The ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee is asking why the wife of the former Moscow mayor is not being sanctioned amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Elena Baturina, a Russian billionaire who paid Hunter Biden $3 MILLION in 2014, is mysteriously missing from the Biden Admin’s list of sanctioned Russian oligarchs,” Rep. James Comer, the ranking member of the committee, tweeted Thursday. “@GOPoversight is asking @SecYellen: do Hunter Biden’s foreign benefactors get a free pass from scrutiny?”
The allegations of Baturina’s payment to Hunter Biden come alongside the ongoing laptop scandal, with a computer tied to the president’s son alleged to offer insight into multimillion-dollar business dealings with Russia, Ukraine and China, and influence peddling.
The Hunter Biden-tied business Rosemont Seneca Thornton reportedly received a $3.5 million wire in 2014 from Baturina, wife of Moscow’s late mayor Yuri Luzhkov. That was the year Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula under former President Barack Obama, while Joe Biden was Obama’s vice president.
Comer’s Thursday tweet added a photo of a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, seeking answers to questions about Hunter Biden’s “foreign business schemes.”
“If the United States is avoiding sanctioning certain Russian oligarchs because of concerns they may attempt to influence American policy by exploiting Hunter Biden’s connection with his father — the president of the United States — the American people deserve to know it,” the letter to Yellen read.
It asked whether Baturina is “being treated differently” than other “wealthy, politically connected Russians” amid sanctions hitting oligarchs for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine because of her reported ties to Hunter Biden.
There were 18 other House GOP members who signed the letter seeking answers from Yellen.
”Because Hunter Biden is now subject to sanctions issued by Russia, his foreign business dealings are of heightened importance,” the letter continued.
“We request further information to determine whether Hunter Biden’s relationships with Russian oligarchs are impacting the foreign policy decisions of the United States.”
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., were among the letter’s signatories.
“Though Russian counter-sanctions were largely expected, the inclusion of Hunter Biden and, notably, none of the other Biden children among the list of those sanctioned raises serious concerns about why Russia would believe Hunter Biden is a pressure point to exploit,” the letter added.
The other House GOP members to sign to the letter were: Reps. Jody Hice, R-Ga.; Glenn Grothman, R-Wis.; Michael Cloud, R-Texas; Ralph Norman, R-S.C.; Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio; Clay Higgins, R-La.; Pete Sessions, R-Texas; Fred Keller, R-Pa; Andrew Clyde, R-Ga.; Scott Franklin, R-Fla.; Jake LaTurner, R-Kan.; Pat Fallon, R-Texas; Yvette Herrell, R-N.M.; and Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
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