Comer also referenced a $40,000 payment to Joe Biden from his brother, Jim. Comer called the payment “laundered China money,” but the check was labeled “loan repayment,” and a similar sum was transferred from a Joe Biden-tied account to his brother less than two months prior.

Comer also argued that a 2018 email from a bank money laundering investigator, who identified red flags about millions of dollars from a Chinese company transferred to a company controlled by Hunter Biden, lent credence to the oversight committee’s accusations of money laundering.

In that email, the bank investigator wrote that Hunter Biden’s company, Owasco PC, received large sums from the Chinese company even though Owasco “does not appear to have any services rendered” and had “no current business purpose.” Given news reports about China “targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals'” and other news reports about Hunter’s “extravagant spending on his own interests (drugs, strip clubs, prostitutes, etc.),” the investigator warned it might be prudent for the bank to reevaluate its relationship with Hunter Biden.

Not mentioned by Comer were subsequent emails in the chain — later released by Democrats on the oversight committee — in which more senior money laundering investigators at the bank concluded the payments were “reasonable and consistent with the business profile” and showed no signs of bribery payments.