Treasury Department official Jonathan Davidson, who was set to testify Friday about the agency withholding the Biden family’s “suspicious” bank records, has “declined to attend the hearing.” His absence means House Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) must again threaten the use of a subpoena to compel the 150 suspicious activity reports (SARs) generated by U.S. banks.
Davidson was scheduled to testify Friday at 9:00 AM about the Biden family SARs, which “often contain evidence of potential criminal activities, such as money laundering and fraud,” according to a 2020 Senate report.
But Comer’s Tuesday evening press release stated Davidson has “declined to attend the hearing” after the Treasury has refused to “give a timeline of when such documents will be provided to the Committee despite our repeated accommodations.”
Davidson’s refusal to answer questions about withholding Biden family bank records comes after questions were raised about whether his testimony would be tainted with political bias.
He previously worked for Biden on the 2020 transition team and was nominated to the Treasury position by his former boss. Moreover, he worked on Capitol Hill for more than 20 years in Democrat politics. Davison is also married to Erin Sheehy, who is a partner at Education Forward DC, an organization that seeks to advance “equity in DC public schools.”
Davidson’s political background comes as he is employed by a nonpartisan, taxpayer-funded department that has refused to comply with Comer’s investigation of the Biden family. Comer’s probe seeks to determine if President Joe Biden is compromised by the Chinese Communist Party and how new legislation should be designed to prevent influence peddling.
“These suspicious activity reports are important to our investigation to help us follow the money and determine the national security implications of the Biden family’s shady business deals,” Comer explained Tuesday. “Biden’s Treasury Department’s obstruction will soon compel us to use the power of the gavel to obtain these documents.”
“We are done with the excuses and calling on Assistant Secretary Jonathan Davidson to answer questions under the penalty of perjury next week,” he continued. “Treasury Department officials have repeatedly said that they are cooperating with the Committee’s request but all we’ve seen is obstruction. We’ve offered multiple good faith accommodations, but Treasury continues to provide excuses and employ delay tactics.”
Comer demanded Davidson to sit for a transcribed interview. “Therefore, the Committee requests that you, as Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs within Treasury, make yourself available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff on March 14, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2157.”
It is unclear if Davidson will comply.
In February, Comer warned stonewalling tactics will warrant a subpoena as the next step. “For the subpoenas to win in court, we have to give them every opportunity to supply that information to us,” Comer said. “The ball is in their court.”
“We can’t fully understand the extent of what these laws need to be until we know the exact amount of money that the Biden family took in, including from the sources,” Comer explained, noting the family has made at least “tens of millions of dollars” from many business deals spanning at least 12 separate nations over the years.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
