Gallery owner Georges Berges told the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that Hunter Biden knows the identities of the individuals “who purchased roughly 70% of the value of his art,” according to Oversight Republicans.
But that percent, a person familiar with the meeting cautioned, represents approximately three of the 10 buyers who purchased Hunter Biden artwork. Berges, the individual added, told the committee he did not disclose the identity of any of the buyers to the president’s son, and did not say during the interview that Hunter Biden knew the identity before the sales.
Instead, the individual said, Berges indicated Hunter Biden knew the identity of one buyer through public reporting and a second because he saw the artwork at the individual’s house.
During his meeting with lawmakers, Berges also said he had no contact with the White House about Hunter Biden’s artwork, according to Republicans and the person familiar with the interview.
That disclosure could raise new questions regarding past reports by The Washington Post and others that White House officials helped craft the ethics agreement around Hunter Biden’s art work, which has drawn criticism from a former Obama ethics chief who argued it lacked transparency and urged Hunter Biden to cancel any sales.
But then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in August 2021 that “we have spoken extensively to the arrangements, which are not White House arrangements; they’re arrangements between Hunter Biden’s representatives and ones that we, certainly, were made aware of.”
Berges spoke with committee members and staff behind closed doors after Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed him for a deposition late last year, as Republicans make Hunter Biden’s business arrangements a key part of their impeachment effort against President Joe Biden.
Republicans have not yet found clear evidence directly linking decisions made by Joe Biden as president or vice president to his son’s business deals. Berges, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), “stated he had no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden.”
In addition to Berges, House Republicans issued a subpoena last year to speak with Elizabeth Naftali, who bought Hunter Biden artwork.
An attorney for Naftali, in a letter to Comer last year, said that she purchased work by the president’s son “solely because she liked the art, and the prices were reasonable” adding that “never at any time did she have direct or indirect contact with anyone at the White House regarding any art purchased.”
