GOP asks for records from Biden's family on business deals

House Republicans made the first official requests Thursday for documents from Hunter and James Biden regarding their foreign business dealings, further escalating a wide-ranging investigation into the president's family.

Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter; the president's brother, James; and their former business manager seeking documents and communications related to foreign business pursuits “with individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party.”

“If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision making, this is a threat to national security,” Comer said in a prepared statement.

The letters are the most recent action by Republicans in pursuit of the Biden family for what they have alleged is “influence peddling,” but have so far failed to produce evidence supporting those claims.

The broad requests include any record “designated classified” and communications between the president or James Biden and his wife, Sara Jones Biden, and Hunter Biden from Jan. 20, 2009, regarding travel and financial activity.

A lawyer for Hunter Biden dismissed the request Thursday as an effort by Comer to peddle his own “inaccurate and baseless conclusions under the guise of a real investigation.”

“As your Letter is a sweeping attempt to collect an expansive array of documents and communications from President Biden and his family, I write to explain that the Committee on Oversight and Accountability lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and oversight basis for requesting such records from Mr. Biden, who is a private citizen,” attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter to the committee.

Shortly after taking over control of the House, Republicans, led by Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, launched a series of sprawling inquiries into the president's family, sending records requests to nearly every government agency.

Last month, Comer wielded the power of the new Republican House majority to seek information from the Treasury Department about financial transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged as suspicious activity. Those reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government, and are not evidence on their own of misconduct.