(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Republicans are looking to use their new majority in the U.S. House to reverse attempts by Democrats earlier this year to block access to at least 150 “suspicious activity reports” that have been filed with the U.S. Treasury Department regarding the banking activity of Hunter Biden and tied to President Joe Biden and other members of the Biden clan.
The effort by House Republicans is part and parcel of an investigation specifically of the president and his ties to his son’s shady business dealings.
In September’s run-up to midterm elections, House Democrats blocked a move by Republicans to obtain the “suspicious activity reports,” which record shady foreign business transactions flagged by U.S. banks, after refusals from Biden’s Treasury Department.
“It’s unacceptable that the Treasury Department continues to run cover for the Biden family and possibly hide information about whether Joe Biden benefited financially from his family’s business transactions,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said at the time.
“The Biden Administration changed the rules to severely restrict Congress’ access to suspicious activity reports in the dark of night and with no explanation.”
Now Comer and other House Republicans are also looking to gain access to those records from Hunter Biden’s financial adviser, Edward Prewitt, reported the Washington Examiner.
“Information reviewed by Committee Republicans reveals you were advising Hunter Biden on financial transactions when U.S. banks were flagging suspicious activity by the Biden family,” Comer wrote to Prewitt.
“As Hunter Biden’s financial adviser, you are in a unique position to know how these transactions originated and why they were flagged by U.S. banks,” the letter stated, and requested that information be produced.
In a July interview with Comer, Fox News noted that House requests for obtaining suspicious activity reports used to be routine and asked why that had changed.
“I think we all know why,” replied Comer, who called a suspicious activity report “a very serious banking violation.”
“To put this into perspective, a suspicious activity report was put into place when George Bush was president after Sept. 11 to try to catch money laundering into terrorist cells in the United States,” Comer said.
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s brother, Jim, have had over 150 suspicious activity reports, Comer said. Previously, he said, “any member of Congress could request from Treasury a list of suspicious activity reports in their congressional districts and in their states.”
“When Joe Biden became president, and this is before it became public knowledge that Hunter had these suspicious activity reports, he, in the dark of night, changed it to where Congress could no longer access that from Treasury.”
