Comer subpoenas personal, business bank records of President Biden's son and brother

The long-awaited action occurs hours after House GOP holds first impeachment inquiry

By John Solomon

Updated: September 28, 2023 8:15pm

In a major escalation of his investigation of the first family, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer formally subpoenaed the personal and business banking records of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, and his brother James.

Comer recently hit a logjam in cooperation from banks and had been promising subpoenas for days. He issued three of them hours after House Republicans completed their first hearing in the impeachment inquiry against the 46th president, saying his goal was to determine whether Joe Biden benefited from his family's foreign business deals.

"From day one of our investigation of Joe Biden’s abuse of public office, we’ve followed the money and that continues with today’s subpoenas for Hunter and James Biden’s bank records," Comer said. "Bank records don’t lie, and coupled with witness testimony, they reveal that Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain."

"The financial records obtained to date reveal a pattern where the Bidens sold access to Joe Biden around the world to enrich the Biden family. As the Bidens were sealing deals around the world, Joe Biden showed up, met with, talked with, shook hands with, and had meetings with the foreign nationals sending money to his family. This culture of corruption demands further investigation," he said.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith joined in the subpoenas, saying they were a crucial next step in the probe after his panel released on Wednesday 700 pages of evidence gathered by federal agents who investigated the Biden family.

"After the Ways and Means Committeereleased 700 pagesof new documents showing President Biden was not just aware of his son’s business dealings, but in fact he was connected to them, it has become clear that whether it was lunches, phone calls, White House meetings, or official foreign trips, Hunter Biden cashed in by arranging access to his father," Smith said.

"While top Biden officials, Hunter’s lawyers, and congressional Democrats have offered little more than disinformation and lies, these bank records will bring us closer to the truth. Issuing these subpoenas is an appropriate – and necessary – step to following the facts wherever they lead, and may shed light on the $24 million the Biden family has received in exchange for selling their family ‘brand’ as part of a global influence peddling scheme," he said.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/comer-subpoenas-personal-business-bank-records-president-bidens-son

Link to 700 pages released by Ways and Means Committee

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/event/meeting-on-documents-protected-under-internal-revenue-code-section-6103-2/

Supreme Court rejects long-shot case to disqualify Trump from 2024 election

Castro, who has not qualified for any of the GOP primary debates, said he still plans on exploring his other legal options.

Updated: October 2, 2023 12:03pm

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a long-shot bid to challenge former President Donald Trump's eligibility to run for the White House in 2024 over his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

Little-known Republican presidential candidate John Anthony Castro sued Trump earlier this year in an attempt to disqualify him from holding office over the Jan. 6 riot. The Supreme Court denied the case without comment.

Castro, who has not qualified for any of the GOP primary debates, said he still plans on exploring his other legal options.

"The Supreme Court can deny to hear the case but appellate courts cannot," he wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter, after the high court's announcement. "I'm still pursuing decisions in the liberal appellate courts and there's a full blown trial scheduled for October 20 in New Hampshire and a bench trial in Arizona on October 31."

The Supreme Court's decision to not hear Castro's case comes as activists have attempted to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot by invoking the 14th Amendment, which bans politicians from holding some public offices after having taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then having "engaged in insurrection or rebellion."

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/supreme-court-declines-hear-longshot-bid-disqualify-trump-2024-race

Trump calls for judge overseeing civil fraud case to be disbarred, says he should change ruling

Trump is not expected to testify in the case for several more weeks.

By Madeleine Hubbard

Updated: October 2, 2023 1:59pm

Former President Donald Trump fumed against Judge Arthur Engoron on Monday as he left a Manhattan courtroom after appearing for the start of a civil trial on charges brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, after Engoron already ruled that the former president committed fraud while building his business empire.

In a major blow to the former president, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last week that Trump, his associates and his businesses inflated their net worth for years to secure benefits such as advantageous loans and lower insurance premiums. Trump has specifically taken issue with how Engoron, citing the Palm Beach County Assessor, appraised the value of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was between $18 million and $27.6 million.

Speaking to reporters after leaving the courtroom, Trump read the headline of "The New York Sun" article, "Error in New York’s Civil Fraud Case Against Trump Is Flagged by Industry Insiders, Who Say Valuation of Mar-a-Lago Cited by Judge Is Based on a Misunderstanding of Basic Real Estate Practice."

The article cites several south Florida real estate experts who said that the Palm Beach County assessor performs "drive-by appraisals" that are rarely used when pricing properties. Several experts told the Sun that Mar-a-Lago could be worth between $300 million to $600,000 million, which is much closer to Trump's estimates. Trump said he does not know the people quoted in the article, but said, "They saw this egregious trial, this horrible, horrible trial going on, while at the same time, people are being murdered right here outside on the streets and nothing happens to the people doing the murdering." Pointing to the article again, Trump said, "So this was just released by Palm Beach County, that the judge in this case was wrong."

In addition to local real estate experts, the article also cites Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office public information officer Becky Robinson, who said that her unit has a "specific scope of responsibility when it comes to valuation of property for the purposes of taxation," but does not focus on the market value.

James posted on X, formerly Twitter, Monday morning before the trial: "We have proven that Donald Trump lied about his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system. No matter how rich or powerful you are, in America, there are consequences for breaking the law."

Trump spoke to reporters earlier in the day before heading into the courtroom. "This is the single greatest witch hunt of all time," he said. "We have a racist attorney general who ran on the basis of 'She's going to get Trump' before she even knew about me. … What we have is an attempt to hurt me in an election."

Addressing reporters before entering the courtroom Monday, Trump railed against the judge's evaluation of his properties. "We have a rogue judge who ruled that properties were worth a tiny fraction, one one-hundredth, a tiny fraction of what they actually are," Trump said. "Just so you know, my financial statements are phenomenal. They are actually less in terms of the numbers used than the actual net worth. The actual net worth is substantially more. No bank was affected. No bank was hurt. They don't even know why they have to be involved."

"What we have here is an attempt to hurt me in an election," Trump also said. "This trial could have been brought years ago, but they waited until I was right in the middle of my campaign."

James said she will now be using the non-jury trial to seek "to ban the Trumps from doing business in New York and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."

In the latest civil trial, James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on business in the state. Additionally, if Engoron's ruling from last week is upheld on appeal, Trump would be forced to give up some of his iconic New York properties such as Trump Tower, and some of his companies would be controlled by a court-appointed receiver.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/trump-says-he-will-appear-new-york-court-civil-fraud-trial

Steve Bannon: Glenn Youngkin’s The “Restoration” Of Bush. There are a lot of demonic people in DC. They are not even trying to impeach Bidan

3:41

https://rumble.com/embed/v3jue9j/?pub=4

Steve Bannon: Any Republican That Voted For The Debt Ceiling Deal Is A Democrat. McCarthy just gave us the answer, “if he will refuse to cut with democrat to save his speakership?”: “I think this is about the Institution, it’s too important”. He’s not answering the question!

6:37

https://rumble.com/embed/v3jufys/?pub=4

Steve Bannon: McCarthy, Graves, And McHenry “BETRAYED YOU”

4:17

https://rumble.com/embed/v3juhbj/?pub=4