Hunter Biden knew the identities of 70 percent of his “anonymous” art buyers after the White House claimed Hunter was “not involved in the sale or discussions about the sale of his art,” and that Hunter will not be “informed” of “who is purchasing his art,” the House Oversight Committee found Tuesday.
Hunter’s art sales worry Republicans due to the often nefarious nature of the art world:
- Money laundering is a major issue in the industry, according to a 2020 Senate report.
- Some Republicans believe the Biden business laundered money.
The revelations show “no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in a statement. “Biden had no knowledge of, or role in, these art sales.”
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said the White House “appears to have deceived” about the art sales.
“Hunter Biden’s gallerist never had any communication with the White House about such an agreement to make sure there was any sort of ethics compliance at all, and he provided information to the committee revealing how Hunter Biden’s amateur art career is an ethics nightmare,” he said in a statment obtained by Breitbart News. “The White House has a lot of explaining to do about misleading the American people.”
"Bergès stated that he has talked on the phone and met in-person with @JoeBiden, even attending the wedding the Bidens hosted at the @WhiteHouse [for @NaomiBiden]."https://t.co/x4qEz51XrD https://t.co/3BimPWQuUm pic.twitter.com/4KPYRO5t5Q
— Marco Polo (@MarcoPolo501c3) January 9, 2024
Hunter’s art dealer, Georges Bergès, who owns a New York art gallery, recently sat for an interview with House impeachment inquiry. Hunter knew the vast majority of the individuals who bought his art, Bergès admitted to Comer. The buyers include Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali and Kevin Morris, the Messenger reported:
The second source said Bergès never disclosed to Hunter Biden who the buyers of his artwork were. Bergès affirmed he did not target Democratic donors to sell Hunter Biden’s paintings and that most of the buyers were not donors. The first source confirmed that it appears Hunter Biden found out about the buyers on his own, without Bergès revealing the identities.
Naftali paid $42,000 in February 2021, while Morris paid Hunter $875,000 for artwork in January 2023, the committee said.
Naftali is a prominent Biden donor and Biden appointee to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. It is unknown if Naftali’s purchase occurred before or after her appointment to that position.
Morris, who emerged last year as a main character in the Biden congressional probe, is highly entangled with the Biden business:
- Morris controls his client’s ten percent stake in a Chinese state-backed fund, BHR Partners, Just the News reported in October, confirming Breitbart News’ exclusive report in April.
- Morris paid Hunter’s IRS debts and reportedly let him a total of 4.9 million for housing, car payments, and legal fees.
“I don’t know where I would be if not for Kevin,” Hunter told Los Angeles Times last week. “And I don’t mean just because he has loaned me money to survive this onslaught, I mean because he has given me back my dignity. He’s been a brother to me.”
It is unclear how Hunter is paying his reported $10 million in legal fees or under what terms Morris controls the stake in BHR Partners, an entity with billions currently invested around the globe.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
