Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, vowed Wednesday to "get to the bottom" of who is buying Hunter Biden’s art amid a wider probe into the first son’s foreign business dealings while his father was vice president.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Georges Bergès, the art dealer representing Hunter Biden, has longstanding ties to China and said in 2015 that he wanted to be the art world's "lead guy in China."
Comer responded to that comment on Wednesday, telling Fox News Digital that "foreign adversaries, including China, have used transactions involving sham art sales to launder money and evade sanctions imposed by the United States."
"For decades, Hunter Biden has peddled influence and access to his father and engaged in shady business dealings with foreign adversaries around the world," Comer said. "Given Hunter’s history of suspicious activity, it is deeply concerning that the President’s son continues to sell his amateur artwork to anonymous purchasers for sky-high prices."
"Hunter’s art dealer, [Georges] Bergès, has also made it clear that he intends to be the ‘lead guy’ in China for art," he continued. "Why would anyone pay Hunter top dollar for items that are arguably worthless? He’s no Pablo Picasso. As Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, I will continue to push for transparency and answers for the American people to get to the bottom of who is buying Hunter’s art."
Earlier Wednesday, Comer sent a letter to Bergès, who owns the Georges Bergès Gallery in SoHo, Manhattan, demanding he turn over all communications between his gallery and the White House related to a reported deal to withhold all records of the prices and final buyers for Biden's art.
"The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Joe Biden and his family’s foreign and domestic influence peddling schemes," Comer wrote to Bergès. "For over a decade, the Biden family has profited from Joe Biden’s positions as a public official. Your arrangement with Hunter Biden raises serious ethics concerns and calls into question whether the Biden family is again selling access and influence. Despite being a novice artist, Hunter Biden received exorbitant amounts of money selling his artwork, the buyers’ identities remain unknown, and you appear to be the sole record keeper of these lucrative transactions."
"You have advertised that Hunter Biden’s latest artwork ranges in price from $55,000 to $225,000. It is concerning that President Biden’s son is the recipient of anonymous, high-dollar transactions—potentially from foreign buyers—with no accountability or oversight (other than you)," Comer wrote to Bergès. "The American people deserve transparency regarding certain details about Hunter Biden’s expensive art transactions. We believe you possess important information related to this investigation."
House Republicans previously sought information on Hunter Biden's art deals in the last Congress, when they were in the minority, but their requests to Bergès went unanswered.
The gallery's website says it is currently "under maintenance," and Hunter Biden's webpage was deleted in recent days.
As recently as Jan. 17, Hunter Biden's page on the gallery's website read, "A lawyer by profession, Hunter Biden now devotes his energies to the creative arts, bringing innumerable experiences to bear. The results are powerful and impactful paintings ranging from photogenic to mixed media to the abstract. His chosen substrates are canvas, YUPO paper, wood, and metal on which he affixes oil, acrylic, ink along with the written word; all of which creates a unique experience that has become his signature."
Now, the page reads, "404 not found."
Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Clay Higgins of Louisiana, all members of the House Oversight committee, said they strongly support probing Hunter Biden's art sales.
"Hunter Biden’s finger paintings clearly aren’t worth $500,000 per piece," Boebert told Fox News Digital. "His clients weren’t buying art, they were buying access. Who these buyers were and what access they received is something the American people absolutely deserve to know – especially if it turns out the art was being bought from Georges Bergès’s friends in the CCP."... (Read more)
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