Republicans' probe into Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, may have been dealt a major blow after federal charges were filed against a man accusing the Biden family of corruption.
An eight-count indictment against Gal Luft was unsealed on Monday as the Department of Justice announced he had been charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, trafficking in arms, and making false statements to federal agents among other matters.
Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Maryland, has accused the Biden family of corruption and was described by Republican Representative James Comer as a "very credible witness on Biden family corruption" in a tweet last week.
Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has been leading the charge to investigate Hunter Biden. Luft is the man whom Republicans have previously described as a "missing" witness in the Biden probe.
Newsweek reached out to Comer's office via email for comment on Tuesday morning.
The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security issued a statement to Newsweek on Tuesday.
"Dr. Gal Luft is world renowned expert on energy security, economics and geopolitics and has written five books. Gal is a man of total integrity and honesty. We are confident in his innocence," the statement said.
Part of the committee's investigation is probing Hunter Biden's alleged links to China and charges against Luft relating to China could undermine his credibility on the issue.
Luft, whom Comer described as an "informant" on the Bidens' alleged corruption, has been accused of conspiring with others "in an effort to act within the United States to advance the interests of the People's Republic of China," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement: "As part of this scheme, while serving as the co-director of a Maryland-based non-profit think tank, LUFT agreed to covertly recruit and pay, on behalf of principals based in China, a former high-ranking U.S. Government official ("Individual-1"), including in 2016 while the former official was an adviser to the then-President-elect, to publicly support certain policies with respect to China without LUFT or Individual-1 filing a registration statement as an agent of a foreign principal with the Attorney General of the United States."
The Oversight Committee has been investigating the Biden family's business dealings for months. Comer and Senator Chuck Grassley initially requested documents from the FBI related to what they described as a "criminal scheme" involving President Biden in May.
Comer also discussed the person he described as an "informant" during an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo in May.
"Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," Comer said at the time. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible."
"We're hopeful that we can find the informant," Comer went on. "Remember, these informants are kind of in the spy business, so they don't make a habit of being seen a lot or being high-profile or anything like that."
Following Comer's interview on Fox News, Luft gave an interview to The New York Post where he came forward as the missing informant.
He was arrested in Cyprus in February in a separate case and is currently a fugitive having fled after being released on bail. Luft sent a tweet at the time suggesting the arrest was motivated by a desire to protect the Bidens.
"I've been arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request by the US. The US, claiming I'm an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren't tragic. I've never been an arms dealer. DOJ is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim&Hunter Biden," Luft tweeted.
On July 7, Comer shared a clip of an interview he gave to Newsmax about Luft, writing: "Gal Luft, a very credible witness on Biden family corruption, provided incriminating evidence to six officials from the FBI and the DOJ in a meeting in Brussels in March 2019. We have no reason to believe the FBI & DOJ acted on this info. Americans deserve answers."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced the charges against Luft, who is a U.S.-Israeli citizen, on Monday.
"As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
"He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement," the statement went on.
"As the charges unsealed today reflect, our Office will continue to work vigorously with our law enforcement partners to detect and hold accountable those who surreptitiously attempt to perpetrate malign foreign influence campaigns here in the United States," Williams' statement said.
Update 07/11/23, 07:08 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
