Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following statement at an Oversight Committee hearing on the basis for the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
As prepared for delivery.
“Thank you Chairman Comer.
“Yesterday, the Ways and Means Committee released new documents showing President Biden was not just aware of his son’s business dealings; he was connected to them.
“In a newly released message to a Chinese business executive, Hunter Biden mentions preserving the ‘keys to my family’s only asset.’
“That asset? Joe Biden.
“New evidence released in response to questions raised by Members of this Committee on both sides when Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, the two IRS whistleblowers, testified in July, paints a disturbing picture of a revolving door between Joe Biden’s office and Hunter Biden’s business partners.
“According to a worksheet provided by IRS whistleblower Ziegler, then-Vice President Biden’s April 2014 official visit to Ukraine occurred only days after a series of White House meetings with Hunter Biden and his business associates regarding Ukraine. Shortly after Joe Biden returned stateside, the Ukrainian company Burisma announced Hunter Biden’s appointment to its board.
“New evidence provided shows Hunter Biden using his father’s position to gain favor with billionaire Miguel Aleman – including having Joe Biden host them at the White House in February 2014, at the Vice President’s Residence alongside Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in November 2015, and then in 2016, using Air Force 2 to shuttle Hunter Biden and his business associate to Mexico City.
“Whether it was lunches, phone calls, White House meetings, or official foreign trips, Hunter Biden cashed in by arranging access to Joe Biden.
“The Biden family and their associates received millions in payments from foreign sources, including from Russia, China, Ukraine, and Romania. In one email, Hunter Biden even bragged that he cut a deal for $10 million from just one company for ‘introductions alone.’
“And yet, the DOJ wanted to keep the spotlight as far from Joe Biden as possible. One of the items we released yesterday was an IRS interview with James Biden, the President’s brother, in September 2022. The agency was barred in the interview from asking him about Joe Biden and about whether Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden’s deal with a Chinese Energy company.
“And when Hunter Biden had his tax liability of over $2 million mysteriously paid for by a Democrat Party donor named Kevin Morris who he barely knew — something IRS investigators saw as a possible campaign finance violation — Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf said she did not want any of the agents to look into the allegation. Behind me are the notes Agent Shapley took from that meeting. He notes that Wolf told investigators that she was not ‘personally’ interested in pursuing it.
“This is the same Attorney Wolf who, in an email we released yesterday, responded to IRS investigators seeking approval for a search warrant with, ‘there should be nothing about Political Figure 1 in here’ – that being a reference to Joe Biden.
“The Biden family sold access to Joe Biden’s power; and the Biden Justice Department protected the Biden brand.
“We must continue to follow the facts.”