Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) pointed out what she thought the House Oversight Committee “should be prosecuting” as she shifted the focus of a hearing on the Biden family and called into question former President Donald Trump receiving payments from China in 2017.
The first-term Democrat, in remarks at the hearing Wednesday, called on the Republican-led committee to look at the payments as she read from an NBC News report on Trump’s tax returns that went public in December.
“We should be looking at the fact that ‘in 2017, Trump’s first year in office, he also made $6.5 million from China, his tax returns show,’” she said, adding that the source of the payments “is not clear from the returns.”
“‘The payments were a surprise since Trump is an outspoken critic of the $5.8 million Hunter Biden made in business deals with Chinese interests while his father, now-President Joe Biden, was out of office.’ The difference is, Trump was the president when he made this money from China whereas — I’m sure you would agree with me — Hunter Biden has always been a private citizen.”
Crockett’s comments arrived in a hearing that featured two IRS whistleblowers alleging that the Department of Justice pursued weaker charges than they recommended for Hunter Biden, who the pair was investigating for tax crimes.
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) pushed back at Crockett’s remarks and asked what Hunter Biden did “to receive the money from China.”
“I think I know what Trump’s businesses were, I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I just know what his businesses are. I don’t know what the Bidens’ businesses are,” Comer said in response.