Even though Hunter Biden, the son of the incumbent US president, struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors on two minor tax crimes and a gun case last month, it does not mean he is out of the woods, Republican investigators say.
Earlier this week, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer said he expects to file "between six and 10 criminal referrals" with the Justice Department related to Hunter. According to the congressman, the list would include evidence that the younger Biden violated the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting women across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sexual acts.
Per Comer, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, showed enough evidence on Wednesday to conclude that the president’s son committed a crime by violating the Mann Act.
"She showed the plane tickets, she showed the pictures, she showed the evidence. You know, there’s no question he violated it. That’s another thing that he could have been charged with," Comer told an American broadcaster.
On Wednesday, Greene testified at the a House Oversight Committee hearing alleging that the president's son had violated the Mann Act as he had paid women to cross state lines to engage in sexual relations. "This was prostitution," the lawmaker highlighted. She also showed partially censored pictures which were taken from sex tapes filmed by Hunter and later found on his infamous "laptop from hell."
At the same hearing, two IRS whistleblowers, Supervisory IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, accused the Biden family of accepting millions from foreign entities. In particular, Ziegler told lawmakers he had discovered that Hunter Biden and his business associates had received $17 million from foreign sources, including $7.3 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The whistleblowers also detailed how the Justice Department hindered their probe into the president's son in order to shield him from prosecution.
Potential criminal referrals could also include violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by Hunter Biden, who allegedly lobbied foreign interests without registering under the act.
On Thursday, Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley released an unclassified FBI memo containing damning information about an alleged bribery scheme involving Joe and Hunter Biden. Per the memo, Ukrainian gas firm Burisma hired Hunter Biden to use his father's influence to help the firm quash a probe into its potentially corrupt dealings. A confidential human source cited in the memo claimed that "[I]t cost $5 (million) to pay one Biden, and $5 (million) to another Biden" to do the job.
Earlier, Supervisory IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley claimed that Hunter allegedly invoked Joe Biden in an attempt to force his Chinese counterpart into giving him a hefty sum of money. Shapley cited an apparent WhatsApp text message from Hunter with threats against Harvest Fund Management's Director Henry Zhao.
"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction," the message read, which was sent on July 30, 2017. Soon after that, Hunter's firm Hudson West III received $5.1 million from his Chinese associates.
"[Hunter Biden] was money laundering. He was racketeering. He committed wire fraud. He violated the Mann Act. The list goes on and on and on," Comer said, pledging to get to the bottom of Biden's alleged corruption.