Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., accused the Treasury Department of blocking the House Oversight Committee from obtaining key bank records related to the Biden family's business dealings. Comer said on "Fox & Friends First" Tuesday the committee has always been able to obtain Suspicious Activity Reports, but the Biden administration changed the rule after taking office.
JAMES COMER: We're just going to get answers as to why the Treasury Department is blocking the House Oversight Committee from getting this information. The previous three administrations, in the Bush administration, Obama administration and the Trump administration, any time the chairman of the House Oversight Committee requested these bank violations from Treasury, they provided access to them. But when Joe Biden first became president, for some reason early on, he changed the rule and blocked Congress from having access to this. At the time, very few in Congress knew what a suspicious activity report was, and nobody in Congress knew that his family had between 150 and 200 of these bank violations, which, by the way, is probably a record for a single family with respect to these types of bank violations. But we want answers.
Comer, R-Ky., is calling on Isabella More, the deputy assistant secretary for oversight at Treasury, to testify on March 10 "about the department’s failure to produce documents."
In a letter last week, Comer noted how the committee’s investigation into Biden’s alleged involvement in his family’s business practices requires it to review Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) generated by Biden family members’ "unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions."
"During the Committee’s dialogue with Treasury, you have made several excuses for Treasury’s delay regarding this production," Comer told More. "Given the amount of time that has passed since our initial request and Treasury’s inability to provide a projected timeframe when the SARs will be produced, the Committee believes Treasury may be delaying its production to hinder our investigation and operating in bad faith."
The letter says the Treasury has been aware of the committee’s interests in SARs related to the Biden family since the last Congress, noting House Republicans wrote the department on May 25, July 6, July 14, and Nov. 17 of last year. Again on Jan. 11, 2023, the committee wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen requesting access to those SARs, but Comer said the department waited until the Jan. 25 deadline to respond, only sending a letter that provided "none of the information requested by the committee."
Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
