Chinanews.com, January 26 (Xinhua) Comprehensive foreign media reports, James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee of the US House of Representatives and Republican Congressman, sent a letter to the agent of the painting of Hunter Biden, the son of US President Biden, on the 25th, asking him to provide Regarding the information about the buyer of Hunter Biden's paintings, etc., promote the investigation of it.
According to reports, Kamo said in a letter to Boley, the agent of Hunter Biden's paintings: "Although Hunter Biden is only a novice painter, his paintings are extremely expensive, and the buyer's information is not disclosed. Only you have this purchase information."
Kamo gave Borley until February 8 to respond and to testify before the House Oversight Committee by February 15.
According to Kamo, Hunter Biden's work was on display at the gallery earlier this month. His works in an abstract style, mostly depicting trees and flowers, are priced from $55,000 to $225,000. He pointed out that because of Hunter Biden's "suspicious past behavior", as the president's son, the behavior of selling amateur paintings at high prices to anonymous buyers was "very disturbing" and "there was a lack of monitoring throughout the process."
According to the New York Post, Hunter Biden began his artistic career after his father became president. Hunter, 52, has charged as much as $500,000 for his work. In 2022, he earned at least $375,000 for five prints at the Hollywood Art Show. It is reported that former Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, who was nominated by President Biden as ambassador to India, attended the exhibition at that time.
Fox News pointed out that the price of Hunter Biden's work was once higher than that of American graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jean-Michel Basquiat). A pair of works by the latter in 1984 was priced at US$20,900, which is only about US$60,236 today even if converted according to the inflation factor.
Regarding this controversy, Borley previously commented, "(Hunter Biden) his future is art, and we have become richer because of it. I just hope we don't politicize positive and beautiful things."
Democratic Congressman Ruskin, a member of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, said: "The responsibility of the Oversight Committee is to ensure that government programs and policies serve the American people. I don't think contemporary art surveys have anything to do with this responsibility."
The White House has yet to comment on House Republicans investigating the sale of the Hunter Biden painting. Psaki, then White House press secretary, responded in 2022, saying, "We still don't know, and won't know, who bought any of the paintings."
Hunter Biden's paintings were only sold to anonymous buyers to avoid potential problems after Biden became president. The agent of his painting is responsible for the pricing and sale of the work, and the agent does not inform Hunter Biden or other members of the Biden administration about the buyer. But the move was opposed by outsiders.
Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for former US President George W. Bush, believes that "buyers buy art to hang on the wall, not to put in the closet", which makes it difficult to maintain anonymity. The identity of the buyer should be "fully transparent," and both Biden and his appointees should sign a pledge "to ensure that such a person cannot enter the White House."