House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., announced Thursday that he will issue subpoenas for the bank records of Hunter Biden and James Biden, the brother of President Joe Biden, immediately.
Comer made the announcement during his closing statements on Day 1 of House Republicans' impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Calling it the "next step of this investigation," Comer said, "Today I will subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden, James Biden and their affiliated companies."
Comer told Newsmax on Wednesday night that the subpoenas were coming after the discovery of $260,000 in bank wires to Hunter Biden from Chinese nationals, which listed the Delaware home of President Biden as the beneficiary address for the funds.
"The great thing about the wire that we disclosed yesterday — I subpoenaed that earlier this week — it was a direct wire from the Chinese nationals to Hunter Biden for a quarter of a million dollars," Comer told Newsmax. "That's the first wire that did not go through a shell company."
It's a potential smoking gun that Republicans intend to explore through bank records and other means as they investigate the central question: Did Joe Biden benefit from Hunter Biden's overseas business ventures and was he directly involved?
"Now we're in the process of subpoenaing Hunter Biden and Jim Biden's personal bank records. So, this is evidence that some of these wires did go to their personal bank accounts, despite the fact that they've been arguing that they didn't," Comer said.
Comer told Newsmax that he's also eyeing Joe Biden's personal bank records, adding that pursuit might end up in the courts.
"I mean, all roads lead to Joe Biden," Comer said earlier this week. "From Day 1 this has been an investigation into Joe Biden not his son. His son is a key central figure because we believe Hunter was the frontman for the Biden family influence scheme."
Comer hammered that home in his opening remarks Thursday, saying President Biden "lied" about his knowledge and involvement in his son's foreign business dealings.
"He lied by telling the American people that there was an 'absolute wall' between his official government duties and his personal life," Comer said. "Let's be clear: There was no wall. The door was wide open to those who purchased what a business associate described as 'The Biden Brand.'"
Comer laid out the case for the inquiry in a 30-page memo ahead of Thursday's opener.
"From 2014 to 2019, Biden family members and their affiliate companies received over $15 million from foreign companies and foreign nationals in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China. Biden business associates received an additional $9 million."
And this:
"The President had knowledge of many of his family's business dealings, and indeed participated in them by having phone calls and attending private dinners — including while he was Vice President — with his family's business associates and foreign business associates who would pay his family millions of dollars for no identifiable product or service."