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House Oversight and Accountability Committee Summons Top Treasury Department Official Over Hunter Biden Scandal

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2 years ago

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On Sunday, the House Oversight Committee released a statement to announce a hearing for the Treasury Department’s failure to produce transactions that were flagged by banks aroinvolving the Biden family and their associates.Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is announcing a hearing to investigate the Department of Treasury’s failure to provide suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to the Biden family and their associates’ foreign or high-dollar transactions. The Treasury Department has not provided any SARs despite requests made by Committee Republicans during the 117th Congress.

Comer is concerned that the Treasury Department is acting in bad faith by not providing the documents to the Oversight Committee, especially since they have reportedly already been produced to another congressional office. At the hearing, Comer intends to examine the justifications provided by Treasury officials and explore legislative solutions to ensure Congress has timely access to suspicious activity reports.

Comer said this weekend, “That’s their whole strategy: run out the clock, run out the clock. You know, they want the subpoena. It goes to court. … They’re just sitting on the ball. They wan’t the clock to expire.”

Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) made multiple requests to the Department of Treasury, dating back to last year, for access to the suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to the Biden family and their associates’ foreign or high-dollar transactions. However, the Treasury Department has failed to provide the requested documents. Comer wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on January 11, and the committee will be calling the Treasury lawyer who declined to provide the documents to testify on Friday.

“She can try to explain to us why, under President Biden, this is the first administration that’s blocked the House Oversight Committee or the House Financial Services Committee from having access,” Comer explained.

“The whole purpose to these suspicious activity reports was to be be able to help everyone work together in trying to track down crime. And the fact that she’s blocking this and that they are on the accounts of the president of the United States and his immediate family is very troubling.”

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TRANSCRIPT:

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced a hearing to examine the Department of Treasury’s failure to provide the suspicious activity reports (SARs) generated by the Biden family and their associates’ unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions. Chairman Comer wrote to Secretary Yellen on January 11, 2023, requesting access to these SARs, and Committee Republicans made multiple requests during the 117th Congress for the same. However, the Treasury Department has not provided any SARs to date. At the hearing, the committee will examine the justifications Treasury officials have provided the committee about its failure to produce requested documents and examine legislative solutions to ensure Congress has timely access to suspicious activity reports.

“Biden’s Treasury Department continues to make excuses for its failure to provide the suspicious activity reports that are critical to our investigation of the Biden family’s business schemes. We are concerned the Treasury Department is acting in bad faith to produce these documents to the Oversight Committee when we know that it has already produced them to another congressional office. At next week’s hearing, a Treasury Department official can explain to Congress and the American people why the department is hiding critical information,” said Chairman Comer.

The committee plans to hear from Jonathan C. Davidson, the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and Department of the Treasury. Davidson is the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the Treasury, with over two decades of experience on Capitol Hill as Chief of Staff for Senators Michael Bennet and Paul Sarbanes, as well as Representative John Sarbanes and Chief Counsel for Senator Mark Warner.

He led the Economic Nominations Confirmation team for the Biden-Harris Transition after the 2020 Presidential election and has also taught a class on Legislative and Political Processes at American University’s School of Public Policy. Davidson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Georgetown University Law Center and previously clerked for Judge William Sessions of the Federal District Court of Vermont.



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