The individual known as the “money guy” for Democrat President Joe Biden and his family has recently provided testimony before Congress. Eric Schwerin, a bookkeeper, spoke about his knowledge of the Biden family’s finances during a closed-door interview with House investigators on Tuesday.
Schwerin is considered a crucial witness in the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry due to his central role in the complex financial connections between Biden and his son Hunter. He served as Biden’s financial adviser during his vice presidency and was a frequent visitor at the Obama White House. Additionally, Schwerin was a founding partner of Hunter Biden’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Republicans have labeled Schwerin as the mastermind behind the Bidens’ questionable shell companies. They have specifically focused on email exchanges between Vice President Biden and Schwerin, in which Biden used pseudonyms. Many of these emails coincided with Biden’s trips to Ukraine, where his son held a lucrative position on the board of energy company Burisma Holdings. During this time, Schwerin provided guidance to Vice President Biden’s staff on how to address media inquiries regarding Hunter’s position. Biden’s staff confirmed that the then-vice president approved a statement on the same day that Hunter dined with Burisma executives, who urged him to leverage his connections for assistance with “government pressure” in Ukraine.
However, in his prepared opening statement, Schwerin defended former Vice President Biden’s actions as entirely “ethical” and stated that he never witnessed any evidence of wrongdoing.
“Given my awareness of his finances and the explicit directions he gave to his financial advisers, the allegation that he would engage in any improper conduct to benefit himself or his family is preposterous to me,” Schwerin said.
The Republicans and Democrats are expected to engage in a heated debate over the testimony, as they have been exchanging arguments regarding the content of confidential depositions involving Biden associates such as Devon Archer.
Archer has previously verified that Joe Biden had a conversation with executives from Burisma over the phone.
A former business partner announced that his prepared testimony failed to answer “the vast majority of questions about his knowledge and participation in the Biden family’s business schemes.”
Schwerin told investigators he is “not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members.”
Schwerin’s assertion seems to be contradicted to some extent by his own correspondence with Hunter, where he deliberated on utilizing Hunter’s funds to settle his father’s expenses.
During a conversation in 2010, Schwerin assured Hunter that he would be repaid using his father’s tax refund.
He wrote:
“I am depositing it in his [Joe Biden’s] account and writing a check in that amount back to you since he owes it to you.
“Don’t think I need to run it by him, but if you want to, go ahead.”
