Hunter Biden will be a top priority for Republicans: Comer
Ranking member of the house oversight committee James Comer, R-KY., on the potential national security threat and conflict of interest from Hunter Biden's recent business deal with a Chinese company.
It wasn't long ago that a New York Times bombshell about business ties between the president's son and a foreign entity would have received wall-to-wall coverage, but that was not the case with the paper's newest report about Hunter Biden.
According to the Times, an investment firm that counts Biden among its founders helped a Chinese company purchase one of the world’s most lucrative cobalt mines from an American company while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president. This is renewing concerns about potential conflicts of interest and whether the now-current president had any knowledge about his son's business dealings, which he had previously denied.
HUNTER BIDEN'S FIRM HELPED CHINESE COMPANY PURCHASE RICH COBALT MINE IN $3.8 BILLION DEAL: REPORT
However, the stunning report published by the Times received zero coverage on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC, according to transcripts.
The lack of scrutiny towards President Biden's son is nothing new. During the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, the liberal networks famously avoided covering Hunter Biden's damning laptop that further shed light on his foreign business dealings.
CNN, specifically, spiked the Hunter Biden story as its top bosses were caught on leaked audiotapes saying "we're not going with" the bombshell first reported by the New York Post.
The New York Times report alleged Hunter Biden established the firm Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) Equity Investment Fund Management Company with two other Americans and some Chinese partners in 2013. The American members controlled 30 percent of the Shanghai-based operation and served on the board.
The company notably completed a deal in 2016 that saw a Congo cobalt and copper mine transfer from American company Freeport-McMoRan to Chinese outfit China Molybdenum for the sum of $2.65 billion.
BHR served as a minority stakeholder to buy out around $1.14 billion of shares from Lundin Mining of Canada, who owned a portion of the Congo mine.
China Molybdenum then bought BHR’s shares of the mine two years later, according to Hong Kong filings. The deal resulted in China Molybdenum owning 80% of the mine, with the remaining portion owned by Congo’s state mining enterprise.
The Time reported that Biden controlled 10 percent of BHR through Skaneateles LLC, a company based in Washington.
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2020, file photo, President-elect Joe Biden, right, embraces his son Hunter Biden, left, in Wilmington, Del. Biden’s son Hunter says he has learned from federal prosecutors that his tax affairs are under investigation. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
Chris Clark, a lawyer for Biden, said he "no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly, in either BHR or Skaneateles," and Chinese records indicated Biden was not a member on the board as of April 2020.
But Chinese business records reviewed by Fox News in April 2021 showed that Hunter Biden continued to hold a 10% stake in Chinese private equity firm Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. through Hunter's company, Skaneateles LLC.
"He has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you — he’s a private citizen," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at that time. "I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"We don’t know Hunter Biden, nor are we aware of his involvement in BHR," Vincent Zhou, a spokesman for China Molybdenum, said in an email.
The deal was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon in January 2020.
Hunter Biden’s business ties remain an item of intense scrutiny for the media, particularly his activity in China. President Biden particularly warned about China’s growing dominance of cobalt as a stumbling block to America’s attempts at shifting from petrol gas to electric cars, as cobalt is a key ingredient in electric car batteries.
Fox News' Peter Aitken contributed to this report.