FIRST ON FOX: House Democrats admitted Wednesday that Hunter Biden’s then-business partner, Eric Schwerin, was in charge of President Biden’s finances during his vice presidency.
A spokesman for the Democratic minority on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee told Fox News Digital that Schwerin, the former president of Hunter’s Rosemont Seneca Advisors and a frequent visitor to the Obama-Biden White House, served as then-Vice President Biden’s “accountant.” from 2009 to 2017.
“Mr. Schwerin, who served as then-Vice President Biden’s accountant from 2009 to 2017, stated specifically that he was not aware of any transactions to or from the then-Vice President’s bank account related to any Biden family member’s business,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The statement came after Fox News Digital inquired Wednesday about a section of the White House’s lengthy memo to the media as it seeks to respond to House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
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Eric Schwerin, left, Joe Biden and Hunter Biden (Fox News / File)
The White House released a memo urging news outlets to step up their scrutiny of the impeachment inquiry, announced Tuesday by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy said House Republicans had “uncovered serious and credible allegations about President Biden’s conduct.”
The White House memo included a 14-page fact check of Republican claims made during the Biden investigation regarding the president’s alleged role in his son’s foreign dealings and whether the Biden family supported the former vice president’s public office used for personal advantage.
“Republican witnesses such as Eric Schwerin, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, said President Biden was not involved in their business dealings,” the White House said on page 13 of the memo.
“’In an interview with Republican and Democratic committee staff in March 2023, Mr. Schwerin told the committee staff that he was not aware of any involvement by President Biden in the financial conduct of the president’s relatives’ businesses, let alone any transactions in or out of them “The then-Vice President’s bank account is linked to business dealings of a Biden family member,” the White House continued, quoting a paragraph from the Oversight Democrats’ May memo.
A person familiar with Schwerin’s role in managing then-Vice President Biden’s finances told Fox News Digital that Schwerin worked on Biden’s personal budget and helped coordinate with his tax advisors.
The person also noted Schwerin’s frequency of communication with Biden and his top aides and said it was “inevitable” that Rosemont-Seneca deals came up in conversations.
Joe and Hunter Biden (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik / File)
ERIC SCHWERIN’S ROLE IN HUNTER BIDEN’S CHINESE BUSINESS OFFERS COULD BE A KEY MISSING IN THE GOP INVESTIGATION
A House spokesman for the Republican majority told Fox News Digital that the committee “never interviewed Schwerin,” as committee Democrats and later the White House claimed.
“That is wrong,” said the spokesman. “The committee never interviewed Schwerin. There was one meeting, but it was about the creation of documents. There has never been a transcribed interview or statement.”
The Democratic spokesman on the committee fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying Schwerin, who Hunter previously admitted was a “close confidant and adviser” of then-Vice President Biden, was actually several as of March 31, 2023 Interviewed for hours by committee staff at Comer’s request.
“In written correspondence with the committee, Mr. Schwerin’s attorney described this as an ‘untranscribed interview,’” the statement continued. “Majority and minority staff had equal time and switched off to ask Mr. Schwerin questions about his relationship with Hunter Biden and the history, structure and activities of Hunter Biden’s business units, to which Mr. Schwerin responded.”
Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner, Eric Schwerin, has been named in many articles about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. (Eric Schwerin / Facebook screenshot)
However, Schwerin’s attorney told Fox News Digital that Schwerin was not technically an “accountant” for the then-vice president, but merely assisted the then-vice president with his finances.
Fox News Digital has previously reported on Schwerin’s extensive personal and professional ties to the Biden family and how he was instrumental in helping Hunter expand his business in China.
Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and an expert on Hunter’s business dealings, told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo last month that “Eric Schwerin was the money guy” in Hunter’s business ventures.
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Schwerin, who visited the Obama White House and then-Vice President Biden’s residence at least 36 times between 2009 and 2016, was also a founding partner and managing director of Hunter’s now-defunct firm Rosemont Seneca Partners. He worked with Hunter’s companies when he was appointed by then-President Obama to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an independent U.S. government agency, in early 2015.
Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who was married to the president’s son from 1993 to 2017, revealed in her June 2022 memoir that Schwerin “managed almost every aspect of our financial lives.”
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the politics team at Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
Source : www.foxnews.com