House Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-KY) told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that when Republicans take control of the House, they plan on investigating reports that President Joe Biden sold nearly one million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to a Chinese state-owned gas company that has financial ties to a private equity firm cofounded by Hunter Biden.
The Washington Free Beacon’s Collin Anderson released a bombshell report that Biden’s Department of Energy sold one million barrels to Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec. Sinopec is wholly owned and operated by the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the report, Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, reportedly has financial ties to the CPP-owned Sinopec. A private equity firm Hunter cofounded reportedly purchased a roughly $2 billion stake in Sinopec Marketing in 2015.
The Free Beacon noted:
Biden is connected to Sinopec through BHR Partners, a private equity firm he cofounded in 2013. BHR bought a $1.7 billion stake in Sinopec Marketing in 2015. Biden at one point owned a 10 percent stake in BHR Partners through his wholly owned firm, Skaneateles, LLC.
Comer, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and likely the next chairman of the Oversight Committee, told Breitbart News that they plan to investigate reports that President Biden sold oil linked to Hunter Biden once they take the House majority after the 2022 midterm elections.
“From day one, the Biden Administration has waged a war against America’s energy producers. It started with the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline and has continued with their push to implement radical Green New Deal policies. Their recent decision to remove oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve didn’t just fail to lower high gas prices, it has now left Americans vulnerable to unstable oil markets created by this Administration,” Comer told Breitbart News exclusively. “The Department of Energy is operating behind closed doors and has left Americans in the dark. Under no circumstances should President Biden be providing our oil reserves to hostile foreign adversaries or Chinese firms linked to Hunter Biden. It’s critical for Energy Secretary Granholm to stop dodging our Congressional inquiries and testify before the Oversight Committee.
Comer charged, “When Republicans control the gavel, we will get answers.”
Indeed, there remain many unanswered questions surrounding these reports.
Asked by the reporters during a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The Department of Energy can’t dictate what oil companies do with the oil they purchase or where they ship it to sell. That is something, again, that the oil company decides on. And again, I would refer you to Department of Energy on that question.”
“It is unclear whether the younger Biden still has a financial stake in BHR Partners. Biden’s White House has repeatedly claimed throughout 2019 and 2020 that Hunter Biden was out of the equity firm, but Chinese corporate records show he still has a stake in the company,” Breitbart News’s Jordan Dixon-Hamilton explained.
Biden’s administration has not explained the questions surrounding Hunter Biden’s stake in BHR, and they directed members of the press to Hunter Biden’s representatives.
However, the Oversight Committee, as the House’s leading investigatory committee, could launch investigations, with subpoena power, regarding the Biden administration’s sales of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The Biden administration also has not cooperated with House Oversight Republicans on many questions surrounding the Energy Department’s plans, or lack thereof, to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The SPR is meant for times of national crisis, such as the 1970s Arab oil embargo, not for desperate and failed attempts to lower gas prices.
Comer and House Oversight Republicans have also asked Energy Department Secretary Jennifer Granholm testify before the committee about these issues.
The Department of Energy has not cooperated with either of these requests from Comer and the House Oversight Republicans.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.