The Biden Family’s Legal Woes, Explained

At least nine members of the president’s family have received payments from foreign nationals.

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President Joe Biden and son Hunter arrive at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, on February 4, 2023. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. James Comer walked into a media briefing room inside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday morning and announced to reporters that the House Oversight Committee has made “astonishing progress” in its investigation of the Biden family’s business deals.

“I want to be clear,” he said. “This committee is investigating President Biden and his family’s shady business deals that capitalized on Joe Biden’s public office and risked our country’s national security.”

Over the course of the next hour, Comer, who chairs the committee, and fellow Republicans on the panel pontificated about the contents of the 36-page memo they released laying out “evidence indicative of influence peddling and financial deception” by members of the Biden family.

Comer and his colleagues haven’t yet presented evidence tying Joe Biden to the dubious financial transactions of his family members. But Wednesday’s memo is another log on the fire of the scandals and legal worries of Biden’s son Hunter, who is also under investigation by the Department of Justice.

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  1. Philip.R.M.Hunt

    Good article. Fair and balanced. I am a Biden supporter but want scrutiny of all elected officials - and their families.

    I originally subscribed to the Dispatch because of the opinion writers, but the reporting side is just getting better and better. This is what journalism used to before it was corrupted by digital click chasing. Now if I can only find a left leaning news source that is just as good. I like getting good journalism from both sides because there is always some bias filtering going on. I used to subscribe to NYT and WAPO but both have succumbed to click chasing. I still subscribe to WAPO but cancelled my NYT subscription when it was taken over by the woke mob.

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  2. BaklavaHavel

    I understand the argument that we shouldn’t prosecute politicians or former presidents and what not as a political means of revenge, and that “presidents shouldn’t be above the law but they also shouldn’t be beneath it” as Sarah says, but I’m starting to think we might get a better brand of politician and better behavior by their families if they did all expect a higher level of legal scrutiny. Maybe it would disincentivize some of the shysters and snake oil sellers from running in the first place. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if politicians knew they would be charged with federal crimes that less famous, less powerful people wouldn’t be charged with. With great power should come great accountability for abuse of power.

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  3. Sam19952005

    the facts or lack of don't matter - the majority pick their side...there is nothing new here for all the big politicians and how accountability is not what the public thinks...remember politics are big money...appointments from private industry get tax free treatment for investment divestments...inside baseball...follow the money but don't expect it to matter, unfortunately.

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  4. Deodand

    I love this kind of column. Someone who obviously is skeptical about the entire enterprise (of trying to pin the tail on the Pres Biden), but who feels dragged to report some troubling facts. My BS meter is pretty good, and the tone here makes this quite believable.

    I'll reciprocate. I detest Mr Biden--of his many sins, the most cogent is that he said people like me (who oppose ballot harvesting, drop boxes, and voting by mail, who are in favor of voter ID, who support rules against interacting with people in voting lines, etc.) are on the side of Bull Connor, George Wallace, and Jefferson Davis. I would never forget this; if he asked for forgiveness, I might forgive (he hasn't asked), but I would never forget.

    But the idea of Mr Biden being completely corrupt, corrupt enough to make any policy decision based on funds being paid to the Biden family, is just very, very, very implausible. He was a standard liberal, a second-rate politician; sorta charming, a bit of a liar; and in general a mainstay of the established two-party system that was fairly functional (even if Mr Sanders and Mr Trump combined in 2016 to raise real questions about how well it was serving America). Progressives have certainly captured his administration, due to his advanced age and decreased functioning.

    But the idea that Mr Biden ever sold out America would just be utterly surprising to me.

    I could believe anything of Hunter. There seems to be pretty solid evidence he's up to no good.

    But we don't pass the sins of the son up to the father. (Except maybe very indirectly by some highly hypothetical guesses and complete speculation as to how good a father Mr Biden was. Even if there was something there, we don't choose presidents based on their parenting skills, thank goodness.)

    The reason I like this article and its tone is because it seems willing to call a spade a spade about Hunter and the overall Biden family. And it seems to be willing to absorb the political hit Mr Biden would take if the Republican investigation gets the proof it seems close to getting. But the article is very precise: there's some bad stuff growing here, and this will be ugly for the Democrats: but there's no proof this old coot who the American people shuffled into the presidency and who generally stinks at his job actually did anything wrong.

    Like I said, I love this type of writing. I trust it.

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    1. Philip.R.M.Hunt

      I agree with Marc Whipple who replied earlier. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting greater voter security. Democrats suspect that this is just a ploy to suppress their voters, but there are ways of enhancing voter security without suppressing Democratic voters. The 2021 reforms in GA were a good example. The Democratic voter turnout did not appear to suffer, and Warner won reelection by about the same margin as he did in 2020. I think that Governor Kemp and SOS Raffensperger are honest players.

      I don't think there is an objective need for increased voter security and that the fears some people have are unfounded, just whipped up by Trump and his minions. However, I am perfectly willing take reasonable steps to allay those fears if it can be done without negative effects.

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    2. Marc Whipple

      Good post! Regarding your detesting Joe Biden for his "returning to Jim Crow" comment, I am center left and I also support voter ID and oppose ballot harvesting. I also don't like vote by mail and drop boxes, but those voting methods are necessary unless other methods are developed (I advocate ATM style where the voter authenticates their identity, such as by a thumb print).

      The Jim Crowish aspect of GOP proposals (to "call a spade a spade") is the goal of making voting in the cities (heavily minority) more difficult. In the aggregate, proposals such as shortening early voting periods and getting rid of drop boxes and vote by mail (or make it more difficult) will cause excessively long voting lines in cities. President Biden would just pointing out that this was no accident. The GOP intent was to cause long voting lines in the cities, and thus reduce minority turnout. This does harken back (to a degree) to Jim Crow era policies like poll taxes.

      Not sure if my post makes you detest Biden less, or just detest me. 😉

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  5. Kellyg2479

    As one of my very favorite Democrats said, "Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician and I'll show you a crook." H. Truman
    There's a whole lot of crooks in D.C.

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    1. Mschoomaker

      And Truman turned that one around from Mark Twain: “There is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.”

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  6. Dougrhon

    It is amazing how much this smells and yet how much Democrats can ignore it. Amazing.

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    1. Hikingguy

      Republicans are going to nominate Trump again. So spare me your olfactory discomfort.

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  7. Msdasolove

    Your sub headline is the obvious indicia of a criminal enterprise involving money laundering. Ask anyone of those nine family members what they did to earn the money they received? Look at their bank accounts and tax returns. What expertise did any of them have in Romania or China or the businesses involved? Were the funds gifts? Were they treated by any of them as gifts? When was the last time a businessman or foreign lobbiest in your family gave you and many other extended family members large sums of money paid by a foreign country ? Ask any white collar prosecutor if they would pursue a case with such facts. I assure you the answer is yes. Add to those facts that it involved money from China and that one of the family members (regardless of a lack of direct of money) had a high political office involving foreign policy, military command and a history of treating China with kid gloves. Pretend that you are politically neutral or did not even know the family's political affiliation. Many of the previous comments are simply those of political partisans so I think Price can ignore them and keep reporting on the facts. Thanks for your fair article.

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  8. Mike E

    Nice article. Is the next one going to be about Justice and Mrs Thomas?

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    1. Avatar photo
      The Stray Goose

      What about…

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      1. Mike E

        Absolutely a what about. :)
        But going after Biden family ill gotten gains is a 'what about' sandwiched between the administration that destroyed all remaining norms for a President and a SC justice who will do the same. Although I think TD is the best source of analysis, I get to worry that they'll look the other way with Thomas.

        I'd like to see something that deters this behavior across the board.

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    2. Esther G

      Exactly what I was thinking.

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  9. Halvor

    DEMOCRATS to Hunter:

    We know your Dad loves you, Hunter, but your Dad's party doesn't need you and can play the beau rôle (sorry!) by sacrificing you to MAGA. The worst that they have on you is lying on a gun application and filing a false return -- chickenshit! Republicans don't believe in gun applications and do believe in avoiding taxes, so they will be obliged to fake their moral outrage. When you plead guilty, Hunter, we will ostentatiously cut you loose and proclaim that you should be held accountable to the full extent of the law and not receive special treatment. Then, you will attain victimhood by being singled out and treated worse than anybody with a similar offenses. Democrats will be able to mention this precedent when we attack Republicans. There are a lot of Republican children in this kind of jeopardy. Your Dad's love for you throughout will impress many voters as heartwarming in a broken world. If the Biden family looks like a bunch of vulgar graspers, that will make Democrats appear more relatable to the Americans who will never join the blessed elite. Finally, the Republican crusade against you is using up a lot of their time and energy for meager results, which will make our own vendettas appear respectable by contrast -- as they are! Good luck, Hunter. Keep a journal. America loves redemption and second chances!

    STATEMENT of HUNTER Biden, released through his lawyers:

    Like thousands of children of famous Americans, I lucked into business associations I would never have gotten anywhere near without my last name. Sorry, I don't apologize for that. Even children of fame can try (and fail) to make the best of their circumstances.

    Every step of the way, I've consulted with lawyers to avoid compromising my Dad. I'm sure I kept on the right side of the law in my business dealings.

    Nevertheless, I've had substance abuse problems, and naturally people are going to turn over rocks and look behind the curtains for mistakes. I'm in recovery, and welcome a hard look by Republican prosecutors. If they find things I did wrong, I'll plead guilty, if I'm guilty. If they charge things I didn't do, I'll plead not guilty.

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  10. Robt. P.

    Is anyone else having a flashback to the NPR interview with Sarah Chayes in 2019?
    https://www.npr.org/2019/10/03/766706864/atlantic-prominent-americans-shouldnt-leverage-their-names-for-payoffs
    ". . .Almost any senior name that I start researching, I run into practices like this. It is extraordinarily widespread. And that's my question. How did we all convince ourselves that this isn't corrupt? And it seems to me that we're not going to recover, you know, even an approximation of the ideals on which we were founded as a nation unless each of us, as citizens, begins to make it less comfortable for our political and economic leaders to behave this way.. . ."

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    1. Gbm311

      Robert, influence-peddling is likely common but Joe Biden has stuck his neck out repeatedly insisting that he never discussed his son's business dealings (which would be parental irresponsibility), that Hunter has done nothing wrong (cocaine use, out of wedlock birth, sleeping with his dead brother's widow, etc), and that his son is uniquely intelligent. Joe has earned the shame that he will inevitably "win" when all is said and done. Hunter has ruined his life with hundreds of bad decisions over many years.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Mudskipper

        "he never discussed his son's business dealings (which would be parental irresponsibility)"

        Seriously? Hunter was an adult. I think there are many parents out there who do not look over their children's financial affairs.

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        1. Gbm311

          Not when you are an elected official and your son is doing business while you are on official business in the countries where he is making contacts. Some awareness of his business dealings would have been elemental parental responsibility especially when your son had been bounced out of the military for drug problems! Come on, man!

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