Did a congressional report "released today" on January 15, 2021 say President Joe Biden took $140 million from the U.S. Treasury, sent it to his son's private equity company and then to Joe Biden's personal account in the Cayman Islands? No, none of that's true: Though critical of the Bidens, the cited report (by Republican congressional staff) says none of those things. It was released September 23, 2020, not January 15, 2021.
The claims were made in a meme (archived here) posted on Facebook where it was published on January 15, 2021 under the title "BREAKING! BREAKING! BREAKING!
Biden is 100% comprised. The documents are extensive and shocking! What are the fences really for? This man cannot be POTUS!"
The meme reads:
Report released today says that Joe Biden took 140M $ from the Fed Treasury--sent it to ROSEMOUNT SENECA, "for Bank Bailouts" and then to his personal account in the Caymans....hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Jan 20 23:38:45 2021 UTC)
The claim refers to a report by Republican staff of the U.S. Senate U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Finance. Democrats did not sign off on the report, titled: "Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns." Democrats decried it as a hit-job aimed at embarassing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Republicans on the committees said they found that around 2013 and 2014, Biden's son, Hunter, profited from the fact that the elder Biden was at that time Vice President and deeply involved in foreign policy, setting up a conflict of interests between his role as Vice President and as father of a man with foreign business dealings. Hunter Biden in December, 2020 confirmed the Justice Department is investigating his personal taxes and other matters related to his business.
While the Republican staff report may presage the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden's finances, it does not support any of the claims in the meme.
Downloading the committee's report and conducting simple Ctrl/F searches, Lead Stories found the following:
"140" only appeared as a footnote number or parts of case citations.
"$140", "$140M" and $140 million do not appear in the document.
"Treasury" appears 25 times, never with any reference to funds transfers to the Cayman Islands, nor to then-Vice President Biden.
"Bailouts" and "bailouts" do not not appear in the document.
"Bank bailout" and "bank bailout" do not appear in the document.
"Cayman" and "cayman" and "Cayman Islands" do not appear in the document.
"Joe Biden" appears 36 times in the document, but nowhere does the report allege Biden transferred money from the Treasury to his own accounts or directly profited from his son's business.
"ROSEMOUNT SENECA" (the name used in the meme) does not appear in the document.
"Rosemont Seneca" appears 47 times in sections of the report about the private equity company of that name formed by President Biden's son, but nowhere does the report make the claims stated in the meme.
