The House Ways and Means Committee released new documents related to its investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, claiming that he sold the Biden family “brand” and used access to the White House as their most valuable asset. The documents reveal connections between Hunter Biden and senior government officials, including Antony Blinken, who is now Secretary of State. They also mention meetings between Hunter Biden, his business associate Devon Archer, and then-Vice President Joe Biden and his staff days before the elder Biden’s official trip to Ukraine in April 2014. President Biden has denied any involvement in his family’s business agreements.
Democrats criticized committee Republicans for focusing on the impeachment effort instead of addressing the impending government shutdown that could leave millions of federal employees without work. Ranking Member Richard Neal called the whistleblower testimony uncorroborated and accused the committee of cherry-picking heavily redacted documents. The release of these documents marks the second time the committee has disclosed confidential tax information belonging to Hunter Biden that would ordinarily be protected by privacy laws.
Republicans continue to assert that the Justice Department interfered in the criminal tax probe of Hunter Biden, while Democrats dispute several claims made by the GOP. They argued that IRS whistleblowers were not retaliated against and that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss was not denied special counsel status in the investigation. Democrats also pointed to testimony from IRS officials and FBI agents that contradicted claims made by the whistleblowers. The White House dismissed the allegations against President Biden, calling them “half-baked conspiracy theories” and urging Republicans to focus on preventing a government shutdown instead.