GOP House panel raises questions about $200K check from James Biden to Joe Biden. Biden spokesman says there's "zero evidence of wrongdoing."
House Republicans released bank records of President Biden's brother, James Biden, Friday, that they argue raise more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family's business ventures.
Bank records released by the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability revealed a $200,000 personal check paid to Mr. Biden from his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden. The personal check, which was labeled a loan repayment, was issued before Biden's presidency, on the same date in 2018 when Americore Health LLC, a healthcare company that manages rural hospitals across the United States also wired a $200,000 loan into James Biden's PNC bank account.
In video remarks posted to X, Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee claimed, "Joe Biden's ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family's shady financial dealings."
In a bankruptcy filing last year, Americore Health LLC claimed James Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from the company on the promise that his last name "could 'open doors' and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East, based on his political connections."
After Americore Health LLC later filed suit for non-payment, James Biden agreed to a settlement payment with Americore Health LLC for $350,000.
James Biden's attorney took issue with the way the GOP-led panel has described the check.
"The Oversight Committee's description of the $200,000 check is highly selective and misleading," said Paul Fishman, attorney for James Biden. "The Committee has the bank documents that show both the loan Jim received from his brother in January 2018 and the repayment by check six weeks later. At no time did Jim involve his brother in any of his business relationships."
This latest document release comes after Rep. Comer pledged to "continue to follow the money" in its investigation into the Biden family's businesses, even as the House remains in disarray, without an elected speaker for over two weeks. Shortly after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, Comer asserted the Oversight Committee would continue to "read emails, text messages, put together timelines trying to get people to come in."
In September, the Oversight Committee said it had "uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies – most of which were created when Joe Biden was vice president – and raked in over $24 million dollars between 2014-2019," adding committee investigators had "identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated in or benefited from these business schemes." President Biden was not among those named by the committee.
The House of Representatives remains paralyzed, and Republicans, who are in the majority, are back to square one, after dropping Rep. Jim Jordan as their speaker nominee following his third failed attempt to win the speakership Friday. Republicans will try again to settle on a candidate Monday, nearly three weeks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy first lost his speakership earlier this month.
"It's no coincidence they rushed out a new distraction mere minutes after yet another failed Speaker vote," Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations said in a statement to CBS News.
"After rummaging through thousands of pages of a private citizen's bank records, they have again turned up zero evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden – and that's because there is none."