House Republicans are planning to subpoena Hunter Biden‘s art dealer and a Democratic donor who has purchased Hunter’s art, among others on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar.
Georges Bergès, who has been overseeing the sale of Hunter’s paintings, will be called in to testify before the House Oversight Committee, as will Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Los Angeles real estate developer who paid big bucks for Hunter’s paintings.
In July 2022, eight months after Hunter’s exhibition opened in New York City, Joe Biden appointed Naftali to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. It’s not clear whether she had already purchased the art at that time.
The White House had previously announced that a team of lawyers had reviewed sales and kept purchasers anonymous as a way to avoid potential conflicts of interest when buyers handed hefty sales prices to the president’s son.
Georges Bergès and Hunter Biden. Bergès has been representing Biden throughout his art career
Access: Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who is revealed to have purchased a Hunter Biden painting, visited the White House more than a dozen times, visitor logs reveal
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., revealed that Naftali’s three-year-old niece was taken hostage in Israel by Hamas.
‘Naftali’s 3-year-old niece is currently being held hostage by Hamas, yet @RepJamesComer is spending his time subpoenaing a private citizen as part of his wild goose chase rather than working to return her family from captivity,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘This is a new low from House Republicans.’
Also facing new subpoenas will be Hunter’s business associates Eric Schwerin and Chinese businessman Mervyn Yan.
The committee is also requesting interviews with Americore Health Trustee Carol Fox, business associate Joey Langston, Ukrainian-American businessman and longtime donor to Joe Biden, John Hynansky, and associate Jason Galanis.
Schwerin, Hunter’s longtime business partner at Rosemont Seneca, visited the White House some 27 times during the Obama administration.
The new subpoenas come after on Wednesday Comer slapped Hunter and James Biden with subpoenas as part of House Republicans’ impeachment investigation into Biden family business dealings.
The committee has requested Hunter Biden come in on December 13 and James Biden appear on December 6.
Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement the president’s son would comply with the subpoena. He called it a ‘political stunt’ but said: ‘Nevertheless. Hunter is eager to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these matters with the Committee.’
Committee Chair James Comer is also requesting transcribed interviews with Melissa Cohen, Hunter’s wife, Sara Biden, Frank’s wife, Hallie Biden, Hunter’s ex-girl friend and Beau Biden’s widow, Elizabeth Secundy, Hallie’s sister who Hunter is believed to have had a romantic relationship with while she was married, and Hunter associate Tony Bobulinski.
