James Biden denied brother met with business associates, said loans from Joe Biden are undocumented

James Biden told impeachment investigators on Wednesday – in the face of contradictory witness testimony – that his brother, Joe Biden, never met with business associates, according to a source familiar with his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.

Biden also told the committee there was no documentation for the two loans he claims were provided to him by his brother, which the committee says he repaid with funds from two separate business ventures, one with the failing healthcare company Americore and the other with Hunter Biden’s joint venture with CEFC China Energy.

The impeachment inquiry is reaching a climax. James Biden is the first member of the Biden family to testify and an interview with Hunter Biden is expected later this month.

Democrats have increasingly criticized the probe as it approaches its late stages, arguing that the Republican impeachment investigators have failed to prove that Joe Biden either benefitted from, had knowledge of, or participated in any part of his family’s business deals. Indeed, James Biden's testimony appears to have provide little in the way of new information in the House Republicans' probe. 

Joe Biden and the White House have repeatedly claimed that he never met with his son’s business partners and that he was not involved with his son’s business dealings in any way.

“First of all, I have never discussed with my son, or my brother, or anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses, period,” Biden said on the campaign trail in 2019.

James Biden reportedly echoed these claims in his testimony before the Oversight Committee. He specifically denied his brother had ever met with any business associates, according to a source familiar with the testimony.

However, this claim appears to contradict the transcribed interview of another impeachment witness, Tony Bobulinski, who told congressional investigators last week that he met with Joe Biden in May 2017 in Los Angeles and that James Biden was present.

The president’s brother also addressed the circumstances surrounding two alleged loans from Joe Biden which the committee argues he repaid with funds coming from his business ventures: one for $200,000 and another for $40,000.

Biden confirmed to the committee that he kept no documentation for the loans he says were provided by his brother and that he was not charged interest, according to a source familiar with the testimony.

He claims that he obtained the loans by contacting the law firm Monzack Mersky and Browder—Joe Biden’s personal lawyers—and requesting money directly from his brother’s accounts. Former Hunter Biden business partner Rob Walker used this same law firm to open his personal LLC which was involved in the joint venture with the Chinese energy company CEFC.

One of the two loans came from the distressed rural hospital operator, Americore. James Biden purportedly served in a consulting role with the company. The Oversight Committee first identified Americore as the source of a series of loans to James Biden, some of which, the committee argues, were used to send a payment to his brother Joe Biden. In total, the committee found $600,000 in loans to the younger Biden from the healthcare company.

One of the loans – for $200,000 – was sent to James Biden’s personal bank account by the company. On the very same day, he sent a payment for the exact same amount to his brother, Joe Biden, labeled as a "loan repayment." The committee argues that the transfer from Americore funded the payment to Joe Biden even as the company was in dire financial straits.

According to bankruptcy court documents regarding Americore, James Biden had made representations to the company 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.”

Carol Fox, the trustee who represented Americore during its bankruptcy proceedings, told the impeachment investigators in a transcribed interview she could neither determine what role James Biden played nor identify any paperwork backing up the loans made to him from the struggling company in 2018. As a fiduciary representing the Americore estate, Fox sued Biden because he failed to repay the $600,000 total in loans he received even as the company was struggling to stay afloat.

James Biden was also closely involved in Hunter Biden’s relationship with CEFC China Energy according to emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop and impeachment testimony from a variety of other witnesses. It was from this source that James Biden collected funds, some of which he used to repay the second loan from his brother.

Biden reportedly told investigators he was not part of the deal between CEFC and his nephew and his partners. However, a source familiar with the interview told Just the News that when presented with a business agreement he signed, he changed his story, saying that he did not recall signing it.

James Biden told the FBI in a 2022 interview that he and Hunter Biden worked to help CEFC secure an investment in U.S. natural gas facilities and that he met with CEFC’s chairman, Ye Jianming, at least one time. He told the FBI he “became aware of CEFC in and around early 2017 through” Hunter Biden, according to the summary provided to Congress by the IRS whistleblowers last year.

However, evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop and documents uncovered by the Oversight Committee show that Hunter Biden’s work for CEFC began as early as 2015, during his father’s vice presidency. In fact, James Biden told investigators that his nephew received a diamond from the Chinese energy company as part of its effort to secure a business deal with the son of the vice president, according to a source familiar with the testimony.

One email from 2017 shortly after Joe Biden left office and obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop by the New York Post showed that James Biden stood to benefit directly from the deal. He was listed in a proposed equity split related to the joint venture Hunter Biden and his partners were trying to establish with CEFC, according to the Post.

The Bidens’ work with CEFC would result in millions of dollars in payments to them: including a $3 million “thank you” payment in March 2017, a $5 million loan in August 2017 and a $1 million legal retainer fee to Hunter Biden from CEFC official Patrick Ho after he was indicted on bribery charges, according to documents gathered by Congress and federal prosecutors.

It was a cut of these funds that James Biden used to repay his brother for a second, $40,000 loan. In August 2017, Northern International Capital, a company affiliated with CEFC China Energy, wired $5 million to a company owned by Hunter Biden, according to the Oversight Committee.

Later that same month, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 to Lion Hall Group, a company owned by his uncle James and his wife, Sarah Biden. Shortly after, Sarah Biden withdrew $50,000 from the company and disposed in to a personal account. From there she wrote a check for $40,000 to the family patriarch, ostensibly to repay the loan.

James Biden’s interview with congressional investigators also confirmed that he received more than $1 million in loans from Democratic Party donors, yet has not repaid the significant sums owed.

James Biden reportedly received $800,000 from donor Joey Langston and $900,000 from John Hynansky, owing $400,000 and $100,000 back, respectively, according to a source familiar with Biden’s interview.

Biden also received $225,000 in loans from businessman Michael Lewitt, which were forgiven completely. Lewitt is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading investors. The court records show that the charges against Lewitt stem in part from a deal that James Biden was involved in, though he is not named in the documents, according to NBC News.