Republicans allege Biden family earned millions from shady overseas deals

WASHINGTON, US - Republicans charged Wednesday that President Joe Biden's family has earned more than $10 million from shady business deals crafted while he was vice president.

With Biden ramping up his bid for a second term as president in the 2024 election, the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee alleged that the family took in $1 million tied to a business deal with a Romanian tycoon when the then vice-president oversaw relations with the country in 2014-2015.

The deal was allegedly done by Rob Walker, a business partner of Biden's son Hunter.

In a detailed report, committee Republicans said Walker began receiving money from Romanian tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu shortly after Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House in September 2015.

A Cyprus company allegedly owned by Popoviciu, Bladon Enterprises, paid a private company owned by Walker over $3 million from November 2015 to May 2017.

The Republicans alleged that after the transfers came in from Bladon, Walker's company paid more than $1 million into accounts controlled by Hunter Biden, his sister-in-law Hallie Biden, and James Gilliar, another business partner of Hunter.

They said the pattern matches that of an already well-reported business deal Hunter Biden and Walker had with an energy company in China.

After receiving money from that company in 2017, the committee said Walker distributed more than $1 million to Gilliar and the Bidens.

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said the Romanian funds were part of more than $10 million that Hunter Biden, his family and business associates had received from deals with foreigners in China, Ukraine, and elsewhere while Joe Biden was vice president from 2009 to 2017.

"Hunter Biden and his associates courted business in countries that correlated directly with Joe Biden's work as vice president. This is also not normal. It is not ethical," Comer said in a press conference.

The Republicans showed no evidence that Joe Biden directly benefitted from or even knew of the business deals and money transfers.

But they said he must have been aware of all of the companies set up by Hunter and his associates to conduct the business.

"Nobody in this room can logically sit here and say that the president of the United States had no idea that these companies were being formed while he was vice president of the United States," said Republican Representative Byron Reynolds.

Biden has repeatedly denied impropriety with regard to his son's deals, and defended Hunter's business practices.

"My son has done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have faith in him," he said last week. - AFP