House GOP seeks records of Hunter Biden's relationship with Russian oligarch

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed bank records detailing Hunter Biden's relationship with a Russian oligarch a decade ago.

Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., authorized the subpoenas seeking bank records for a Hunter Biden-connected firm called Rosemont Seneca Thornton, Biden business partner Devon Archer, and Russian businesswoman Yelena Baturina, according to sources directly familiar with the subpoenas.

Archer and Biden's relationship with Baturina has long been a focus of controversy and resulted in banks flagging some other transactions. Comer's subpoena signals the committee is examining the relationship more closely as it follows the money trail laid out in bank reports known as suspicious activity reports (SARs).

Just the News reported more than a year ago that documents obtained by the FBI during its prosecution of Archer for fleecing an Indian tribe indicated that Baturina had done more than $200 million in business transactions with firms connected to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer.

The younger Biden's dealing with Baturina coincided with the Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine that ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych as well as Biden's dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma. In memos at the time, Biden's business partners expressed concern that the 2014 annexation of Crimea could have derailed their operations.

Nonetheless, Hunter secured an invitation for Baturina and her husband, former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, to attend a 2015 dinner with his then-Vice President father.

The subpoenas come as the Oversight Committee ratchets up its investigations of the Biden family and its business dealings. The committee recently was able to view a form FD-1023 alleging that that the head of Burisma brought Hunter Biden on the board of the company to secure his father's aid in removing a prosecutor investigating the firm, for which he ultimately paid two Biden family members millions.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.