WASHINGTON, D.C.—After Hunter Biden claimed in an op-ed in USA Today that his struggle with addiction was the key issue in congressional investigations that have uncovered evidence linking his influence peddling scheme to his father, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement:

“Addiction is not a moral failing, nor is it a crime. Hunter Biden’s repeated attempts to conceal his income from the IRS, potentially committing multiple crimes in the process, and its implication of President Biden, is the reason he is under investigation by the Department of Justice and now Congress.

“Congress saw fit to look into this matter after multiple career civil servants at the IRS approached us with alarming information that showed the money Hunter Biden was concealing came from overseas business dealings and that President Biden was not just aware of these business dealings, nor was he distantly involved, but he personally benefited from them.

“Hunter Biden claims that he is fully accepting of the choices and the mistakes he has made, yet has sought to evade the legal consequences of his actions at every turn. Not only is he currently suing the IRS, but his lawyers and allies have attempted to intimidate current and future whistleblowers who are simply upholding their oaths, and have engaged in interference with Congress’s constitutional duty to perform oversight.

“The American people are compassionate, but that doesn’t make them stupid. They know that drug addiction has nothing to do with the Biden political machine’s years-long political campaign to obstruct justice nor the potentially millions of dollars the Biden family has made from influence peddling. That Hunter Biden says so little about these issues says plenty.”