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The chairmen of three House committees sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department accusing Hunter Biden and James Biden of lying in congressional depositions to hide President Biden’s involvement in their lucrative business schemes.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel David Weiss, who is prosecuting Hunter Biden on separate gun and tax crime charges, the lawmakers said the president’s son and younger brother gave false statements to lawmakers in closed-door depositions in February.
Hunter Biden, lawmakers said, also committed perjury.
The three House panels are overseeing an impeachment investigation into Mr. Biden, who they say used the vice presidency to help his family, their associates and himself cash in on foreign deals that netted them at least $35 million, including $8 million in loans.
“Hunter Biden and James Biden provided false testimony to the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate Joe Biden from the duly authorized impeachment inquiry,” Republican lawmakers wrote to Mr. Garland and Mr. Weiss.
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The letter was signed by Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, Missouri Republican and leader of the impeachment probe.
They called on the Justice Department to examine whether Hunter Biden violated the terms of his federal supervised release by providing false testimony and committing perjury in the congressional inquiry.
The president’s son is on trial in Delaware to face three felony gun charges and will soon face separate felony tax fraud charges.
The Justice Department is unlikely to pursue prosecutions against either family member. Mr. Biden has denied involvement in any of his family’s business deals.
The criminal referrals may be the most significant action Republican lawmakers take after a monthslong impeachment investigation.
With a slim majority and upcoming elections, Republicans are unlikely to muster enough votes to impeach Mr. Biden on corruption charges.
Democrats say the Republicans have failed to produce hard evidence of Mr. Biden’s involvement, even though the investigation showed he met with his son’s business associates and spoke to them by phone. He also received loan repayments from his brother that stemmed from business deals his powerful name helped secure.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee, called the criminal referral a “last-ditch effort” to distract from Republicans’ failed impeachment probe.
“After collecting 3.8 million pages of documents and more than 80 hours of testimony from 19 witnesses, they throw up their hands and confess that they have no evidence of any wrongdoing, much less a high crime and misdemeanor by President Biden,” Mr. Raskin said in a statement. “This agonizingly protracted and completely fruitless investigation has proven only that President Biden was not part of, did not profit from, and took no official actions to benefit his family members’ business ventures.”
In the letter to the Justice Department, lawmakers accused Hunter Biden of lying about his involvement in Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a shell company established with associate Devon Archer. In his Feb. 28 testimony, the president’s son claimed he was not affiliated with or in control of the company’s associated bank accounts. The company took in millions of dollars in payments from foreign entities, including much of a $3.5 million wire from a Russian oligarch who met with Vice President Biden.
The lawmakers disclosed documents provided by IRS whistleblowers in which Hunter Biden identified himself as “the duly elected, qualified and acting Secretary of Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.” Additional documents showed Hunter Biden as the “beneficial owner” of a bank account in the name of Rosemont Seneca Bohai.
Hunter Biden, the letter said, “relayed an entirely fictitious account” in his congressional testimony about a threatening text message sent in July 2017 that invoked his father, then former vice president.
Hunter Biden sent the threat via WhatsApp, demanding a $10 million payment from Chinese business partner Henry Zhao. He said his father was sitting next to him.
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter Biden texted Mr. Zhao. “And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.”
Hunter Biden claimed it was a text message misfire to an unrelated associate with the same last name. President Biden denied being present when his son sent the WhatsApp message.
Lawmakers say Hunter Biden lied. They obtained documents and phone records that show “conclusively” that Hunter Biden texted the threat “to the intended individual,” who later wired one of his shell companies $5 million.
Some of the money was funneled to the bank account of James Biden, who used it to pay $40,000 to Mr. Biden, then former vice president. James Biden labeled the money a loan repayment.
Lawmakers say the president’s brother tried to cover up for his brother during congressional testimony, provided separately from Hunter Biden, on Feb. 21.
Lawmakers want the Justice Department to prosecute James Biden for lying about a May 2, 2017, meeting they say he attended with his brother, then former vice president. Also at the meeting were business associate Tony Bobulinski and a Chinese energy company executive.
James Biden testified on Feb. 21 that he did not meet with Mr. Bobulinski and Mr. Biden about a deal with CEFC, an energy company tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
Lawmakers said Mr. Bobulinski and Hunter Biden, as well as text messages provided by Mr. Bobulinski, contradicted the president’s brother and show he did attend the meeting.
Lawmakers called the claim by James Biden “a clumsy attempt to protect Joe Biden from the reality that Joe Biden had indeed met with his family’s business associates.”
Mr. Comer said in a statement that lawmakers caught Hunter Biden and James Biden “making blatant lies to Congress in what appears to be a concerted effort to hide Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s schemes.”
Mr. Comer said the criminal referrals “are only the beginning” of efforts to hold the Bidens accountable.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Devon Archer’s first name.
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