A top House Republican is demanding Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen release records on Hunter Biden’s foreign business activities, alleging that the biden administration’s reluctance to release such details suggest an effort to shield the Biden family from scrutiny.
In a letter on July 6, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), a ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked Yellen to provide reports of what he thought was “suspicious activity” on the part of the younger Biden, his business associates, and other Biden family members.
Hunter, the second son of President Joe Biden, is currently under federal investigation for potential tax violations. Scrutiny has been growing over his overseas business dealings in countries such as Ukraine, Russia, and China, particularly during the period while Biden was vice president in the Obama administration.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. banks flag cash transactions exceeding $10,000 a day and automatically generate suspicious activity reports, also called SARs, in a bid to help U.S. government agencies prevent money laundering.
Comer previously wrote to Yellen in late May requesting the SAR reports for Hunter Biden but received no answer. He accused the Biden administration of restricting Congress’s access to SARs, citing a recent Treasury Department rule that allows Congressional staff to review such materials in a Treasury reading room. They are barred from making copies of the documents.
“Committee Republicans are investigating whether this change in longstanding policy is motivated by efforts to shield Hunter Biden and potentially President Biden from scrutiny,” the letter read.
Refusing Release
“Despite Treasury’s assertion in the press that it ‘provides SARs to Congress in a manner that enables robust oversight,’ Treasury is refusing to release SARs connected with Hunter Biden or his family and associates—including the President,” Comer wrote in the letter.
He noted that in a phone call on June 13, five days after the June 8 deadline for Comer’s request, Treasury officials told Republican staff on the House Oversight Committee that “they will not provide SARs to Committee Republicans unless Democrats join the request.”
By Eva Fu
