The House Oversight Committee has asked an appointee to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad to furnish documents that will provide public transparency relating to her purchase of Hunter Biden artwork and her subsequent appointment to the Commission.
Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a real estate investor and philanthropist from Los Angeles, has been given a deadline of Aug. 11 to comply with the Committee’s requests.
The documents, which were requested in a letter on July 29 (pdf), include records and communications related to her reported purchase of Hunter Biden’s art, as well as her appointment to the commission and visits to the White House.
“These facts raise the Committee’s concerns, and the Committee seeks documents and information regarding your purchase of Hunter Biden art,” wrote Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).
“Your position on the Commission is particularly suspicious because of Hunter Biden’s previous actions to elevate his business partner—Eric Schwerin—to the same post while his father was Vice President,” he wrote.
Mr. Schwerin was appointed to the committee by former President Barack Obama in 2015. According to media reports, Mr. Hunter Biden told his cousin Missy Owens in an email found on his laptop that “Eric asked me for one of these the day after the election in 2008” when she was asking for a similar appointment for her mother, Valerie Biden Owens.
Ms. Hirsh Naftali was appointed to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad by President Joe Biden as an unpaid member in July of 2022.
Mr. Hunter Biden’s counsel, Abbe Lowell, told The Business Insider that there are industry standards in place to prevent her client from knowing the identity of the buyers of his art. However, in this case, Mr. Hunter Biden learned of Ms. Hirsh Naftali’s purchase after the sale because they are friends. It is not clear whether the artwork was purchased before or after her appointment to the commission.
However, the Oversight Committee said it was pursuing further transparency, noting that visitor logs showed multiple visits by Ms. Hirsh Naftali to the White House since December 2021, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Ms. Hirsh Naftali reportedly also met with White House senior advisor Neera Tanden.
Ms. Hirsh Naftali is a Democratic donor, having donated over $13,000 to Mr. Joe Biden’s reelection campaign as well as a subsequent sum of nearly $30,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) this year, The Business Insider reported.
She also reportedly co-hosted a fundraiser with Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, according to Deadline.
Hunter Biden reportedly raked in well over $1 million through sales of his artwork, according to documents published by The Business Insider. Eleven such pieces were reportedly bought by an unnamed buyer for nearly $900,000.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Ms. Hirsh Naftali, and the White House have not responded to a request for comment from NTD.