I know just how much Washington, D.C., can feel a world away from southeast Wisconsin.
Most Wisconsinites are rightly concerned with the affairs of day-to-day life: paying the bills, grocery shopping, gas prices, and how their kids are performing in school. The Washington bureaucracy, however, plays a dominant role in the outcomes for communities and families across the nation. Of the upmost importance is that our nation’s leaders are ethical, transparent, and accountable to the American people. Unfortunately, President Biden and his family have failed to uphold these values and have instead profited off political power.
Since House Republicans took the majority last January, the Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways & Means Committees have investigated the Biden family’s domestic and international business practices to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality. The evidence is overwhelming, clear, and it falls into four distinct buckets: Burisma bribery, laundered money, shell companies, and the pattern of lying.
Fitzgerald
Starting with the Burisma bribery — there are four facts that will never change. First, Hunter Biden sat on Burisma’s board — a Ukrainian company. Second, he was unqualified to do so. Third, Burisma pressured Hunter to get Washington, D.C., to act on policy issues in Ukraine that would be favorable to the company. Fourth, and lastly, Joe Biden did exactly that when top Burisma official Vadym Pozharskyi suggested high-level U.S. officials come to Ukraine and talk with Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and President Petro Poroshenko about investigations into their company. Burisma officials wanted U.S. officials to speak with Shokin because he was investigating Burisma and Burisma’s owner for fraud. Vice President Biden then demanded that President Poroshenko fire Prosecutor General Shokin and Biden himself admits to threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan to Ukraine unless Poroshenko fires Shokin.
Next, we move onto the laundered money. The Oversight Committee spelled out how a money trail began from Hunter Biden’s Chinese Communist Party-linked associate and traveled through a number of Biden family accounts before Sara Biden finally cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000 for a "loan repayment." Even more than that, James Biden, President Biden’s brother, received a $200,000 loan from a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator into his personal bank account. The same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check — the same amount from the same personal account — to Joe Biden and said that was for "loan repayment." According to bankruptcy court documents, James Biden received these funds in the first place "based upon representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment" from the Middle East based on his political connections.
That’s not the only concerning revelation turned up from bank records. The Oversight Committee released a bank memorandum shedding light on the Biden family’s shell companies. The memorandum shows that Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companies — most were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden’s vice presidency. They received incremental payments over time to different bank accounts to conceal the source of the funds and reduce the conspicuousness of the total amounts deposited into the Biden bank accounts.
Last, but certainly not least, we have Joe Biden’s pattern of lying. There are many examples, but a few worth pointing out: Joe Biden claims he never spoke to his family about their business dealings; his family never received $1 million in payments through a third party; and his son never made money in China. The Oversight Committee has proven these statements to be false.
This begs the question, what else is President Biden hiding? Democrats will have you believe House Republicans are running a sham impeachment inquiry — but that could not be further from the truth. House Republicans are following the facts and we will let the truth speak for itself. If that worries the president, then you need to ask yourself "why?"
U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R— Juneau, represents the Fifth Congressional District of Wisconsin. Contact his Oconomowoc office at 262-784-1111 or his Washington, D.C., office at 202-225-5101.