Hunter Biden’s Art Dealer Denies to Congress That First Son’s Pricey Paintings Were Part of ‘Influence-Peddling Scheme’

Hunter Biden’s gallerist has told members of the House Oversight Committee under oath that he never spoke with anyone in the White House about the first son’s lucrative art career and never informed his client about who was buying his paintings, according to a committee source. For months, Republicans have claimed that the purchases of the paintings by Mr. Biden were part of an “influence-peddling scheme” in which big donors would pay the first son outsized prices for the nascent artist’s work in order to win favorable policy outcomes from President Biden. Mr. Bergès forcefully refuted those claims in a closed-door deposition on Tuesday. Art purchases are often cloaked in secrecy, and the sale of Mr. Biden’s art was no exception. The identity of buyers was purposefully obscured amid heightened scrutiny of the first son after it was reported he was asking five- and six-figure amounts for artwork he created. Mr. Bergès confirmed to the committee that Mr. Biden was aware of the identities of some of his buyers, including a friend, entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris, who paid Mr. Biden directly rather than through the gallery. Mr. Morris, who made a fortune through his legal work on behalf of the Comedy Central show “South Park,” had previously paid Mr. Biden’s sizable tax debts. He has also reportedly been involved in Mr. Biden’s aggressive legal and public relations strategy in which he’s pushed back at his pursuers.The big sticking point for the chairman of the committee, Congressman James Comer, was the White House’s assertion that it has implemented “ethical standards” for the first son’s business dealings. Mr. Bergès told the committee that he had never spoken to anyone in the White House about anything, including any ethics policy. Emerging from Tuesday’s deposition, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Fox News that the investigation into Mr. Bergès was nothing more than a fishing expedition by Republicans. “The president’s son has engaged in whatever dealings he’s engaged in, in recovering from addiction to trying to engage in, you know, a new career in art,” she said. “But there’s really nothing here in anything that we’ve seen to connect President Biden to any of this.”Another Democrat, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, also said the committee’s investigation is based on a “conspiracy theory” about the president and his son. “Today’s interview really is the conspiracy theory du jour,” she told reporters. “There’s really no there there.”Mr. Bergès quickly became a key fact witness for Republican investigators after they took the House majority last year. “Your arrangement with Hunter Biden raises serious ethics concerns and calls into question whether the Biden family is again selling access and influence,” Mr. Comer wrote to Mr. Bergès in a January 2023 letter. Mr. Comer later subpoenaed the gallerist for a closed-door deposition. A spokesman for Mr. Comer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Bergès came under increasing scrutiny in recent months after one of the purchasers of Mr. Biden’s artwork was unmasked as a Los Angeles heiress and Democratic Party donor, Elizabeth Naftali. Mr. Bergès confirmed to the committee that Ms. Naftali purchased artwork from his gallery, according to the Messenger. Mr. Bergès told the committee on Tuesday that Ms. Naftali had purchased more than $40,000 worth of Mr. Biden’s artwork before she was appointed to the prestigious Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which identifies and preserves “cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of U.S. citizens,” according to the agency’s website. After being nominated to the commission, she then purchased another $52,000 worth of artwork. Ms. Naftali was a major fundraiser for President Biden’s 2020 campaign and Secretary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and also served as a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in 2018. Since the beginning of 2023, she has donated $13,414 to the president’s re-election campaign as well as $29,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is charged with electing Democrats to the House, where Republicans now hold a three-seat majority.She has also been subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee to give a deposition about her purchase of Mr. Biden’s art and her appointment to the presidential commission. She has failed to appear before the committee thus far, but when asked about Mr. Biden in a December interview with Deadline Hollywood promoting her podcast, Ms. Naftali said, “I’ve fully cooperated with everything they have asked of me, which whatever there is public is public. But it continues to be that there really is nothing there.” She did not clarify to Deadline how she was fully cooperating when she has not complied with Mr. Comer’s subpoena. Ms. Naftali’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hunter Biden’s Art Dealer Denies to Congress That First Son’s Pricey Paintings Were Part of ‘Influence-Peddling Scheme’

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