Following the recent revelation of a substantial direct payment of $200,000 to President Joe Biden from his brother James, the White House and Biden's supporters quickly sought to explain that money away as nothing more than repayment of a personal loan.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) isn't buying that excuse, however, and instead has further exposed how that payment appears to be directly linked to an influence-peddling scheme involving the president's brother, Breitbart reported.
Last week, a committee press release announced that, as a result of prior subpoenas issued for bank records, the committee had in its possession a copy of a 2018 personal check written from James Biden to Joe Biden for $200,000 that was labeled as a "loan repayment."
Yet, the bank records also showed that James had received a total of $600,000 in loans around that same time from a distressed company near bankruptcy known as Americore Health, including a $200,000 wire from Americore to James on March 1, 2018 -- notably to his personal account and not his business account -- which is the same day that James wrote the personal check to his brother Joe.
Compounding the matter even further for the Bidens are bankruptcy documents from July 2022 in which Americore's debtors and trustee sought to recoup the $600,000 it loaned to James that apparently had never been repaid.
The complaint filing stated that Americore had loaned that money to James "based upon representations that his last name, 'Biden,' could 'open doors' and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections."
During an appearance Monday on Fox Business, Chairman Comer explained how the personal check and bankruptcy court filing showed that President Biden had financially benefited from at least one of his family's apparent influence-peddling schemes.
"This check that Jim Biden wrote to Joe Biden came on the same day he received a $200,000 loan from a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy and today is bankrupt," Comer said. "On the check to Joe Biden, his brother put 'loan repayment.'"
"Now, the White House is saying that Joe Biden loaned his brother money. I don’t believe he did," the chairman continued. "But whatever, let’s just say they pull something out of their rear end that says Joe Biden loaned Jim Biden money."
"Either way, Jim Biden -- and we have his personal bank records -- I can say, with confidence, he had no money to pay Joe Biden back other than that $200,000 wire that came from Americore Health company," Comer asserted.
"So, either Joe Biden got paid directly $200,000 from his brother as part of a kickback or a cut from the influence-peddling scheme, or Joe Biden did loan his brother money but his brother couldn't have paid it back without the influence-peddling scheme," he said, citing the bankruptcy filings as evidence of the existence of the scheme in which the president's brother used the family name to financially benefit the family.
"That's called influence-peddling, and that's what we've proven -- that Joe Biden benefited," Comer added. "He either made $200,000 or he didn't lose $200,000. Either way, he's $200,000 ahead because of his influence-peddling scheme."
In last week's press release to announce the discovery of the check from James to Joe Biden and in light of the excuse that it was just a personal loan between brothers, Chairman Comer put forward a few pertinent questions to help clear up any potential misunderstandings.
That included whether Joe Biden had any documentation of the personal loan and the terms involved, whether similarly-sized loans were made to other family members, and whether Joe was personally aware of the fact that the $200,000 he received from James came just hours after James had received that exact same amount from a near-bankrupt company that he had used the family name to secure funding from.
