$1.5M for Hunter Biden paintings? Financial details revealed in House GOP probe
Hunter Biden’s paintings have sold for $1.5 million and he received nearly $5 million in loans to cover taxes and living expenses, according to House transcripts from the Republican investigation of the president’s son.
Two of Biden's top allies ? a Los Angeles gallery owner and a Hollywood attorney and novelist ? revealed those financial details to the House GOP involved in those probes. The gallery owner who sold the paintings, George Berges, and California lawyer Kevin Morris, who loaned the money, both told the House committees they did not discuss their business with the White House or seek favors.
Three House committees – Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means – are investigating Hunter Biden’s finances for possible influence on President Joe Biden’s administration. Hunter Biden scheduled his deposition with the committees Feb. 28 after defying them for months.
Berges said he never told Hunter Biden who was buying his paintings because he didn’t want artists to start dealing directly with collectors.
“I never had any conversations with the White House,” Berges told lawmakers in his transcribed interview Jan. 9.
Republicans insist the financial arrangements raise questions about potential corruption in the Biden administration. One of three art buyers whose name was reported in news media was appointed to a presidential commission.
“The White House has a lot of explaining to do about misleading the American people,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who heads the Oversight panel, said of the art deals.
“Kevin Morris’s massive financial support to Hunter Biden raises ethical and campaign finance concerns for President Joe Biden,” Comer added.
GOP 'failure theater'
But a White House spokesman, Ian Sams, called the transcripts in a social media post the latest in “House GOP ‘failure theater’” because the gallery owner and lawyer “testified they never discussed business with Joe Biden or sought or received any benefit from him.”
Berges said he was inspired to cultivate Biden and his art because of his story as a person recovering from drug addiction. Berges compared Biden to the Sylvester Stallone character Rocky Balboa, an underdog seeking redemption.
Their initial contract on Dec. 11, 2020, called for Berges to tell Biden who was buying his paintings. But the gallerist said he never did. A later contract on Sept. 1, 2021, changed the terms to not disclose the buyers, after the White House responded to reports about the sales by saying they would be handled ethically.
One collector, Elizabeth Naftali, bought two paintings after Joe Biden’s inauguration for a combined $94,000. The president appointed her to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage on July 1, 2022.
Morris became Hunter Biden’s friend and lawyer after meeting him at a Los Angeles fundraiser for his father in November 2019. An entity Morris controlled, Kuliaky Art LLC, bought several of Biden’s paintings for a combined $875,000 on Jan. 19, 2023.
But Morris denied discussing the deals with the White House or asking for benefits.
Naftali, Morris and William Jacques, a shareholder in Berges' gallery, were revealed in press reports, but seven other buyers were not. Critics of the arrangements argued the buyers themselves could tell Hunter Biden or the White House they bought the art.
Berges, who collected 40% from the sales under the second contract, said he never told Hunter Biden who bought his paintings and didn’t discuss the sales with the White House.
“If he knew, it wasn't because of me,” said Berges, whose contract to sell Biden’s art lapsed in September.
$200,000 rent on an L.A. house, and $11,000 to pay off a Porsche
Hunter Biden has been charged with failing to pay federal taxes from 2016 to 2019. He has pleaded not guilty after a deal to potentially avoid jail time collapsed.
Biden had paid the taxes before he was indicted. Morris loaned the president's son nearly $5 million in a series of transactions to cover his debts and living expenses. Those living expenses included $200,000 rent on a house in the Venice neighborhood in Los Angeles and paying off $11,000 on a Porsche.
Morris, a recovering alcoholic who hasn’t had a drink in 27 years, said he bonded with Hunter Biden during a five-hour conversation at his father’s fundraiser. Morris said he helped the son find a new place to live for better security because his wife was five months pregnant.
Morris told lawmakers he isn’t a registered lobbyist, that he has no ulterior motive in his relationship with the president’s son and there is no corruption involved.
“He’s my client,'' Morris said, ''and he’s my very good friend."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden's financial details revealed in House GOP probe
