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Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today, Senator Johnson and I will present our third speech on the Biden investigation series.
Today, we will focus on James Biden, the President's brother. Hunter Biden wasn't the only Biden family member who had connections to the Chinese communist regime. James Biden did as well.
Before we begin our discussion, I think we will need to mention the main company once again, the Chinese company that goes by the initials CEFC.
In the first two speeches, Senator Johnson and I established the connection between CEFC and the communist Chinese Government. We established the connection between CEFC and Hudson West III. We then established the connection with Hunter Biden's Owasco, Hudson West III, and CEFC.
We showed that Hunter Biden and James Biden actively assisted CEFC as it worked to expand its footprint and its holdings in the global and U.S. energy sector. Today, we will add James Biden's Lion Hall Group to the list of Biden family companies connected to the communist regime.
In my and Senator Johnson's September 2020 report, we showed that Hunter Biden and James Biden and their aligned firms received approximately $4.8 million from Hudson West III from August 2017 to September 2018. During that same timeframe, Hunter Biden's Owasco sent 20 or so wires to James Biden's Lion Hall Group. Those 20 wires totaled just about $1.4 million.
The liberal media and our Democratic colleagues originally tried to claim that Senator Johnson and my findings were Russian disinformation.
Last week, the Washington Post reported the following:
Over the course of 14 months, the Chinese energy conglomerate--
Here, parenthetically, they are referring to CEFC-- and its executives paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle, according to government records, court documents and newly disclosed bank statements, as well as emails contained on a copy of a laptop hard drive that purportedly once belonged to Hunter Biden.
The Post also reported this:
During that time period, about $1.4 million was transferred from Hunter's account to the Lion Hall Group, the consulting firm that James Biden ran, according to other government records reviewed by The Post.
Senator Johnson and I were right 2 years ago. We knew it then, but it has been a long road to defend our work product.
The liberal media and our Democratic colleagues aggressively tried to make the case that we were peddling Russian disinformation. What will the liberal media and my Democratic colleagues say now in light of last week's Washington Post article that substantiated the work Senator Johnson and I have been doing? We still haven't received any apology from our Democratic colleagues for their false claims against us these past several years. They haven't apologized to the American people. And I am not going to hold my breath.
When will the big-time media in Washington awaken to respect my reputation for the thorough investigative and oversight work that I do as a Senator? And it is also my constitutional responsibility to do exactly that.
Now, we have more records to discuss today. Today, Senator Johnson and I will show you financial transfers direct from Hudson West III to the Lion Hall Group. In other words, in these transfers, Hunter Biden's Owasco isn't the middleman.
Let's look at the first poster here. This is a January 2018 bank statement from Hudson West III. Now, there is a lot going on here, so I will just mention several items.
First, we have two examples of more wire transfers from Hudson West III for $165,000. The underlying wire data, which Senator Johnson and I will make public this very day, shows that money went to Hunter Biden's Owasco. That money was for the August 2017 LLC agreement, which by its terms saw James Biden become a manager of Hudson West III. That agreement sent $100,000 to Hunter Biden and $65,000 to James Biden every month. Those transactions occurred after the $5 million wire from Northern International Capital to Hudson West III on August 2017. Northern International was connected to Ye Jianming, who was connected to the communist regime.
We explained all that in our second speech just last Tuesday.
Second, this statement shows several examples of wires from Hudson West III to CEFC. As Senator Johnson and I have established, that company is an arm of the communist Chinese regime. This new record shows how closely connected Hudson West III was with CEFC while Hunter Biden and James Biden received money from Hudson West III.
Third, we have a January 17, 2018, wire to Lion Hall Group. That happens to be James Biden's company. James Biden received $18,000 from Hudson West III the same month that company sent money to CEFC. This is just one example of many.
Accordingly, the official bank record makes clear the financial connections between and among James Biden and the communist Chinese elements.
To the liberal media and my Democratic colleagues, this official bank record--is that Russian disinformation, as you accused us of spreading?
Now let's go to the second poster. This is a Hudson West III bank record from April 2018. Here, you see wire transfers from Coldharbour Capital. That company was connected to Mervyn Yan, who was an associate of Ye Jianming and Gongwen Dong.
As Senator Johnson and I have already established, all of them are connected to the communist regime. These are the players in the game that I mentioned in the first speech last Monday, and now we have established that they appear repeatedly in bank records with high- dollar transfers.
These transfers aren't by accident--no way. There is clearly a scheme here. There is a plan among and between all these individuals and their respective companies, which then begs the question, has the Justice Department acquired these records? If so, what has the Justice Department done about these records?
Moving to the next transaction, there is another $165,000 wire. Again, that relates back to the LLC agreement that connected Hunter and James Biden to the Chinese firm CEFC and its projects in the energy sector. Then you have a $34,000 wire to James Biden's Lion Hall Group from Hudson West III.
So what was this all about? Let's take a look, then, at the third poster. Look at the sixth line from the bottom. I want to quote. It says ``office expense and reimbursement.'' That is the same reason given for the first poster that I showed you.
We will make all these records public this very day.
For those of you who may still doubt my and Senator Johnson's oversight work, I am going to present one last transaction to bring all of this home.
Look at the fourth poster. In my and Senator Johnson's September 2020 report, we found that James Biden and Hunter Biden went on a $99,000 global spending spree courtesy of whom? Another Chinese person I have mentioned so many times in these three speeches--Gongwen Dong. The spending spree included airline tickets, purchases at Apple stores, hotels, and restaurants. This bank record next to me shows a $99,000 transaction in September 2017, but that is not all that we have.
Let's turn to the final poster. This is No. 5. This is a credit card authorization form for $99,000. Look at the bottom. There is a signature block with Hunter Biden and Gongwen Dong.
To the liberal press and my Democratic colleagues, are these official records Russian disinformation?
So what is the point of all these records? Not only have Senator Johnson and I illustrated through new records that Hunter Biden was financially connected to the communist regime, these records show James Biden was as well. These new records show direct financial links between companies connected to the communist regime and James Biden through Lion Hall Group. These new records support the findings in our report to the last Congress.
Remember, those records were put out in September and November of 2020, and everybody was saying it was Russian disinformation. Forget the facts. Forget the evidence. Forget the investigative journalism. The liberal media wanted to provide cover for then-Candidate Joe Biden. They did whatever they could to smear our investigations.
With these new records, there can be no doubt that James Biden was financially connected to corporations and individuals with extensive links to communist China and that he and Hunter Biden were in it together, working to help a Chinese Government-linked energy company pursue deals and expand its reach in the energy sector.
Now, it is Senator Johnson's turn.
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I thank Senator Johnson. I will just quickly say that the journalists in this town have an obligation to investigate. They ave an obligation to uncover the facts and the evidence. They have failed time and again.
What has been reported recently is simply the tip of the iceberg. The question now is: Instead of accusing us of peddling Russian disinformation, will the media actually engage in true investigative journalism? Will the media act with intellectual honesty, or will the media continue to cover all this up for the Biden administration?
Now, Congress has a constitutional responsibility to engage in oversight of the executive branch. The Biden administration has been totally unresponsive to our oversight requests; specifically, requests that relate to the Biden criminal case.
Is Nicholas McQuaid recused from the Hunter Biden case? No answer from the Department. Does the Department possess FISA information on Patrick Ho, Hunter Biden's associate? The Department told a Federal court they do. They told me and Senator Johnson that they aren't sure. Can you imagine that?
When Hunter Biden communicated with Patrick Ho, were his communications captured by our intelligence community? Is the Biden administration intentionally withholding this material from Congress out of fear of what we will find?
In light of the Biden administration's total failure to respond to our questions, these are legitimate questions to ask. The Biden Justice Department's actions have cast a cloud over the case. The American people are rightly skeptical of the impact it may have on it.
Transparency brings accountability. This week, Senator Johnson and I have done what we can to bring transparency to our oversight work for the American people. We will continue to do so.
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