President Joe Biden, during his time as vice president, likely used his position to set up himself and family members financially, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said.
Biden did so while not anticipating that he eventually would become president, Comer told The Washington Times.
The then-vice president was focused on setting up family members as highly paid business consultants overseas, according to Comer.
"Everywhere where there are odd payments, the president spent time toward the end of his vice presidency," Comer told the Times.
Under then-President Barack Obama, Biden traveled to China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and other countries, including Mexico — places where Biden's son Hunter Biden, brother James Biden, and a small group of associates pursued profitable business deals.
"He [the then-vice president] was setting it up for them to be consultants, which are essentially foreign agents, for some of these countries," Comer told the Times. "It would look bad for the vice president to do that. I think he was trying to set it up for his son and brother."
Comer, who has examined thousands of bank records, said payments of such foreign deals ended up in the bank accounts of nine Biden family members. Comer said the committee was pursuing more records from as many as eight banks that he thinks will expose additional Biden family businesses, and deals in other foreign countries.
"I think there are more companies, more banks and more Bidens involved in the foreign business deals," Comer told the Times.
Comer last week said it was "more than likely" his panel will issue subpoenas for Biden family members in its investigation of their alleged business connections with foreign nationals.
The Times reported that Comer will seek financial records that Hunter Biden has been ordered to produce in an Arkansas court case involving his child support payments to an out-of-wedlock 4-year-old daughter whom he refuses to acknowledge.
Comer said the documents could show whether Hunter Biden has money stashed in offshore bank accounts.
The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this week that Hunter Biden met with a State Department official in March 2016 on behalf of Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu, who paid Biden more than $1 million to help him deal with his corruption case.
House and Senate investigators previously said that Biden family members and associates earned millions of dollars in payments from energy firms backed by the Chinese Communist Party two months after the vice presidential term ended.
Although President Biden repeatedly has said he was unaware of any of the business dealings of his son and brother and that he did not profit from them, Comer believes otherwise.
Comer said the president not only was aware of the business deals, he also eyed a profit through his family after he left public office.