Rep. Comer to Newsmax: Vital to Investigate Hunter Biden Over Cobalt Deal

Rep. James Comer, the leading Republican on the House Oversight Committee, told Newsmax on Friday that it is vitally important that the National Archives release any information about Hunter Biden's alleged involvement in the sale of an African cobalt mine to a Chinese company in 2016, as the matter is one of vital national security.

"Hunter Biden, in one of his consulting firms, worked with China to be able to navigate a sale that never should have happened, a sale from an Arizona-owned company for that mine's cobalt in the Congo," the Kentucky lawmaker said in a panel discussion on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," about President Joe Biden's son.

"Hunter Biden just made the sale without any restrictions or any hesitation or any problem from the federal government," said Comer. "China is a threat to our national security, and at this time, the Obama administration was pushing more electric vehicles [and] cobalt is an essential component of making batteries for electric vehicles."

Last month, The New York Times reported the president's son was a part-owner in an investment firm involved in a Chinese conglomerate's $3.8 billion buyout of one of the world's largest cobalt deposits, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The sale makes the United States "even more dependent on China," and that means a "national security threat to the United States," Comer told Newsmax.

It also means that "Hunter Biden is a national security threat," said Comer.

"We want to preserve the documents so that when we have subpoena power, Hunter Biden can come before the House Republicans and explain exactly what happened," said Comer, noting a probe could happen in January 2023, "when the House flips and we can finally provide some type of oversight for the Biden administration."

Comer said Republicans on the committee want to know why the Obama Administration didn't intervene to stop the sale.

"We'll try to communicate with people from the Obama administration, but it just seems like any time Hunter Biden's involved in some money-making scheme, whether it's with the current Biden administration or the former Obama-Biden administration, he just gets a free path," said Comer. "We believe some of the artwork that he sold ended up in China. We're still working on that, but back to this cobalt.

"This is a serious issue because the more essential rare Earth minerals that China monopolizes the harder it's going to be for the United States to convert to electric batteries."

There are also questions about how much money Hunter Biden made from the sale that "should never have happened," said Comer. "The federal government is supposed to have checks and balances to prevent China from continuing its domination of the world market of these rare Earth minerals, but the American government turned a blind eye to Hunter Biden."

Meanwhile, China is in a "tremendous financial position" as its GDP will likely pass that of the United States in the next year, said Comer.

"They continue to purchase all the rare Earth mineral mining sites all across the world," he said. "At one point, American companies owned 100% of the majority of these rare Earth minerals that are used to manufacture batteries.

"Now we don't own any, and it's a huge problem because if we convert to electric vehicles, especially in the military, China could shut us off."

But the Biden administration won't hold China accountable for the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic let alone for buying up companies to put the United States at an economic disadvantage, said Comer.

The lawmaker also spoke about Biden's "mistake" by suggesting earlier this week that a response to a lower level of engagement by Russia against Ukraine would be met with a lower response from the United States.

The comment has been clarified by the White House and again by Biden, but Comer said the damage is done.

"That sent the signal to our adversaries: to Russia, to China, that the United States isn't as strong as it was under Donald Trump, and I just don't think Putin is very scared of Joe Biden's threats," said Comer, adding that Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korea were "afraid" of Trump.

"We've got a long way to go to build back our reputation on the national level, on the international level," he said.

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