Comer subpoenas personal, business bank records for Hunter Biden, James Biden as part of impeachment inquiry

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued three subpoenas Thursday night for the personal and business bank records belonging to President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and brother, James Biden, as part of the House impeachment inquiry.

Comer, R-Ky., who signaled earlier this month his intention to subpoena those records, did so just hours after the first hearing as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

Fox News Digital reviewed the subpoenas. The subpoenas have redactions over the names of the banks. It is unclear which financial institutions were subpoenaed for these records.

HUNTER BIDEN'S $250K WIRE FROM CHINA LABELED AS A 'PERSONAL INVESTMENT'

The subpoenas compel records, including account statements, direct deposits, deposits, cashier checks, wire transfers, electronic transfer payments, credit and debit card records, loan documents and other records related to Hunter Biden; his shell companies Owasco, P.C. and Owasco, LLC; Skaneateles; business associate Eric Schwerin; James Biden; Lion Hall Group, LLC: and JBBSR, Inc.

"From day one of our investigation of Joe Biden’s abuse of public office, we’ve followed the money and that continues with today’s subpoenas for Hunter and James Biden’s bank records," Comer said Thursday night. "Bank records don’t lie, and coupled with witness testimony, they reveal that Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain."

Comer said the financial records that his committee has obtained to date "reveal a pattern where the Bidens sold access to Joe Biden around the world to enrich the Biden family."

"As the Bidens were sealing deals around the world, Joe Biden showed up, met with, talked with, shook hands with, and had meetings with the foreign nationals sending money to his family. This culture of corruption demands further investigation," Comer said. "The Oversight Committee, as well as the Committees on the Judiciary and Ways and Means, will continue to follow the money to determine whether President Biden’s involvement in his family’s corrupt business schemes makes him compromised and threatens our national security."

HUNTER BIDEN RECEIVED $250K WIRES ORIGINATING IN BEIJING WITH BENEFICIARY ADDRESS LISTED AS JOE BIDEN'S HOME

Comer vowed to provide "the answers, transparency, and accountability that the American people demand and deserve."

The subpoenas also come after Fox News Digital first reported that the House Oversight Committee has learned that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by "selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world."

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., added that President Biden "was not just aware of his son’s business dealings, but in fact he was connected to them, it has become clear that whether it was lunches, phone calls, White House meetings, or official foreign trips, Hunter Biden cashed in by arranging access to his father."

DOJ ORDERED HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS TO 'REMOVE ANY REFERENCE' TO JOE BIDEN IN FARA PROBE WARRANT: HOUSE GOP

"While top Biden officials, Hunter’s lawyers, and congressional Democrats have offered little more than disinformation and lies, these bank records will bring us closer to the truth," Smith said. "Issuing these subpoenas is an appropriate – and necessary – step to following the facts wherever they lead, and may shed light on the $24 million the Biden family has received in exchange for selling their family ‘brand’ as part of a global influence peddling scheme."

The White House maintains that President Biden was never in business with his son and never discussed business with his son or his family. White House officials have blasted the impeachment inquiry against the president as an "evidence-free" political stunt. 

Ukraine Update: The Ukraine War is a core American domestic political issue

It might not be obvious, but the war in Ukraine has always been an issue of utmost domestic importance to the United States.

Ukraine was at the center of Donald Trump’s first impeachment, and featured heavily in internal Republican machinations. Remember, the one change that the Trump camp made to the 2016 Republican Party platform was watering down support for Ukraine.

And then there are the strategic considerations. Russia is a big part of the reason that the United States’ defense budget is north of $800 billion … and fast approaching $900 billion. Not only does Russia’s battlefield defeat have budgetary implications, but it will inform whether we have to fight a hot war against either China or North Korea that would cost trillions of dollars, claim untold lives, and  destroy the world economy.

This is all quite clear to Democrats and old-guard Republicans. But Trump’s MAGA cult has lined up behind their authoritarian pro-Putin leader, rupturing the Republican Party and leading to a seemingly inevitable government shutdown at midnight on Sept. 30.

Texts suggest Biden requested meeting with son’s Chinese business partner after company paid Hunter millions

Text messages released Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee suggest President Biden personally requested a meeting with his son Hunter's Chinese business partner whose company previously doled out millions of dollars to the younger Biden.

The committee obtained the messages as part of its investigation into Hunter's foreign business dealings, and released them, along with a trove of other documents on Wednesday to coincide with the House Oversight Committee's first impeachment inquiry hearing against Biden on Thursday.

One Aug. 27, 2017 WhatsApp message from Hunter to Gongwen Dong, the director of then-Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC, showed Hunter saying his uncle's "brother" wanted to meet with Ye Jianming, the chairman of the company, in New York City.

DOJ ORDERED HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS TO ‘REMOVE ANY REFERENCE’ TO JOE BIDEN IN FARA PROBE WARRANT: HOUSE GOP

Hunter and his uncle, Jim Biden, the only brother of Joe Biden involved in the family's business dealings, were in New York City to meet with Ye at the time, according to emails recovered from Hunter's infamous laptop. The meeting came just weeks after CEFC wired $5 million to an LLC co-owned by Hunter.

"My uncle will be here with his BROTHER who would like to say hello to the Chairman," Hunter said in the message, appearing to reference his dad, who was allegedly involved in the family's dealings with CEFC. "So please give me location and time. Jim’s BROTHER if he is coming just wants to say hello he will not be stopping for lunch."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

WATCH: BIDEN INTERRUPTED BY CLIMATE PROTESTER, TELLS HECKLER THAT HE WILL MEET HIM 'IMMEDIATELY AFTER' SPEECH

The documents released by the committee also revealed the Department of Justice ordered FBI and IRS investigators involved in the Hunter Biden probe to "remove any reference" to Biden in a search warrant related to a Foreign Agents Registration Act probe.

"The Biden Administration — including top officials at the Justice Department — lied to the American public and engaged in a cover-up that interfered with federal investigators and protected the Biden family, including President Biden himself," the committee said following the release.

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According to the committee, the documents "corroborate" the whistleblower testimony to the committee, "and reinforce their credibility and their high esteem among colleagues."

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

What happened during the first hearing of the Biden impeachment inquiry

House Republicans held their first impeachment hearing into President Biden. The Republicans argue there is a real concern about the Biden family, but Democrats say it's an attempt to distract from the criminal charges against former President Trump. Amna Nawaz discussed the hearing and the legal basis for the impeachment inquiry with Frank Bowman.

Even Fox News can’t spin House Republicans’ evidence-free ‘impeachment’ hearing

Fox News tries very, very hard to parrot Republican talking points, but there are a few things that even they can’t make themselves say. Host Neil Cavuto drew the short straw of having to tell his viewers that the House impeachment inquiry hearings—the "breaking news" that viewers were seeing on their screen—turned out to be a Grade-A nothingburger.

"I don't know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours," he confessed.

Hat tip to Acyn for the catch:

NEIL CAVUTO: All right. For the better part of six hours, I have been following these hearings, save an hour off to do my Fox Business show earlier today. I don't know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours. Welcome, everybody, I'm Neil Cavuto. I want to put in perspective here, though, and we are going to legally go through all the details, but James Comer, the Oversight Committee chairman, had said that there would be presented a mountain of evidence against Mr. Biden, he was referring to President Biden, but none of the expert witnesses today presented—yet—any proof for impeachment.

You think that's bad? He was just getting started.

Now to be clear, this was not about impeachment; this is about launching an impeachment inquiry. But it is worth pointing out that none of the witnesses today were fact witnesses. That means that none were involved in the investigation into the alleged activities in the first place. What's more, none of the witnesses testified today of direct knowledge of what Republicans have been claiming about Joe Biden.

In other words, that this—the way this was built up, where there's smoke, there would be fire. Again, I'm not a lawyer and I'm going to be talking to some darn smart ones in a moment, but where there's smoke today, we just got a lot more smoke.

We also say that the best they could say now, after this six-plus hours of testimony back and forth, is that they're going to try to get more bank records from Joe Biden and his son, says that they're needed to determine if a crime was committed. Understood. But none of that was presented today, just that they would need those records to further this investigation today, even though this occurs after months of Republican probes that failed to provide anything resembling concrete evidence.

That's Fox News’ initial reaction to Rep. James Comer's absurd and evidence-free "impeachment inquiry," as delivered by Cavuto after the hearing's close. Will Cavuto now get calls from network executives excoriating him? Will ex-host Tucker Carlson try to call in a few remaining network favors to get him fired for inappropriate truth-telling?

Honestly, it's not likely. Sean Hannity and a few of the network’s other most rabidly shameless hosts might give it a go, but there's no polishing this turd. Republicans still seem to be forgetting that at some point, in this tit-for-tat attempt at impeaching Joe Biden in retaliation for the two impeachments of Donald Trump, you do have to come up with some actual evidence for your frothing claims. Even Fox News might cut these turkeys loose at this rate.

Sign the petition: Denounce MAGA GOP's baseless impeachment inquiry against Biden

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Rep. Crockett says House GOP ‘pushing lies and lunacy on behalf of a multitime loser’

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas stepped into the spotlight during the Republican sham-impeachment inquiry on Thursday. She began by modestly reminding everyone that the so-called “evidence” the Republicans keep pointing to is not evidence at all, and never has been. “Repeating the same lies will not somehow turn them into truths,” she said. Then Crockett turned up the heat: “Kind of like the election that Trump lost. Say it with me: He lost it. Repeating the same lie that he won wasn't going to turn the election around.” Hot enough? How about this: “The ‘lost’ in this chamber keep pushing lies and lunacy on behalf of a multitime loser.”

That’s minute one. Crockett proceeded to drop microphones all over the inquiry chamber as she spent the rest of her time hammering home every fact out there about Donald Trump, his dirty dealings, and the charges against him while continuously throwing well-deserved shade at Republicans. Crockett joked that if Republicans “continue to say ‘if’ or ‘Hunter,’ and we were playing a drinking game, I would be drunk by now.”

One of the highlights was when Crockett held up a picture of the boxes of classified documents discovered by the FBI in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bathroom, saying that when Democratic officials “start talking about things that look like evidence, [Republicans] want to act like they blind.” She then turned the gas all the way up, motioning to the image she was holding up: “They don't know what this is. These are our national secrets. Looks like—in the shitter to me.”

And she didn’t stop there.

Enjoy.

Crockett: Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Before I begin my questioning, I want to remind everyone that the information recorded in the FBI Form 1023 that my Republican colleagues keep citing is not evidence of anything. This form reflects the years-old secondhand unverified information from a Ukrainian oligarch as relayed to the FBI by a confidential human source. These unverified second-hand allegations have been repeatedly debunked and undermined, including by the confidential human source who relayed this information to the FBI.

The tip, recorded in the Form 1023, was thoroughly explored by the U.S. attorney handpicked by Donald Trump, which was Attorney General William Barr and the assessment was closed. Finally, Devin Archer, Hunter Biden's former business partner who worked with the Ukrainian oligarch in question, told this committee in a transcribed interview in July that he had no knowledge of any such payments allegedly described in this form.

Repeating the same lies will not somehow turn them into truths. Kind of like the election that Trump lost: Say it with me. He lost it. Repeating the same lie that he won wasn't going to turn the election around. The “lost” in this chamber keep pushing lies and lunacy on behalf of a multitime loser. So if we gon’ talk about China, let's go ahead and talk about China.

And let's talk about the dealings. And let me point out the fact that right now each of you has admitted that none of you are fact witnesses. We walked in without facts. And unfortunately, because what we say isn't necessarily evidence, we have wasted the American people's time and we are going to walk out of this chamber, and we still have no facts that are leading to anything.

But let me give y’all a little bit of tea while we're here. So: I have a document that I will ask for unanimous consent to enter into the record. It’s a fact sheet on President Trump's shady business dealings with the Chinese government.

Comer: What are you entering in? A record from who?

Crockett: This is from the Congressional Integrity.

Comer: Congressional Integrity Project, the dark-money PAC. I object. Object to that too.

Crockett: Of course y’all are going to object, but we gon’ talk about it. So it says Trump has extensive financial ties to the Chinese government. President Trump collected millions from Chinese government-owned entities while in office: ‘“I have the best tenants in the world.”President Trump was well aware of the multiple million-dollar lease to Chinese interests. President Trump promised to donate foreign government profits while in office, but he donated less than a third of his proceeds from the Chinese government.

President Trump maintained three foreign bank accounts while in office, including one in China. President Trump's business with China raises legal and ethical concerns. President Trump: “President Xi loves the people of China. He loves his country, and he's doing a very good job.”

Let me tell you something: I don't want to talk about what y’all want to act like is some big mystery because we keep sitting here. And Professor Gerhardt, just just to be clear: As my colleagues have even tried to provide evidence, which they're not the ones to provide evidence. Have you ever heard them say if since we've been sitting here for I don't know how long?

Gerhardt: Yes, I. I've been taking a tally.

Crockett: Oh, okay. Can you show us what the tally is?

Gerhardt: More than 35 times the Republican witnesses and Republican members of the committee have used the word ‘if.’

Crockett: Thank you so much for that. Because honestly, if they would continue to say “if” or “Hunter,” and we were playing a drinking game, I would be drunk by now. Because I promise you, they have not talked about the subject of this, which would be the president. But let me tell you something that was so disturbing as I walked into this chamber today. As I prepared, I said, “What is the crime?”

Because when you're talking about impeachment, you're talking about high crimes or misdemeanors. And I can't seem to find the crime. And honestly, no one has testified of what crime they believe the president of the United States has committed. But when we start talking about things that look like evidence, they want to act like they blind. They don't know what this is.

These are our national secrets. Looks like in the shitter to me. This looks like more evidence of our national secrets—say on a stage at Mar-a-Lago. When we're talking about somebody that’s committed high crimes, it’s at least indictments.  Let's say 32 counts related to unauthorized retention of national security secrets. Seven counts related to obstructing the investigation. Three false statements. One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.Falsifying business records.Conspiracy to defraud the United States.Two counts related to efforts to obstruct the vote certification proceedings. One count of conspiracy to violate civil rights.Twenty-three counts related to forgery or false document statements.Eight counts related to soliciting. And I could go on because he's got 91 counts pending right now.

But I will tell you what the president has been guilty of: He has, unfortunately, been guilty of loving his child unconditionally. And that is the only evidence that they have brought forward. And honestly, I hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child. Until they find some evidence, we need to get back to the people's work, which means keeping this government open so that people don't go hungry in the streets of the United States.

And I will yield.

I could listen to this all day long.

Sign and send the petition: NO to MAGA impeachment. Focus on what matters.

FEMA director-turned-congressman sums up GOP’s day: ‘I know a disaster when I see one’

On Thursday, after Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez deconstructed the through-the-looking-glass nature of the Republican impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, fellow Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida got his five minutes. Wasting no time, Moskowitz brought some real entertainment to the proceedings.

After Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Republican, told Moskowitz it was his “lucky day” to have this time, Moskowitz replied, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it's your lucky day.” Smiling and looking at the underwhelming Republican witnesses, Moskowitz quipped, “What a day we are having here, isn't it? I mean, listen, as a former director of emergency management, I know a disaster when I see one.”

Kapow. Moskowitz went on, saying you didn’t have to take his word for it, and then mentioned the reaction of conservative strategist and convicted criminal Steve Bannon. Bannon, Moskowitz said, was angry that conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley was one of the first Republican witnesses, after Turley testified that nothing the Republican Party has uncovered so far rises to the level of impeachment. Moskowitz turned to the Republicans on the committee and said, “Boy, that is awkward. I mean, look, it's like political impeachment malpractice.”

And Moskowitz was just getting started.

RELATED STORY: Live coverage: Republican impeachment inquiry (Part 2)

From there, Moskowitz proceeded with slides. First, he mentioned that Fox News asked Comer if he could make a solid allegation of bribery against Joe Biden, to which Comer responded, “I hope so.” Moskowitz then brought up Sen. Chuck Grassley’s strange admission (on television, no less): "We [Republicans] are not interested in whether the allegations against Vice President Biden are accurate or not.”

After that, Moskowitz really let loose, and it’s worth quoting at length:

We're all appearing now in the world's worst-acted TV drama, right? It's been picked up for a second season. ‘The Real House Republicans of Oversight.’ You know, perhaps the material is so bad due to the writers' strike. I mean, how many Republicans, Freedom Caucus members, part of the chaos caucus, have said there's no evidence to impeach Joe Biden?

And again, of course, we know it's not about the evidence. Why? Here is a list of all of the articles of impeachment that have been filed by my colleagues, some that are on this committee. When was the first article filed? It was filed in January of ‘21, two weeks after Jan. 6th. So before we had a single hearing, before they went through this myriad of fishing, they were filing articles of impeachment.

Professor Turley, you said this doesn't rise to the level of impeachment and you said they shouldn't prejudge. Well, here’s a list right here of every single member, many on this committee, prejudging. They're filing articles of impeachment: COVID, Afghanistan, Hunter Biden. And they're all one-upping each other in the Donald Trump-friend-Olympics, trying to get invited to the sleepover at Mar-a-Lago. ‘I filed articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland. No, I filed articles of impeachment against Kamala Harris.’ Okay.

It is ridiculous. But this is what this is about. Let me show you. It's a simple board, right? So all other presidents in the United States, 50% of the impeachments, Donald Trump … Donald Trump has half of the impeachments in American history. But you know what? He's got 100% of the indictments, 100% of all indictments. Zero for the other presidents. Listen, let me do it another way. I want to channel my inner Tim Russert. So let me go to the board. Right? And I don't have Florida, but Donald Trump impeachments—oh, how many impeachments we got? How many indictments we got? Four. How many for Biden? Zero, zero.

Donald Trump is right. He's sick of winning. He's just winning, running away with it. And that's why we're here. We're here because of math. That's what this is about. They can't save Donald Trump. They can't take away the two impeachments and the four indictments. But they can try to put some numbers on the board for Joe Biden.

But the problem is, when you sling mud, you’ve got to have mud. And they just don't have anything, Mr. Chairman. So, look, we get it. We know why we're here. That's why they say ‘the Biden family,’ ‘the Bidens,’ ‘James Biden,’ Joe Biden's dog Commander’—but not ‘Joe Biden.’ Never Joe Biden. So when are you going to have the vote on impeachment, Mr. Chairman?

What are you scared of? Call the vote. Come on. If you all think there's so much evidence, we're here. Call the vote on impeachment. Impeach him right now! I dare you!

Oh boy, he got a lot with his five minutes. 

Enough with the weak leadership and MAGA circus. Sign the petition: Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker!

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WATCH: Biden interrupted by climate protester, tells heckler that he will meet him ‘immediately after’ speech

President Biden was briefly interrupted by a climate protester Thursday in Arizona, agreeing to meet with the protester after his speech to discuss climate change if he would "shush up."

The climate protester were pressuring the president to declare a national emergency on the climate crisis, which would unlock sweeping new federal regulations and funds to combat the climate emergency.

"Why have you yet to declare a climate emergency?" the protester yelled, interrupting the president's remarks about protecting democracy and honoring the late Sen. John McCain at Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe. "Hundreds of Arizonans have died."

While some in the crowd shushed and booed the interrupting protester, Biden responded with a calming hand gesture before telling the protesters that he would meet up with them "immediately after this" if they "shush up."

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"If you shush up, I'll meet with you immediately after this," the president said to resounding applause from the crowd.

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Biden continued his remarks, saying, "Democracy is never easy, as we just demonstrated."

Photos from the event show the male heckler being removed from the Tempe Center for the Arts.

IRS agent said CNN has Hunter Biden email where Hunter claimed legal ‘stuff’ would go away under Biden admin

The House Ways and Means Committee released a document on Wednesday showing an IRS agent relaying an inquiry from a CNN producer who claimed to have an email where Hunter Biden said that all of his "stuff" would go away once his father was elected president. To date, the alleged email has never become public. 

"Documents show Hunter Biden and his business associates had access to the White House and Joe Biden’s advisors; Biden business associates were instructed to not ‘mention Joe being involved;’ and official trips to Ukraine line up U.S. government actions and Hunter Biden’s financial bottom line," the Wednesday press release states.

"And, after the IRS began investigating these crimes, Hunter apparently "expected all of this ‘stuff’ to go away when his dad becomes President." 

One of the documents involves IRS public affairs officer Justin Cole emailing two IRS officials involved in criminally investigating Hunter Biden and reporting that a CNN producer has an email from Hunter Biden where the president’s son said he was "not willing to accept" a plea deal and "expected all of this ‘stuff’ to go away when his dad becomes president."

HUNTER BIDEN'S $250K WIRE FROM CHINA LABELED AS A 'PERSONAL INVESTMENT'

It is unclear when the Hunter Biden email was sent.

In another document from the committee, a message from Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud backup on June 6, 2017, shows him talking to his uncle, Jim Biden, about his family’s "brand."

"Bullsh-t James – all around bullsh-t," Hunter Biden wrote. "Explain to me one thing Tony brings to MY table that I so desperately need that I’m willing to sign over my family’s brand and pretty much the rest of my business life? Read the f-cking documents people It’s plane f-cking English. Why in gods name would I give this marginal bully the keys my family’s only asset? Why?"

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In a Wednesday press conference, Rep. Jason Smith said that the "asset" Hunter Biden was referring to "could only be one person, Joe Biden."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and CNN but did not immediately receive a response.

The newly released documents came the night before the House Oversight Committee was set to hold its first impeachment inquiry public hearing into President Biden's overseas ties and possible corruption, where they said they will present all evidence uncovered to date as part of their investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings while examining "the value" of the inquiry.

"The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has uncovered a mountain of evidence revealing how Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain," House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer said in his opening statement. "For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes."