NTD News Today Live Coverage: House Oversight Cmte Examines Pres. Biden's Role in Family Business

[Music] this is NTD news today live from our NT Global headquarters here are Stephania Cox and Chris beers hi I'm David lamb sitting in for Chris beers and we begin this hour with coverage of a house hearing looking into the Biden family's business dealings the oversight and accountability committee wants to know if President Biden previously played a role in his family's business Affairs that would constitute influence pedaling today we're expecting to hear from two of Hunter Biden's former business associates Tony balinsky is slated to appear in person and Jason galanis from jail via video the president's son will not appear his attorney cited a scheduling conflict for Hunter Biden a court hearing tomorrow in California where the younger Biden is currently fending off three felony and six M misdemeanor tax charges his attorney called the house Committee hearing a carnival Sideshow it comes on the heels of a closed door deposition with Hunter Biden which he resisted attending saying he would only testify publicly House Republicans have long held that the president actively participated in his family members business schemes they point to testimony from his son's former Associates as evidence they also said the closed door testimony was productive let's tune in for more want to welcome everyone here this morning without objection the chair May declare a recess at any time without objection chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Mr Jason Smith of Missouri Representative Matt Gates of Florida and representative Eric swell from California are waved on to the committee for the purpose of questioning the witnesses at today's Committee hearing for today's hearing opening statements will be limited to 10 minutes for the chair and 10 minutes for the ranking member the chair also notes that points of order pertaining to the engaging of personalities against the president will not be in order for the duration of today's hearing given that this is a hearing regarding this committee's impeachment inquiry members must be allowed to speak frankly wellou the chairel recognizes himself for an opening statement today the house committee on oversight will hear from Witnesses who have previously provided information during our deposition and interview phase regarding the Biden fames business practices in China Ukraine Russia and other places places around the world at the start of this Congress the oversight committee has investigated what product or service the Biden family and their Associates were selling that would justify over $24 million in payments we've reviewed emails bank records text messages suspicious activity reports at Treasury and other evidence normally compiled during an expansive investigation such as this the oversight committee has found no credible evidence of the Biden providing any work product the committee has identified no legitimate value or document or even one single hour of work the bidens have provided their business partners nothing what is apparent after over a year of Investigation is that the bidens do not work in any traditional sense of the word they do not work as consultants or lawyers or advisers the bidens don't sell a product or service or a set of skills the bidens sell Joe Biden that is their business for months we have heard Democrats desperately proclaiming that Witnesses have told this committee that Joe Biden had no involvement in his family's business dealings but where are those Witnesses today it's telling Democrats haven't invited one of these witnesses to today's hearing that's because they know their testimonies would not withstand public scrutiny Democrats have relied on these Witnesses opening statements and have willfully turned a blind eye to the facts that have come out of in these interviews once the Witnesses were questioned about our record of evidence Democrats now must rely on bringing in a distraction witness to talk about nonsense and who can't talk about any of the facts brought by today's Witnesses who worked with the bidens now President Biden cannot control his adult son he cannot control his brother his sister-in-law or his nine family members who have received money from these transactions all President Biden can do is control his own actions and that is what we are here today to discuss with the witnesses because in the course of this investigation we have learned that Joe Biden has taken action after action to further his family's plans to get rich he shows up to meetings gets on phone calls shakes hands and tells people to quote look after my family he goes to dinners with foreign oligarchs and a Ukrainian executive paying his son millions of dollars he gets paid with money from Chinese businessmen who he has meetings with and tells other business associates he'll see what he can do to help their situations he writes letters of recommendation for foreign business associates children the scam is simple the Biden family promises they can make a foreign partner's problems go away by engaging the US government the problems can be anything a Ukrainian corruption investigation moving Russian money to the United States a Romanian criminal prosecution access for China to American energy sources Joe shows up shakes a few hands in front of his son and says quote take care of my boy or something similar and the money flows to the tune of tens of millions of dollars it's done over and over again the Biden family promises Joe's power Joe Biden shows up and millions of dollars come into the Biden's Pockets Joe Biden is the family's closer how could he not be the bidens aren't doing any other work for these foreign companies that would warrant tens of millions of dollarss there are only two explanations for this the first is that Joe Biden knows exactly what he's doing and knows a handshake a wink and a smile is enough for him to maintain as Jim Biden famously calls it plausible deniability or Joe Biden is being led around by his family and has no idea who he's meeting with or what message he is sending and is truly an elderly man with a poor memory there's no other explanation either Joe Biden is complicit or Joe Biden is incompetent since becoming chairman of this Committee in January 2023 I've promised the investigation into the Biden family's influence pedling would be based on bank records witness Terror testimony and verifiable facts after years the Democrats using this committee as a mouthpiece for every conspiracy theory they could find like the Russian collusion hoax under my leadership the committee has returned to real investigations if Democrats want to spend another Russian h I will ask them to answer one question what services did the bidens provide to earn them and their business associates over $24 million what did they do for the money Democrats have the same back bank records as we do and bank records do not lie the witnesses today are here to talk about Joe Biden Republicans are here to talk about Joe Biden if Democrats wish to spend their time beling themselves with another Russian collusion hoax for the sake of Protecting President Biden they can do so as I said I would have invited Hunter Biden here today to sit alongside his business associates and provide his side of the story Hunter de Hunter Biden demanded a public hearing I've given him one maybe he will show up he said he isn't but he loves saying one thing and doing another at some point Hunter Biden saying one thing and doing another begins to re reflect poorly on his ability to tell the truth at all but this hearing is not about Hunter Biden this investigation is not about Hunter Biden it's about Joe Biden and the lies he continues to to tell the American people with that I yield to ranking member Smith or chairman Smith thank you chairman comr and ranking member Rasin from the beginning of this investigation we've made clear that we will follow the facts wherever they lead the facts have led us to two conclusions one the Biden family has for years traded on Joe Biden's name in order to rake in millions of dollars often doing so with his direct knowledge and clear involvement two President Biden has been continually dishonest with the American people about his knowledge of his family's business dealings we have testimony from multiple witnesses that Joe Biden was the brand he knew what his son and brother were doing and did nothing to stop it that alone makes him complicit in a scheme to make money off of his public service but he was not just complicit he was as one of today's Witnesses has testified an enabler of this activity the evidence of the two IRS whistle blowers who came to the Ways and Means Committee has been affirmed by volumes of material provided to Congress by the testimony of others and even by the Department of Justice who finally brought charges against Hunter Biden that mirror those called for by the IRS investigators the evidence obtained shows that one Joe Biden met with his son's business partners on multiple occasions he used an alias to exchange dozens of emails with his son's bookkeeper he took official government action that suspiciously coincided with those meetings and correspondents the connections between Joe Biden and his son's business practices extended even to the Biden 2020 campaign at the height of the Democrat primary Kevin Morris a Hollywood lawyer who met Hunter Biden at a Joe Biden campaign fundraiser paid off Hunter Biden's tax liabilities because there was in his words quote risk personally and politically if that matter was not swept under the rug investigators that were interested in pursuing a potential criminal campaign violation were told to stand down the Biden family relied on the Biden brand so much that evidence has revealed that Hunter Biden believed that quote all this stuff meaning his legal troubles would all go away when his dad became president why did he believe that because for years the Biden family has personally benefited from Joe Biden's position of power Joe Biden knew this he did nothing to stop it and he lied about it I yield to Jim Jordan chairman Jordan uh I think the gentleman who planted the pipe bombs on January 6 nobody seems to know who leaked the Do's draft opinion you know the leak that led to an assassination attempt on Justice C how about this one who left cocaine at the White House Biden Administration doesn't seem to have time to answer these questions they're too busy investigating parents at Schoolboard meetings labeling Catholics extremist retaliating against whistleblowers they're too busy putting together a sweetheart deal for Hunter Biden a deal that got laughed out of court and oh the guy who put together the deal that got laughed out of court that's the guy they name special counsel you know what Democrats do have time for going after president Trump they've been doing it for eight years they spied on his campaign then it was the Mueller investigation 19 lawyers 40 agents $30 million and found nothing then it was impeachment then it was raid's home then it was a special counsil then it was the 14th Amendment the party of democracy said we're going to keep the guy off the bot who's leading in every single poll the ranking member said that President Trump should be disqualified from even running for office thank goodness we have a supreme court who disagreed with the ranking member and the Democrats nine to zero not 54 not 63 not 72 not 81 9 to0 they disagreed now Democrats say how dare how dare Republicans investigate Joe Biden how dare they look into the money the business and the brand millions of dollars as the chairman said millions of dollars from foreign entities run through 20 different companies for what wasn't I mean 20 different companies for what Deon Archer told us what it was for access to the brand and the brand was Joe Biden the brand that played rounds of golf took calls and meetings attended lunches and dinners with Hunter Biden and his business Partners the brand that said the brand that conditioned one million1 billion dollar of American tax money on the firing of the prosecutor pressuring the company Hunter Biden sat on the board of and all by the way was getting paid a million bucks a year today we're going to learn more about that brand we're going to learn more about what Mr galanis called the Biden lift we'll learn about the plausible deniability that Jim Biden talked to Mr balinsky about and we'll hear about the statement the rule that governed how the business operated around Joe Biden the rule that said say it forget it write it regret it so I want to thank our Witnesses for coming here today they like the whistleblowers who came to the Ways and Means Committee are doing it simply because they want the American people to have the truth I yield back Gman yields back chair now recognizes the ranking member for 12 minutes for his opening statement Mr chair chman thank you very kindly um with any luck today marks the end of perhaps the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations the effort to find a high crime or misdemeanor committed by Joe Biden and then to impeach him for it in Prior hilarious episodes of this long-running mad cap series America got to see the following one nearly 20 fact Witnesses who couldn not identify a single act of wrongdoing by President Biden much less a high crime and misdemeanor and who overwhelmingly testified that Biden was not involved in any of his family's business adventures two three expert Witnesses called by the majority itself who said nothing that they had seen in the tens of thousands of pages of documents uh uced by the majority even remotely approach the level of a high crime in misdemeanor bank records would show exactly what all the witnesses told us that Joe Biden was not involved in his family members businesses repeated wiris displays of pornographic images by the majority completely irrelevant to any conceivable legislative or investigative purpose a star witness Galu who turned out to be a Chinese agent and an illegal arms trafficker on the run from American Justice and the key piece of evidence which launched the entire zany goose chase an FD 1023 form in which the FBI duly recorded a completely fictional tip about a $5 million bribe to Vice President Biden pedal by Alex smof who has been criminally indicted by a trump appointed us attorney special counsel David Weiss for felony counts of systematically lying to the FBI in constructing a false record about Joe Biden and now sits in jail in California as a Flight Risk while the world studies his long-standing and extensive ties to Russian intelligence today the good chairman and his Ace magga detectives have finally jumped the shark The Comedy of Errors comes crashing to an end as House Republicans in more than a dozen Biden districts beg for mercy and the committee throws a flabby Hail Mary pass three weeks after the Super Bowl's over so today we revisit the fruitless testimony of two more fading star Witnesses who have failed to testify to any presidential wrongdoing much less evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors both of the majority Witnesses are frustrated would be business partners of Hunter Biden who tried to Leverage The Biden name or the Biden brand as they keep calling it but they never got any business off the ground for reasons that will become painfully obvious to anyone watching the proceedings today even Hunter Biden laboring at the time under a serious substance abuse addiction could tell these were not the type of people he should be doing business with so rather than representing the Biden brand which was their Ardent wish they now show up today as loyal Servants of Trump World each of them proudly represented by their very own former Trump White House attorney the first is Mr balinski the bitterly disappointed wannabe Hunter business partner who famously litigious history includes unsuccessfully suing his own dying father's charity for nearly a million dollars and just last month suing Cassidy Hutchinson for $10 million after she reported that Mr balinsky wearing a ski mask met with Mark Meadows which Miss Hutcherson is now backed up with actual documentary photographic evidence something in very short supply in this investigation Mr balinsky made his hazy allegations against the bidens public for the first time at a press conference choreographed by the Trump for president Campaign which provided him a venue a gagle of journalists and even a dress shirt that they went out and bought for him uh to wear to the event hours later Mr balinsky joined the second 2020 presidential debate as Donald Trump's personal guest where he was seated with Kid Rock in Mark Meadows the other star witness Mr galanis who I believe is appearing by Zoom today is a Serial fraudster and convicted conman a term I would charitably not use on a witness except it was explicitly bestowed upon him by not one but two different US federal district court judges including the one who sensed him to over 15 years in prison for defrauding Union Pension funds a Native American tribe and scores of innocent investors Mr ganis was sentenced to pay restitution of over $80 million to his victims that's a lot of money that's what Donald Trump was sentenced to pay uh e Carrol for in that civil litigation the very first record of Mr galan's claims against the Biden family appeared check this out in the clemency petition that he sent from prison to president Trump um but the key point is this even if we were to believe every single word offered by these utterly compromised and biased Witnesses Mr balinski Mr ganis their allegations don't identify any wrongdoing much less an impeachable offense by President Biden with the impeachment bus running on empty our go colleagues now are apparently preparing to say face by ending the impeachment farce with criminal referrals but criminal referrals require evidence of crimes and the only crimes we have seen are those of the gop's own star Witnesses like Russian asset Alex smof Chinese agent gal Loft Devin Archer and Jason galanis the minority witness today our witness Lev parnos casts a piercing light on what's really taking place here and mros has reason to know he too used to be a mega sycophant pedaling lies and disinformation to smear Joe Biden today he joins a long line of self Exiles from Trump World who could no longer stomach all the corruption and deceit people like Cassidy Hutchinson people like Michael Cohen Sarah Matthews Alysa Griffin General James mat Mattis the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Millie General John Kelly and now Vice President Mike Pence who refused to endorse for president the man he served with but we do have loyal sycophants still in the room and one day I look forward to hearing their testimony about how they got sunk into this religious cult Mr parnos wrote chairman comr and me a remarkable letter on July 23rd 2023 this is the first time I'm meeting him today he was Rudy giuliani's right-hand man his glob trotting business partner and like language interpreter in the mission to manufacture Ukraine and barisma related dirt and smears against Joe Biden in 2018 and 2019 he spent all of his time traveling around the world trying to Stage uh evidence against Joe Biden in his letter parnos explains that the desperate search to find evidence of any kind of Biden corruption was a complete and total bust because there was no evidence to find he wrote to tell us that not only is there no evidence in Ukraine that Joe Biden did anything improper but more Darkly the manic search for a Smoking Gun against Biden became a mission to invent and concoct evidence out of thin air with the active help of Russian intelligence assets and agents Russ a man yeah I'm getting to Russia you haven't heard anything yet Mr chairman a man who who has reckoned with his own moral descent into Trump World Lev Paras is ashamed of what he did to serve the interests of Russian propaganda and Putin's lies and he wants America to know the truth he can explain how the Russian stimulated conspiracy theories and lies that he promoted with Rudy Giuliani live on in the tiresome fabrication spread by Alex smof and now repeat heed by this committee like Pavlov's dog at every turn my colleagues cry Russia hoax even in the face of repeated warnings from Donald Trump's own treasury secretary and secretary of state from the intelligence Community from Robert Mueller and most recently from special counsil Weiss who was named to office by Donald Trump as secretary minuchin stated quote Russian disinformation campaigns targeting American citizens are a threat to our democrac y That's secretary minuchin someone that you guys usually defend but my GOP colleagues continue to cry Russia hoax like cult members selling flowers at the airport our colleagues are the ones loyally amplifying the actual Russian hoax not the Russia hoax the Russian hoax the one that Giuliani and Trump and smof have eagerly eagerly adopted from Putin and his agents they participate in this while they shamefully block $60 billion in military assistance to president zinski and the besieged Ukrainian people five years after Trump and Giuliani tried to shake president zilinski down for counterfeit dirt on Joe Biden and while they continue to Parrot these transparent Russian lies Vladimir Putin wages his bloody aggressive war on Ukraine filled with atrocities like the mass kidnapping of children and the rape and Slaughter of civilians the mega right's wholesale adoption of this Russian hoax and their sellout of the Ukrainian people by the mega right is an historic betrayal of democracy freedom and the rule of law but the defense of democracy begins with Fidelity to the truth and the oversight Democrats America's truth Squad against this disinformation is here today to set the record straight I yield back to you Mr chairman I would now like to introduce our Witnesses Mr Tony balinski Mr balinski was a business partner of Hunter Biden in a joint venture between a Chinese energy entity CFC Mr balitsky sat for a transcribed interview with the committee on February 13 2024 Mr Lev parnis Mr parnis uh was not a business associate of the Biden family uh Mr Paris is an entrepreneur a political activist and an author and Mr Jason galanis Mr galanis was a business partner of Hunter Biden Mr ganana sent for a transcribed interview with this committee on February 23rd 2024 we asked the Bureau of Prisons to make him available in person today they would only provide Mr galanis for virtual testimony notably Mr galanis applied for cares act home confinement and after a lengthy approval process was approved for home confinement on June 9th 2023 3 on June 12th 2023 I issued a subpoena to Deon Archer for testimony on the following day June 13th 2023 Mr galan's approval was reversed as a result of Department of Justice's intervention so Mr ganus is remained in a federal prison facility is currently in Montgomery Alabama Mr galanis can you please State for the record who else is in the room with you uh yes chairman uh my Council and adviser uh uh Mark Peta uh and Nicholas wise thank you Pursuit it to committee rule 9 G the witnesses will please stand and raise the right hand do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God let the record show that the witnesses all answered in the affirmative thank you you all may be SE we appreciate you all being here today and look forward to your testimony let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record please limit your oral statements to 5 minutes as a reminder please press the button on the microphone in front of you so that it is on and members can hear you when you begin to speak the light in front of you will turn green after 4 minutes the light will turn yellow and when the red light comes on your 5 minutes is expired and we would ask that you would please uh wrap it up as quickly as possible I now recognize Mr balinsky for his opening statement should I allow Hunter to give his opening statement first well uh doesn't appear Mr Biden showed up for his public hearing so we'll recognize you Mr balinsky thank you Mr chairman chairman ranking members and members of Congress good morning thank you for this opportunity to speak with you and present my truthful testimony to the American people I sit here today under oath for one reason and one reason only the American people deserve to hear the truth though the truth involving the Deep Corruption of the Biden family including the malfant of the sitting president of the United States might be raw and unpleasant the American people must hear it you're presented here today with two narratives in this investigation a false one being pushed by Joe Biden a Serial liar and fabulous now under this impeachment investigation for public corruption his brother Jim Biden a 75-year-old man who can't keep his lies straight including under oath and his son Hunter Biden a chronic drug addict facing two indictments with 12 counts you also have before you the truth confirmed by multiple Biden family business partners over many years and backed up by mountains of irrefutable evidence including text messages emails documents recordings I am the only Biden family business partner with an impeccable military record I'm grateful that this country has given me the freedom to be successful I worked hard hard to become independently wealthy I've taken several businesses public sold multiple businesses to some of the world's best private Equity firms in fact my business success is why they sought me out however what they have done is repugnant to me I am here today because I'm a patriot and I'm a truth teller we keep hearing from certain Corners that our democracy is at risk and democracy on the ballot in 2 24 yet the same people preaching this Mantra know better they continue to Li directly to the Amic people without hesitation and remorse rep Dan Goldman and Jamie Rasin both lawyers and Mr Goldman a former prosecutor with the stny from New York will continue to lie today in this hearing and then go straight to the media to tell more lies Hunter Biden's defense attorney ABY LOL weaponizes letters to Congress to try to smear my name the cold heart facts Mr chairman in an attempt to save his powerfully connected client and his father I challenge Mr LOL to make those claims on National Television so he can be held accountable for his lies prior to my successful business career I was an officer in the United States Navy at Navy's Elite Naval nuclear power training command I later served as a chief uh the commands Chief technology officer please proceed I apologize for the disruption from the okay am I supposed to say It's My Time Mr Rasin yeah but please Mr Bob liny please okay come to order uh Mr balitsky Mr balitsky please proceed please proceed I apologize for the disruption from the minority okay well Mr chairman it save his time but he called members of this committee liars and I just want to know whether the order and Quorum requirements of house rule 11 apply to Witnesses appearing before the committee uh do does it apply or does it not should I address I don't there's hardl there's decorum from the members we've asked for that there's no language that I'm aware of pertaining to a witness thank you so so uh don't make sure we didn't uh waste any of his time on the opening statement Mr balisy I'm sorry for the disruption please continue your open statement I think uh you Mr asking use we'll make sure okay great I just want to restate uh make sure the American people hear all these facts ABY L weaponizes letters to Congress to try to smear my name and misstate the cold hard facts in an attempt to save his powerfully connected client and his father I challenge Mr LOL to make those claims on National Television so he can be held accountable for his lies um prior to my successful business career I was an officer for over six years in the United States Navy's Elite Naval nuclear nuclear power training command as a decorated Master training specialist I later served as the Commander's Chief technology officer where I held a h security clearance from the Department of energy and the NSA when I left nuclear power training command I was the number one ranked direct input officer in the entire command and then I jumped into the business world and public markets while I have made a few contributions over the years to Democrats such as representative R I don't see him but I hope he shows up today um he sits on the Democratic side of the oversight committee I'm not a political person I came I come from a family with a long history of distinguished service and our nation's military including my father both of my grandfathers and my brother all of whom were willing to sacrifice their lives for this great country my sister serves our military vets for two decades at the Veterans Administration we've lived our life as a family and service to this great country I hope the American people will pay a close attention to this hearing I also hope they will understand that some members of this committee will engage in absurd attacks and efforts to to try to deflect attention from the facts and I will and I will present today by questioning my integrity and my patriotic Duty you may see me speak passionately at this hearing but for Good Reason Not only was I willing to die for this country every single male member of my immediate family was willing to die for this country I want to be crystal clear from my direct personal experience and what I've subsequently come to learn it is clear to me that Joe Biden was the brand being sold by the F Biden family his family's foreign influence pedaling operation from China to Ukraine and elsewhere sold out to foreign actors who are seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government Joe Biden was more than a participant in and a beneficiary of his family's business he was an active aware enabler who met with business associates such as myself to further the business despise being buffered by a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability I asked this big question if there's no evidence of corruption here today if Joe's conduct and the conduct of his family were fully legal and proper then why are they so dishonest about it not just slight misrepresentations of fact but deep untruths about the entire corrupt Enterprise Hunter Biden gave his transcribed interview on February 28th and lied throughout his testimony here's just one egregious example of Hunter's perjury he lied to the committee um on important details concerning his money demands and threats to CFC in text messages on July 30th and 31st 2017 he leveraged his father's presence next to him in that Infamous text to Strongarm CFC to paying Hunter immediately Jim Biden also lied extensively throughout his transcribed interview on February 21st and perjured himself an example of that on page 100 of his transcript Jim is asked specifically do you recall having a meeting with Hunter Biden Tony balinsky and Joe Biden Jim's response absolutely not the committee was so shocked by his perjury that they asked him the same question multiple times each time he denied meeting with me and Joe Biden after the committee showed him text messages confirming that I met with Joe Biden Hunter Biden and Jim Biden at the Beverly Hilton in May 2017 Jim Biden with a former US attorney lawyer sitting next to him still deny that meeting took place Hunter Biden in his own transcribed interview confirmed that that meeting took place Hunter confirmed his uncle perjured himself in front of this committee I'm simply here to tell the truth to the American people and I hope each and every one of you congressmen and women give me the opportunity to do that instead of focusing on Russia or smearing my family's name or focusing on facts that are irrelevant today I yield back thank you Mr chairman a parliamentary inquiry yes just two points one is I believe Mr binsky went over 2 minutes 14 seconds I hope the same courtesy will be we will give Mr parness equal time thank you and secondly um I see that we now have a witness appearing remotely and I thought that Witnesses were required to appear in person under the rules adopted by the majority at the beginning of the Congress um and do do we have a new practice with respect to that rule because I know that members on our our side were denied the ability to participate in hearings that were conducted in Florida and Mississippi and Alabama we wanted to participate by Zoom so I hope and I'll enter that it requires to to be able to testify remotely requires a letter from me and uh uh to the an approval from the majority leader which we have and I'll enter that into the record without objection thank you Mr chairman I hope we'll extend the same courtesy to members of this committee when they can't get to a hearing as in Mississippi or Florida thank you much Mr chairman parliamentary inquiry State your point um Mr chairman Mr balinsky just referred to uh text messages um that I believe he is referring to photos of a Blackberry what's your what's your parliamentary inquiry State your parliamentary inquiry cuz we've got a very important hearing here and we don't have time for stunts what's your parliamentary inquiry it's not a stunt it's um I'm simply asking that Mr B you don't have a parliamentary inquiry chair now recognizes Mr Paris for chair recognizes Mr Mr Paris does the chairman does the committee have the text messages that Mr B Mr chairman we don't have time for games by democrats today we have we have important Witnesses here this is a credible I'm asking a question about the you asked for a parliamentary inquiry you will have five minutes whenever Jamie raskins gives you uh tells me it's your time to speak Mr Paris the chair recognizes you for equal time that Mr balinsky had which was seven minutes thank you hello honorable members of Congress chairman comr ranking member Rasin and members of the oversight committee I am humbled and thankful before you to show up before you today I came to the United States from a of Ukraine in 1976 when it was still the so former Soviet Union my mother and father and sister and I had left the Soviet Union escaping anti-Semitism and persecution while in Rome and right and route to Israel my sister and I won the most important opportunity that we have ever been given we won a US Green Card Lottery my family came here with literally no more than shirts on our back and the hopes of rebuilding our lives in the land of freedom I say this to you because I love this country from shortly after my arrest on October 9th 2019 to now I have been trying to share the irrefutable truth with you the American people have been lied to by Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani and various corts of individuals in government and media positions they created falsehoods to serve their own interests knowing it would undermine the strength of our nation from November 2018 to October 2019 I was a key participant and a witness to numerous efforts to prove that Joe and Hunter Biden were linked to corruption in Ukraine Rudy Giuliani on behalf of them president Donald Trump tasked me with a mission to travel the globe finding dirt on the Biden so that an array of networks could spread misinformation about them thus securing the 2020 election for Donald J Trump ironically when I was arrested my original indictment linked me to an individual who referred to as unindicted co-conspirator one we now know this individual to be Congressman Pete Sessions who sits on this very committee today today I ask you to to consider the following in nearly a year traveling the world and interviewing officials in different countries I found precisely zero evidence of the Biden's corruption in Ukraine no credible Source has ever provided proof of criminal activity not the FBI CIA nor the NSA no respectable Ukrainian official has ever said that the Biden did anything illegal including former president penko and former prosecutor General Yuri lenko even when CEO barisma molas leeski was offered a deal by Rudy Giuliani in exchange for information on the bidens he provided none because there is none the only information ever pushed on the bidens in Ukraine has come from one source and one source only Russia and Russian agents the impeachment proceedings that bring us here now are predicated on false information spread by the Kremlin everyone involved knew they were sharing lies from Trump and Giuliani Shadow diplomacy through my missions to Ukraine and elsewhere to members of a BLT team a group convened for the sole purpose of investigating and damaging the bidens bid everything was for the ultimate benefit of Donald Trump and thereby Vladimir Putin because the team's investigations were centered around Biden and Ukraine I was designated the PO person in every matter they pursued that is how that is how I know with certainty that these Biden stories are untrue then and are untrue now excuse Congressman Pete Sessions then Congressman Deon nun Senator Ron Johnson and many others understood they were pushing a false narrative the same goes for John Solomon Sean Hannity and media Personnel particularly at Fox News who use this narrative to manipulate the public ahead of the 2020 elections sadly they are still doing this today as we approach the 2024 elections we cannot separate this conspiracy from the Russian Ukraine war because Trump has no intention to keep aiding Ukraine without the support of the United States and NATO millions in Ukraine will suffer and die if we allow Russia to defeat Ukraine eventually that suffering will reach American Shores today I admit my own wrongdoings I have been a convicted federal election campaign and fraud crimes and served my sentence I do not hide that from reality it is part of my truth despite rigorous attempts by those in power to silence me I will be silenced no longer thank you to the committee for allowing me to speak I look forward to answering any and all of your questions thank you chair now recognizes Mr galanis for his opening statement chairman G ranking member Rasin and members of the committee uh my name is Jason ganis I was a business partner of Hunter bid and Deon Archer among others during the years of 2014 2015 our business included acquisition of 85-year-old Wall Street firm burnam and Company the 1.5 billion doll surviving division of Drexel Burnham lar our objective was to build a diversified private Equity platform which would be anchored by globally known Wall Street brand together with a globally known political name Biden our goal that is Hunter Biden Devon Archer and me was to make billions not Millions the entire value of Hunter Biden to her business and was his family name and his access to his father Vice President Joe Biden in 2014 we believe that bur the bur Enterprise would be significantly enhanced by forming a partnership with Harvest fund management a $300 billion Chinese Financial Service Company closely connected to the Chinese Communist party this effort was led by Hunter B's contact with Henry Z the Harvest chman Mr Z was interested in this partnership because of the gamechanging value ad of the Biden family including Joe Biden who was to be a member of the buram Harvest team post vice presidency my lawyers provided the committee a drafted an email dated August 23rd 2014 drafted for Hunter Biden that reflects this understanding it states and I quote Michael please also remind Henry Z of our conversation about a board seat for a certain relation of mine Deon and I golfed with that relation earlier this week and we discussed this very idea and as always he remains very very keen on the opportunity and quote I'm certain that this phrase that this phrase a certain relation of mine refers to Vice President Biden Devon told me about this golf course conversation shortly after it happened ultimately this paragraph was deleted from the final version with Hunter following our general rule of thumb on business deals say it forget it write it regret it further to that I recall being with Hunter Biden and Devon Archer at the peninsula bar in New York where Hunter took a call from his father and told him things were going well with Henry's Z and harvest and that he might need a little help getting across the Finish Line it was not the only time I've heard Hunter speak with his father for business reasons I was present when Hunter called his father on May 4th 2014 on a cell phone put it on speaker mode to have him say hello to yena Bina a Russian oligarch and an investor in Rosemont project s and her husband Yuri L Club the former mayor of Moscow Deon Archer was also there Hunter said well I'm I'm here with our friends I told you I told you we're coming to town and we wanted to say hello the vice president said hello some pleasantries and I hope you had safe travels and then said quote okay you be good to my boy Hunter responded by saying everything is good and we are moving ahead the vice president said something about both being helpful and Hunter ended the call by saying he was going to call his father later before this call Hunter sat next to you land a vet at a table and I heard him speaking on business matters generally a few days after this May 4th party an email my lawyer provided to this committee shows that Devon had confirmed Miss B was committed to a quote hard order of 10 to20 million in a burden Investment Banking client in an effort to build this financial platform I engagement in lawful conduct our companies were entrusted with billion of union pension money pension fund money whose trust I betrayed I pleaded guilty I've had eight years in federal custody to reflect on my actions I'm profoundly sorry for committing these crimes I deserve the lengthy sentence I received nevertheless as I set out more fully my more fully my full statement I believe the sbm prosecutors did not indict Hunter Biden on the same deal for political reasons despite then available documentation that we were Partners we involved in decision making then involved illegal self-dealing and all of us had financially benefited from these schemes in fact Hunter Biden and Deon Archer's company Rosemont sen kigh received $15 million from the tribal bonds fraudulent scheme to be invested in the burnner root I've offered slightest information to the government about Hunter Biden's crimes but the prosecutors have been uninterested and my request for commutation I filed in doj in December 202 did provide information about hunter's culpability the doj has retaliated against me and vigorously objected to my being placed in home confined personent to the cares act I applied for home confinement on February 4th 2023 and I was approved on June 9th on June 12th this committee issued a subpoena for Deon Archer and Bop reversed my approval on June 13th with the SDM prosecutor strongly objecting to my release I've been appealing this reversal and with each stage the Bop reason for my denial has changed during this period the period beginning in January 2023 I was sexually assaulted by a member of the prison staff at FPC Pensacola he persisted in sexually harassing me for many months thereafter I I had hoped to receive home conf final which will remove me from danger my judgment was clouded by the shame I felt for not being able to prevent the attacks I was well aware as inmates all inmates are that the Bureau of presis had horrible record on these matters I believe my disclosure would have made things worse for me unfortunately the seual harassment continued until early August when the Prison Correctional Officer comments became more threatening I feared for my safety I decided to seat counseling from chaplain Dixon the next day on August 10th 2023 the chaplain was visibly upset by the events and asked to bring in Warden Salsbury who quickly opened a Pria investigation which is a reference to the prison rate elimination Act passed by Congress after further debriefings I was immediately escorted to a vehicle and driven by senior staff hours to FPC Montgomery a separate facility I'm grateful the committee has opened up an investigation of these matters and I appreciate chairman Jordan and comr and subcommittee chairman big signing the letter I believe I've been a victim of pattern of Retribution by the Department of Justice I believe I'm putting myself at Graver risk within the Bop for providing information on these matters concerning the president and his son I've been treated professionally at Montgomery I want to thank case manager coordinator Anthony Barnes and Warden Randy keys for the help of facilitating access to my attorney prior to this interview thank you Mr ganis and I want to thank all the witnesses again for for being here today uh we will now begin the questions and I want to remind members on both sides of the aisle each member has 5 minutes I'm going to adhere to that uh and uh hit the gavel if the question has been asked then uh we'll allow the witnesses time to respond but we are going to try to get in a lot of questions uh from a lot of members and I will begin the questioning followed by ranking member raskins uh again Mr balinsky thank you for your service to our country your military service appreciate you being here uh during the 118th Congress this committee is investiga Joe Biden's involvement in his family's influence pedaling schemes around the world so let's start with that Mr balinski was Joe Biden involved with any of your business dealings with Hunter Biden and James Biden yes he was was Joe Biden involved in his family's attempts to sell their access to him you set out a form you set out a form uh uh to form a legitimate business you set out to form a legitimate business with the bidens did you come to find out that the Biden family had no interest in doing real business I did Mr ganus are you aware of any times Hunter Biden used Joe Biden with Joe Biden's knowledge to benefit their business associates yes which business associates uh Elena Bina Russian Oliver about Russian Chinese uh um Chinese fund manager um Henry Z and Nikolai tesy Ukrainian olar oil and gas olar okay now that we've established that Joe Biden was involved in his family's business dealings I'd like to turn to the financial records we've subpoenaed one major point my Democrat colleagues downplay is how much money the Biden accumulated from foreign business ventures in such a short period of time we have over 24 million to the Biden family and their business associates from 2014 while Joe Biden was vice president to 2019 Mr balinsky there came a time when you were attempting to raise $10 million from the Chinese to pursue an actual business deal a real business deal but it wouldn't be correct to say this was a $10 million deal would it uh what did the bidens conceive of the business with the Chinese becoming the Chinese were committing to deploying billions of dollars in infrastructure project projects here in the United States as well as around the world Mr ganis what was the financial goal you Mr Archer and Hunter Biden set out to achieve was it millions of dollars or billions of dollars billions of dollars billions with a B yes now I'd like to turn to some of the statements Joe Biden has made during his presidency about the findings of this investigation Mr balinsky Joe Biden has said he never interacted with his family's AB business associates did he meet with you he did in fact are you aware Jo Biden also met with I'm sorry Mr chairman he did mple times s okay are you aware that Joe Biden also met with Rob Walker Eric Sherwin and dein Archer too I'm generally aware of it Mr ganus as you discussed earlier regarding yolina batarina uh the Russian Russian oligarch you were present for Hunter Biden calling his then vice president father with the Russian oligarch yolina batrina present correct that's correct you also were pres for Hunter Biden's conversation with his father about a board seat on a Chinese company board is that correct I was pressing for a call Chinese transactions discussed yes so Mr ganis isn't it true that when Joe Biden said he didn't interact with his family's Business Association uh that's not true is it I I believe it will be misleading to the point of being an nontruth I want to touch on the fact about uh the absent seat in the middle Hunter Biden has chosen not to attend today's proceedings I've given Mr Biden exactly what he asked for before his deposition it's clear that Hunter Biden knows his testimony would not withstand public scrutiny Joe Biden has not been truthful about his participation and schemes to sell access and influence and today's witnesses will show the American people a side of the story that the president and his allies on this side of the aisle are eager to hide Mr balinski can you tell us about your meeting at the Beverly Hilton with Joe Biden the short version or a long version long version but within within a minute okay so uh uh Hunter Biden Jim Biden and Joe Biden were in Los Angeles for a variety of business business discussions Joe was there to speak at the Milken conference in May of 2017 I had lunch with Hunter Biden at the chatau Marmont and he had asked me to meet with his father that night um he set up a meeting at the Beverly Hilton where they hold the milen conference and I got there a bit early and sat with Jim Biden uh Hunter Biden and um we're just talking about what we were doing with the Chinese and the legal documents I was working through and they had sort of coached me before Joe got showed up to listen we're going to just keep things at a very high level we're not going to go into a lot of details in this meeting and I just remember that discussion generally because it just struck me as odd honestly Joe wasn't in the white house then he he and um that they were sort of framing it that way and then Joe uh showed up walked through the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel I stood up to shake his hand and uh we sat down and spent 45 minutes to an hour going through my background he you met with him that long yes yes yes this wasn't a handshake a two-c discussion about the weather this was a 45 minute long this going to go long meeting to an hour where we talked about a lot of stuff very good thank you well that's all for today's news thank you for tuning in for Round the Clock original news coverage visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app and be sure to stick around for entty Newsroom at 3 p.m. Eastern we'll cover more stories from the US and around the world we've been spending a lot more time than ever at home these days so maybe now you've just noticed