House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Thursday said that his committee does not possess any bank records to show that President Joe Biden ever gave a loan to his brother James and asked that the president's legal team produce documentation of the alleged loan.
Comer previously revealed the discovery of a $200,000 check that James Biden made to Joe Biden in 2018 linked to the failing healthcare firm Americore. The White House has claimed that James was repaying a loan to his brother, though Comer has expressed skepticism of that story.
"The White House has claimed Joe Biden loaned James Biden $200,000, and this check was repayment," he wrote to White House counsel Edward Siskel. "Records obtained by the Committee do show numerous large incoming transactions into the personal account of James and Sara Biden from various entities. Some of these transaction records may have obscured the identity of the true payer, but no records in the Committee’s possession state that Joe Biden made a large loan payment to his brother."
"If Joe Biden did personally loan James Biden an amount that was later repaid by the $200,000 check, please provide the loan documents, including the loan payment, loan agreement, and any other supporting loan documentation," he continued.
James Biden allegedly received $600,000 in loans from Americore after convincing the firm he could use the family name to "open doors" and secure a large investment from the Middle East, the Kentucky Republican claimed last week. Comer has since suggested that, even if the president did give his brother the money in the form of a loan, the transaction was nonetheless evidence of personal benefit from his family's business activities.
"Whether it was a loan or not, James Biden’s March 1, 2018, check to Joe Biden aptly demonstrates one way he personally benefited from his family’s shady influence peddling of his name and their access to him," he wrote to Siskel. "Even if the transaction in question was part of a loan agreement, we are troubled that Joe Biden’s ability to recoup funds depended on his brother’s cashing-in on the Biden brand."
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