CNN
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House Speaker James Comer quietly subpoenaed Bank of America requesting records on three of Hunter Biden’s business associates, the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, revealed in a letter sent to Comer on Sunday.
The subpoena was broad and sought “all financial records” spanning 14 years, beginning in 2009, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN. Bank of America has since turned over a significant amount of materials in compliance with the subpoena, a source familiar with the communications told CNN.
The subpoena specifically targets US citizen John Robinson “Rob” Walker and other associates of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who formed a “joint venture” with executives from CEFC China Energy, a now-bankrupt Chinese energy group, according to the letter. .
CNN has reached out to Bank of America for comment. CNN has also reached out to an email associated with Walker.
The sweeping subpoena marks an escalation in Comer’s investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings. The Kentucky Republican said access to financial information about the Biden family and its business associates is a top priority as he seeks to investigate alleged influence peddling, particularly regarding any of the family’s foreign business deals. The president has denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings abroad.
A House Democratic spokesman told CNN that the purpose of Raskin’s letter was to “preempt information the Oversight Committee is receiving in its investigation into the influence of the Biden family.”
The move comes after Hunter Biden’s lawyers recently adopted a more aggressive strategy to fend off Republican attacks. Last month, his lawyers sent a series of letters urging state and federal agencies to investigate several people involved in the dissemination of the contents of his laptop, which has been the basis for a series of GOP attacks.
Raskin criticizes Comer in the letter for not giving formal notice to Democratic members before the subpoena was issued, arguing that they were given visibility only a few hours in advance rather than the committee’s standard practice of notifying the minority of a subpoena 48 hours in advance.
The Maryland Democrat also characterized the subpoena as a “circumstantial congressional inquiry into the affairs of at least one private American citizen,” as it sought the production of “thousands of pages of Mr. Walker’s private financial information, including his statements and her joint bank account his wife for a decade” – which Raskin argues “far exceeds any business deal with Hunter Biden or CEFC.”
Raskin also claims in his letter that committee Democrats are increasingly learning about new levels of cooperation between former President Donald Trump’s adviser, Patrick Strobridge, and oversight Republicans on the decision to stop seeking information and material about foreign spending on properties owned by Trump.
In April 2019, the House Oversight Committee — then run by Democrats — subpoenaed Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars USA for financial information about the Trump Organization. The investigation specifically focused on whether foreign governments spent money on properties owned by Trump to curry favor with the government.
This investigation was ongoing while the Democrats were in the majority. However, on January 19, 2023, after Republicans took control of the House and the Oversight Committee, Strawbridge allegedly emailed Mazars counsel informing the firm that GOP committee members had given the Trump Organization assurances that the committee would ceased its requests for documents, in a direct quote from the email included in Raskin’s letter.
“I do not know the situation of Mazars [sic] production, but I understand that the Commission has no interest in forcing Mazars to complete it and is willing to release it from further obligations under the settlement agreement,” Strawbridge’s email said, according to Raskin’s letter.
Raskin writes that Strawbridge later told Mazars that “this direction had been given him, twice, by the Deputy General Counsel of the House of Representatives, in his capacity as counsel to the Committee.”
“Raskin’s allegation is completely baseless and untrue. There was no coordination or discussion with anyone from the majority of the Committee with anyone regarding the Mazars documents,” said a House GOP committee spokesman.
CNN has reached out to Mazars and Strawbridge, Trump’s lawyer, for comment.
Raskin argues in his letter that the decision to stop asking Mazars to continue producing documents related to its investigation into the Trump Organization’s ties to foreign governments is at odds with Comer’s decision to subpoena Bank of America as part of her investigation of Hunter Biden.
“It appears that you have engaged in these efforts to prevent the production of evidence of former President Trump’s misconduct while in office while at the same time issuing an invasive and broad subpoena to individuals as part of an investigation targeting his business dealings. members of President Biden’s family who have never held public office,” Raskin writes.