A special counsel investigation is needed into the activities of President Joe Biden's son Hunter, including into the sales of his paintings, but Democrats are busy engaging in a "double standard" by blocking former President Donald Trump from invoking executive privilege while not asking tough questions about the Bidens, Rep. Ken Buck said on Newsmax Thursday.
"Presidents have used executive privilege since the founding of our country and it's an important privilege that protects the president while receiving information from those closest to him, whether they're in government or outside government," the Colorado Republican said in an interview on Newsmax's "National Report."
However, Buck said that an investigation is needed to determine why "anybody is buying a Hunter Biden painting for a vastly inflated price" and if they're getting a benefit from the government.
The paintings were put on the market for up to $500,000 each at the Georges Bergès Gallery in New York City. The gallery's owner has said it will neither discuss the buyers' identities or the details of the sales, reports The New York Times.
The White House has also insisted that it doesn't know the buyers' identities but has defended the president's son for selling about $375,000 worth of paintings so far.
"No art critic looks at Hunter Biden's paintings as having anywhere near the value that they are listed for," said Buck on Newsmax. "He certainly couldn't sell those paintings before his father was president. Why now?"
He pointed out that Biden's art dealer had a COVID-19 relief grant that "more than doubled" after the gallery agreed to list the paintings, "so those are the kinds of things people are getting by having this relationship with Hunter Biden."
During this week's House testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland, Buck drew laughs by showing paintings by famous artists like Claude Monet before showing some of the art painted by the president's son but said he got the "Texas two-step, or maybe the D.C. two-step" from Garland when he asked if there would be an investigation.
"What I want to get is a special counsel investigating Hunter Biden's activities," Buck said Thursday. "I didn't get that from Attorney General Garland ... he started talking about [how he] can't comment on an ongoing investigation. I didn't ask about an ongoing investigation."
Buck also pointed out that there is nothing secret about appointing a special counsel.
"At that point, [Garland] said he didn't have enough information, or that he just received information," said Buck. "This isn't the first time Hunter Biden's been engaged in these activities. He knew about this before he came to the hearing."
If Garland wanted to answer, Buck continued, "he would talk about the fact that Hunter Biden was involved in receiving $50,000 a month from the Ukraine oligarchs when he had no background in energy policy or having a relationship with the China national bank while having no background in investments in China or really even in finance."
But instead, "here's somebody receiving this money because of his father's position in government," said Buck. "It's wrong, and it should be investigated."
Democrats are also highly concerned about Hunter Biden, "but for all the wrong reasons," said Buck.
"I don't think they're concerned about Hunter Biden because of ethics or work corruption," he said. "I think they're concerned because they have their names on the ballot in another year, and they're going to have to explain to the voters why they didn't do something about [him]."
Further, the Biden administration has already had plenty of bad news with Afghanistan, the border situation, and so much more, "and I think that Hunter Biden is just another part of the story that they want to avoid," said Buck.
He added that he also wants to investigate why the country is running on "two different sides of the political spectrum." They are not investigating the violence that occurred during summer protests last year, yet Democrats are focusing on the attacks on Jan. 6 at the Capitol.
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