Republicans on the House Oversight Committee quietly sent six subpoenas as part of their investigation into Biden family finances, according to a memo from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Raskin, the ranking member of the committee, wrote in a memo to other Democrats on the committee that Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has issued six subpoenas and sent 39 letters in the Biden investigation.
Subpoenas went to Bank of America, Cathay Bank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC USA N.A. and Mervyn Yan, a former business associate of Hunter Biden. The initial subpoena to HSBC Bank USA N.A. was misaddressed and did not include the word “Bank,” causing Comer to issue the subpoena a second time with the correct name.
Raskin previously disclosed the Bank of America subpoena to the public in a letter to Comer last month.
The memo accuses Comer of breaking longstanding committee precedent in issuing the subpoenas privately and not giving the minority proper notice.
“Committee Republicans’ decision to conduct this probe behind a veil of secrecy runs counter to the Committee’s traditional commitment to transparency and raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation,” Raskin said.
The memo comes as Raskin sent Comer a letter on Thursday alleging that he has withheld evidence or misled the public about the witnesses who Republicans have spoken to in relation to the investigation into Biden family finances. He said he was concerned with a statement from Comer that committee Republicans had spoken with four witnesses in the investigation.
“Your repeated statements about ‘four people’ suggest that either you have intentionally misrepresented the Committee’s investigative progress to your conservative audience or that key investigative steps have been deliberately withheld from Committee Democrats,” Raskin said in the letter.
The subpoenas cover financial records for six people and at least 10 entities and in “most cases” cover more than 14 years.
Comer said in a statement to The Hill that Raskin disclosed the subpoenas “in a cheap attempt to thwart cooperation from other witnesses.”
“Given his antics with the first bank subpoena, the American people and media should be asking what information Ranking Member Raskin is trying to hide this time. No one should be fooled by Ranking Member Raskin’s games,” he said.
Emily Brooks contributed reporting.