Internet divided as James Biden claims brother Joe played 'no direct or indirect' role in his business during House impeachment inquiry testimony

WASHINGTON, DC: Despite many recorded encounters with family members, James Biden asserted on Wednesday, February 21, before the House impeachment committee that his elder brother, President Biden, was innocent of any corruption charges.

74-year-old James adopted a belligerent stance in his interview, claiming that "Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest" and that two checks he gave to his influential sister were valid loan repayments.

James Biden 'changes his story'

During roughly eight hours of testimony, the first brother 'changed his story' regarding when he first became involved in business with the Chinese state-backed CEFC China Energy.

He also disclosed that the company had given Hunter Biden a diamond as a gift when his father was vice president and that the company had later given him another diamond, according to a source who spoke to The Post.

James Biden said that when Hunter requested him to get the first diamond appraised, he threw it away.

Additionally, he claimed that neither he nor Joe Biden had any written documentation attesting to the $240,000 in purported loans that James seemed to repay in 2017 and 2018 with money from foreign-focused business funds.

However, he also said that Joe Biden, who is 81 years old, was unaware of the source of those funds.

James also disclosed that he had taken out huge personal debts, some of which remain unpaid, from Democratic contributors. Republicans quickly began to scrutinize the first brother on Wednesday because it seemed that his introductory remarks contradicted the information that was already available regarding his involvement with CEFC China Energy.

A source said, "James Biden initially said he was not part of a deal with Rob Walker, Hunter Biden, James Gilliar, and Tony Bobulinski but when presented with an agreement with his signature on it, he changed his story to say he did not recall signing that agreement."

In his opening remarks, James Biden stated that he had "recently" discovered that he was getting money from the Chinese corporation, which he had not known about until early in 2017 when CEFC transferred $3 million to Walker for distribution.

According to bank records, Biden received $360,000 in five installments between April 3 and May 18, 2017.

In his opening statement, James Biden said, "I received several payments in the spring of 2017 that I understood to come from Hunter. I did not know then — but have learned recently — that the money I received was a portion of Hunter’s share that he directed Mr Walker to send to me."

Internet reacts to James Biden's statements

Many internet users reacted to James Biden's statement and gave their views on social media platform X. A user wrote, "He wasn’t under oath so he’s lying," whereas one added, "So James Biden just committed perjury, something the Biden DoJ will also let slide…"

A person also wrote, "How strong is the evidence? Who else has seen it? What are some competing explanations? How does this information fit into pre-existing public information? On a scale of 1-10, how persuasive is this analysis? Why? " while one mentioned, "Of course, he testified that, was anyone expecting anything different ?"

Another user stated, "He also said his business was consulting…about what, he could not say. He introduced Democrat politicians to foreign businesses without registration as a foreign agent…"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.