House Committees Seek Answers on SEC Biden Probe

Two House committees are seeking information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its handling of an investigation involving Hunter Biden's business associates and related entities.

House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, are sending a Tuesday letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler to request documents and communications as part of their committees' impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden for his alleged influence peddling in his family's foreign business dealings.

The lawmakers' request centers around Hunter Biden's 2016 SEC subpoena response, in which the first son's attorney invoked Joe Biden's position as vice president — which the chairmen suggest was an attempt to discourage further scrutiny from the commission.

"Mr. Biden's response gratuitously invoked his father's position as the vice president in what could be interpreted as an effort to discourage further SEC scrutiny," Comer and Jordan wrote Gensler.

"And on May 11, 2016, the SEC published a press release — announcing the charging of seven individuals — with no mention or charging of Hunter Biden.

"Accordingly, to further the House's impeachment inquiry the committees must determine the propriety with which SEC handled this matter."

In March of 2016, the SEC subpoenaed Hunter Biden's former business associate Devon Archer and Rosemont Seneca Bohai (RSB) as part of an SEC Enforcement Division's investigation into a tribal bond scheme. Hunter Biden also was subpoenaed to produce documents regarding, among other items, all communications concerning RSB.

The House committees obtained Hunter Biden's April 20, 2016, response to the SEC subpoena.

Comer, Jordan and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., forwarded criminal referrals June 5 to the Department of Justice to recommend that Hunter Biden, and the president's brother James Biden face criminal charges of lying to Congress during the ongoing House impeachment investigation into the president.

The lawmakers accused Hunter Biden of lying in a House deposition about holding a position with RSB, which received millions of dollars from foreign individuals and entities.