that you just personally met with a number of people from China who’ve collectively despatched thousands and thousands of {dollars} to your loved ones,” Comer wrote. “Many of these conferences and enterprise growth occurred whilst you had been Vice President or campaigning to be President.” 

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Comer, in the letter, asked Biden to confirm whether those meetings took place. 

Comer also questioned Biden on whether he has spoken to or interacted with executives of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, including with the chairman, Mykola Zlochevsky. 

“You have asserted that your pressuring Ukraine in 2015 to fireplace a authorities official investigating an organization by which your son had a monetary curiosity was wholly according to U.S. coverage. The Committee has acquired financial institution data displaying that your son was paid $1 million per yr for his place on the board of the Ukrainian firm Burisma till you left public workplace after which his wage was inexplicably reduce in half,” Comer wrote. 

Comer also pressed further for information surrounding the decision to push for the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma while Hunter Biden sat on the board. 

From left, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., attend the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.  ((Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))

As for Russia, Comer wrote that witnesses testified that Biden “frequently joined conferences by speakerphone, together with with sure Russian people with whom your son did enterprise.” 

“The Committee has recognized a number of cases by which your involvement aligned with your loved ones receiving cash originating from Russia,” Comer wrote. 

Meanwhile, Comer said the committee “recognized and efficiently traced cash from international transactions—together with from China—to your individual financial institution accounts.” Comer said those checks were described as “mortgage repayments” from his brother, James Biden. 

Comer asked Biden to respond to whether he ever asked his brother about the source of the funds he used to repay him; and asked whether Hunter Biden’s business associate Eric Schwerin, who handled his finances, had insight into all of his bank accounts until December 2017. 

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“As the foregoing demonstrates, the Committee has compiled proof—financial institution data, contemporaneous digital communications, and witness testimony—displaying your consciousness, acquiescence, and participation in self-enrichment schemes of your loved ones members,” Comer wrote. “As Chairman of the Committee, as well as to requesting that you just reply the questions posed on this letter, I invite you to take part in a public listening to at which you can be afforded the chance to clarify, underneath oath, your involvement with your loved ones’s sources of earnings and the means it has used to generate it.” 

Comer added: “As you’re conscious, presidents earlier than you might have supplied testimony to congressional committees, together with President Ford’s testimony earlier than the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974.” 

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.