James Comer (R-KY), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, intends to investigate a number of donations to the Penn Biden Center as well as just who is buying up the artwork of Hunter Biden as a piece of the ongoing probe into the financial ties of the Biden family.
Comer has already issued a number of requests for documents and bits of other information to the White House, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the University of Pennsylvania, and quite a few others. He is currently planning far more requests throughout the ongoing investigation and is willing to make use of subpoena powers to get information if need be, he explained to journalists from The Washington Examiner.
“We’re trying to trace the money,” Comer expressed to the Examiner. “We’ll be looking at bank statements. We’ll be looking at bank violations. That’s the next phase of our investigation because we’re trying to figure out who these anonymous sources are that are sending so much money to the Biden family schemes — the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Hunter Biden’s artwork.”
As a University of Pennsylvania-affiliated think tank in Washington, D.C., the Penn Biden Center recently made headlines after a number of caches of classified government documents were discovered to have been stashed in an office utilized by President Joe Biden. The university has received tens of millions of dollars in donations from foreign bodies, which included close to $60 million which was donated from a few Chinese entities.
The president’s son is an aspiring artist that has taken efforts to put his art up for sale which has earned the consternation of ethics experts. The White House openly dismissed allegations about influence peddling via his son’s art, which have been priced into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Just last year, the White House and the gallery which previously displayed the artwork for Biden claimed that safeguards have been set up to stop any potentially illegal or unethical breaches. Experts in Ethics have stated that these safeguards, however, were very lacking in any actual utility.
“It is not a true safeguard,” stated the assistant dean for government procurement law at George Washington University Law School, Jessica Tillipman. “They say it is, but saying it is doesn’t mean it is.”
She stated that a better policy would be much more transparent. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, or you have just got to shut it down,” she explained.
Comer and a number of other Republicans have historically been heavily critical of the amateur art career from Hunter, especially so with the prices that have been assigned to his art.
“For years, Mr. Biden has attempted to profit off his father’s position in government, and the art deals are merely the latest iteration of these efforts. The investigation into Mr. Biden’s business ventures, and those who have aided him in his dubious endeavors, has been ongoing for over two years, and, if necessary, will continue into the next Congress,” explained Comer back in September 2021 prior to Republicans securing control of the House and getting access to subpoena power.
