The House GOP has issued a new memo about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, reviving old allegations

On Wednesday, House Republicans released a 19-page memo containing “new information obtained at… [Oversight] The committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s influence-peddling schemes,” according to Rep. James Comer, the committee’s chairman.

But an initial review of the document indicates that the behavior it describes draws heavily from previous congressional reports and previously issued testimony.

Many of the details highlighted in the new memo trace back to a 2020 report published by Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson of Iowa and Wisconsin, which found that the foreign business ventures of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, were “embarrassing” and at times “problematic.” to US officials, but it offered no new evidence and found no case for government policy to change as a result.

Other parts of the memo were made public last week, when the oversight committee released the full transcript of its interview with Devon Archer, a former longtime business partner of Hunter Biden.

The most prominent element in the committee’s memorandum could be its claim that it does not need to find evidence directly linking Joe Biden to what it described as the “Biden family” business efforts to prove corruption.

Since Republicans took back the House of Representatives last year, they have launched multiple investigative efforts aimed at learning more about who paid Hunter Biden in the past, when and why, and asserting that the whirlpool of foreign money is tainting Joe Biden himself.

In a memo Wednesday, Republicans on the oversight committee argued that critics “alleged a weak defense by asserting that the committee should show payments directly to the president to show corruption.”

Republicans on the committee went on to write, noting, “This is a hollow claim that no other American could make if their family members accepted foreign payments or bribes. In fact, the law recognizes that payments made to family members to corruptly influence others can constitute bribery.” . Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

This law warns against paying sums of money to relatives if they are used “as an indirect means of corrupt influence… [an] official,” which was not confirmed by GOP lawmakers.

In closed-door testimony last week, Archer told the oversight committee that he had seen no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden in connection with Hunter Biden’s business dealings, but described to lawmakers how Hunter Biden gave clients the “illusion of access” by promoting “Biden.” Brand.”

The White House has repeatedly denied allegations of misconduct by the president, saying there is no evidence that Joe Biden was or was connected to his son’s business. The President has said the same thing.

He added, “House Republicans can’t prove that President Biden did anything wrong, but they prove every day that they have neither a vision nor an agenda to actually help the American people. For them, it’s all about partisan games and political attacks that serve and harm themselves.” “The interest in right-wing media — it is not about addressing the great challenges facing our country,” White House Counsel Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Office of White House Counsel, wrote in an email to reporters Wednesday.

Similarly, House Democrats slammed the new memo, saying it was part of “an increasingly embarrassing attempt by Republicans to justify their unsubstantiated calls for an impeachment inquiry.”

“Once again, Republicans on the committee have released information about financial transactions that are not related to the president,” said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee. “Instead, they are rehashing the same Hunter Biden business dealings that Republicans in Congress outlined at least three years ago.”

In a statement, Comer defended his committee’s work, saying in part: “The House Oversight Committee will continue to track funds and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors have targeted the Biden family, a compromised or corrupt President Biden, and our national security.” threatening.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the details in the new note.

In one case, the memo highlights a $3.5m payment in 2014 from the wife of the former Moscow mayor to Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC, the business entity the commission says was co-founded by Hunter Biden and Archer.

This payment was included in the 2020 report released by Senate Republicans, and former President Donald Trump highlighted this alleged deal in his first debate with Joe Biden.

Hunter Biden’s attorney at the time said the allegation was “false,” telling ABC News that Hunter Biden had no interest in Rosemont Seneca Thornton when the payment was made and was not, as Republicans have claimed, a co-founder. (This attorney distinguished between Rosemont Seneca Thornton and Rosemont Seneca Partners, which Hunter Biden actually co-founded.)

Politico mentioned Trump also sought to engage the former Moscow mayor with business opportunities before taking office.

Another key allegation in the Republicans’ new memo is that Hunter Biden accepted a $142,300 wire transfer from a wealthy Kazakh businessman to purchase a sports car.

This was also part of the Senate report published in 2020.

Comer describes Archer’s claim — which has been described in reports about Archer’s testimony — that Joe Biden attended a dinner party in 2014 at Washington’s Café Milano with Hunter Biden’s business associates.

According to Archer’s testimony, Joe Biden arrived and entertained guests at a 2014 dinner, sat down and “talked about the world, I think, and the weather, and then everybody left.”

ABC News’ Molly Nagel contributed to this report.