Congressional Republicans made their investigation into Hunter Biden the focal point of their agenda in 2023, particularly as GOP leaders on the House’s top committees have been working to tie the younger Biden’s alleged unlawful activities to President Joe Biden.
Republicans spent much of the year seeking testimony from people within Hunter Biden’s inner circle and fighting with the Justice Department over the release of certain documents they believed were necessary to their investigation into the first family.
U.S. NAVY HELICOPTERS SINK IRANIAN-BACKED HOUTHI BOATS AFTER ATTEMPTED RED SEA HIJACKING
The younger Biden has been on GOP’s radar ever since the contents of his infamous laptop splashed across headlines and details about his foreign business dealings were released, eventually leading Republicans down the road to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Here are four of the biggest revelations to come out after a year of GOP investigations into Hunter Biden.
FBI form alleging President Biden wrongdoing released
In July, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released an infamous FBI FD-1023 form that contained a witness interview that alleged President Biden took part in a bribery scheme while serving as vice president.
Several congressional Republicans had already seen the form, but the public had not, so Grassley published the lightly redacted form in full. The Iowa senator, a longtime advocate for whistleblowers, has led the Senate’s side of the investigation into an alleged criminal scheme since 2019. He has also been vetting allegations about the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden for years.
The form stated that the FBI’s informant said Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, said he had “’17 recordings’ involving the Bidens; two of the recordings included Joe Biden, and the remaining 15 recordings included Hunter Biden.”
In the form, the informant said the audio recordings serve as evidence that Zlochevsky was coerced into paying President and Hunter Biden each $5 million to cement the firing of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma, in 2016 while the younger Biden served on the board.
The form also stated that Zlochevsky referred to the “Big Guy,” a nickname that the FBI’s source perceived to be Joe Biden and surfaced during a separate negotiation in 2017 between Hunter Biden and a Chinese businessman.
The informant’s name was not released, but House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said the person was “a trusted, highly credible informant who has been used by the FBI for years.”
“Whistleblower X” identity revealed
IRS Special Agent Joseph Ziegler was revealed as “whistleblower X,” who was once involved in an investigation of Hunter Biden. He told the House Oversight Committee at a hearing on July 19 that he decided to come forward after “multiple attempts at blowing the whistle internally” at the IRS.
He said he and veteran IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley had worked for years on the Hunter Biden case in coordination with the DOJ before they and the rest of their team were cut from the case in May 2023.
Ziegler shot down assumptions that he was more reliable because he was a “gay Democrat married to a man” and pushed back against claims that he was a traitor to the Democratic Party.
“I implore you, that if you were put in my position with the facts as I have stated them, that you would be doing the exact same thing — regardless of your political party affiliation,” he said at the hearing.
Ziegler’s testimony served as evidence of how the DOJ “refused to follow evidence that implicated Joe Biden, tipped off Hunter Biden’s attorneys, allowed the clock to run out with respect to certain charges, and put Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal,” according to Comer.
During his testimony, Ziegler said he felt “handcuffed” during the five-year investigation into the younger Biden. He said the evidence they uncovered supported more serious crimes than the misdemeanors tax charges Hunter Biden received in the summer. The plea deal involving those charges between Hunter Biden and prosecutors eventually fell apart in late July shortly after the whistleblowers’ revelations.
Joe Biden email address aliases
In August, officials from the National Archives found nearly 5,400 records containing pseudonyms used by President Biden while he was vice president. The records determined that Biden used the email addresses [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] to communicate during his vice presidency — including with his son.
The emails were discovered after a search of Biden’s vice presidential records was conducted for a Freedom of Information Act request filed last year. House Oversight GOP members pushed the National Archives to hand over any communications and correspondence between Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s business partners as part of their investigation into whether the elder Biden had any hand in his son’s foreign business affairs.
The National Archives discovered approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files, and 200 pages of “potentially responsive records.”
Email correspondence has been a focus for the House GOP ever since Hunter Biden’s laptop contents were leaked. Among them were emails showing that Joe Biden’s then-vice presidential staff looped Hunter Biden into his father’s private schedule on days that corresponded with Ukraine relations.
Hunter Biden associate claims about Joe Biden
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s business associate, testified before the House Oversight Committee for several hours in late July. During his testimony, he said that Hunter Biden had put his father on speakerphone around business associates on approximately 20 occasions over a 10-year period.
However, Archer said that there was no business talk when Joe Biden was around, according to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY).
“[Hunter Biden] would often put his father, occasionally would put his father on to say hello to whomever he happened to be caught at dinner with,” Goldman said at the time. “And Mr. Archer clarified that it was sometimes people they were trying to do business with, and it was sometimes friends or other social engagements.”
Archer claimed that Hunter Biden tried to sell the Biden family “brand” to appeal to potential business partners. He also testified that he was not aware of any $5 million payment and he also disagreed with Republicans that Joe Biden was bribed by a Ukrainian executive, both of which are alleged in the FBI 1023 form.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The investigation into the Biden family’s “alleged criminal scheme” and the impeachment inquiry of President Biden will be at the top of the House GOP’s agenda heading into the new year.
Hunter Biden also faces nine tax charges in California as part of special counsel David Weiss’s investigation into his business dealings. Those charges, three felonies and six misdemeanors, are in addition to the federal firearms charges that are still in play after the failed plea deal. If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could receive a maximum of 17 years in prison.
