An interesting piece of testimony has been given to the House Oversight Committee by Georges Bergès, the art dealer who helped Hunter Biden sell his work.
According to Bergès, Hunter knew roughly 70% of the people who were purchasing his artwork.
Talking Points…
- Hunter art buyers
- Joe Biden involved
- Analysis
When Hunter's artwork went up for sale, there were supposed to be safeguards put in place to ensure that the buyers of the work were kept anonymous. As it turns out, those anti-corruption safeguards appear to have fallen by the wayside.
One of the biggest worries for the GOP was that Biden allies and donors would buy the artwork to help out Hunter. If Bergès testimony is accurate, that appears to be what happened, as Bergès told the House Oversight Committee that Hunter knew about 70% of his art went to people that Hunter personally knew, such as Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who purchased a piece after being appointed to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. Naftali reportedly made two purchases: one for $42,000 and another for $52,000.
Another buyer was Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who had become known as Hunter Biden's sugar daddy. Morris reportedly purchased $875,000 in Hunter's art. This is in addition to having fronted Hunter's tax payments and many of his current living expenses.
Bergès also testified that he personally interacted with Joe Biden on several occasions, including the White House wedding of Hunter's daughter, Naomi, in 2022.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) commented on the testimony of Bergès, stating:
"The Biden White House appears to have deceived the American people about facilitating an ethics agreement governing the sale of Hunter Biden's art. Hunter Biden's gallerist never had any communication with the White House about such an agreement to make sure there was any sort of ethics compliance at all, and he provided information to the committee revealing how Hunter Biden's amateur art career is an ethics nightmare.
"The vast majority of Hunter Biden's art has been purchased by Democrat donors, one of whom was appointed by President Biden to a prestigious commission after she purchased Hunter Biden's art for tens of thousands of dollars shortly after Joe Biden's inauguration. The White House has a lot of explaining to do about misleading the American people."
When Naftali was asked about her purchases, she denied that there was anything shady about her buying this artwork, but the optics are not good on this at all. Are we to believe that after several visits to the White House and then receiving a prestigious appointment from the White House, spending nearly $100,000 on Hunter Biden watercolors was not a way to pay back Biden for the appointment?
The prices on Hunter's art are utterly ridiculous, with accomplished artists not seeing price tags anywhere near what we have witnessed Hunter Biden's artwork sell for.
In all, there has been an estimated $1.3 million in sales, and as you can see, the majority of the art went to people who clearly had an interest in either the White House or helping out Hunter. Hunter Biden is an unknown in the art world, and art experts agree the prices are a bit suspicious.
For instance, art critic Geoffrey Young stated, "Traditionally, young artists are a bargain, and if they begin to sustain a career, gallerists raise the prices incrementally, as they should." Hunter's art is selling at the prices of an accomplished artist, and he is at the top tier of that realm, where he clearly does not belong.
From the outside looking in, this appears to be a clear case of either influence peddling or the elite doing Joe Biden a favor by lining Hunter's pockets by paying ridiculous prices for works that are from a budding artist and considered average, at best.
