James Biden told Congress in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that he never used his brother, President Joe Biden, to further his own business pursuits, but the younger Biden also made remarks about his China-related ventures that conflict with testimony from others.
James Biden’s remarks came as part of his opening statement, obtained by the Washington Examiner, in which he spoke about his controversial dealings with a Chinese energy conglomerate and a now-bankrupt U.S. healthcare company.
The president’s younger brother addressed a string of payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars that were wired to his company in 2017. The payments came from Rob Walker and originated from an affiliate of CEFC, an energy company intertwined with the Chinese government, according to bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee. The payments, Walker told Congress this month, were part of a joint venture between CEFC and Walker, James Biden, and Hunter Biden to invest in projects in the United States and elsewhere.
“I received several payments in the spring of 2017 that I understood to come from Hunter,” James Biden told lawmakers on Wednesday. “I did not know then — but have learned recently — that the money I received was a portion of Hunter’s share that he directed Mr. Walker to send me.”
Walker, however, had a different account. Walker told the House Oversight and Judiciary committees this month, according to a transcript of the interview, that James Biden explicitly instructed Walker to send him money in the spring of 2017.
“I remember Jim calling me to ask me if I could send him more, and I would clear it with Hunter first,” Walker said. “And then Hunter would say yes, and then I would send it to Jim.”
James Biden denied ever wielding Joe Biden’s name in his business ventures, a claim that Tony Bobulinski, another former associate of James and Hunter Biden, adamantly disputed in his own interview with Congress this month.
Bobulinski was incredulous as he recalled James Biden explaining to him in 2017 that James Biden would ensure Joe Biden maintained “plausible deniability” regarding his personal involvement as James Biden and his associates used Joe Biden’s political influence to win over business associates affiliated with the Chinese government.
James Biden described Bobulinski as “tremendously arrogant,” “disrespectful,” and a “stubborn bully” in his opening statement.
“In every business venture in which I have been involved, I have relied on my own talent, judgment, skill, and personal relationships — and never my status as Joe Biden’s brother,” James Biden said. “Those who have said or thought otherwise were either mistaken, ill-informed, or flat-out lying.”
In a separate venture, James Biden also received more than $500,000 from a rural healthcare company on a promise that he would help the company, called Americore, secure investments in the Middle East. He never delivered on that promise, and the company later went bankrupt, court filings revealed.
A bankruptcy trustee later sued the president’s brother to claw back the funds, but a recent Politico report revealed James Biden had deeper involvement with Americore than was previously known and that he repeatedly invoked Joe Biden’s name as he worked with the company.
Americore’s downfall resulted in lawsuits and “[wreaked havoc] in rural communities,” Politico reported.
Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) spoke with reporters briefly while the interview with James Biden continued behind closed doors and was asked about James Biden using Joe Biden’s name in his work.
“Obviously, Jim Biden and Joe Biden have the same name, so I suppose it’s impossible for someone who shares the same last name and is a family member of a president or a member of Congress or a governor not to use the name,” Raskin said.
The Maryland Democrat added that a person using their relatives’ political influence to enrich themselves was a separate matter from Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
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“If we wanted to have a serious conversation and look at this question, we could do that, but that’s not what this is,” Raskin said before delving into remarks about the Trump family’s business ventures.
The interview on Wednesday was expected to last several hours.
