This venture worked against American interests. It enabled an arm of the Chinese military to purchase Henniges, a world leader in manufacturing dual-use anti-vibration technologies. Because of the national-defense implications, the deal had to be approved by the Obama/Biden administration. It was, of course. Meantime, Hunter and his Xi regime partners also colluded to help China acquire a coveted Cobalt mine in Congo for a cool $3.8 billion. Cobalt is a key component in batteries that power electric cars, which the Obama and Biden administrations have tried to steer Americans into. But they’re very expensive, in part due to high battery costs. Later, it emerged that Joe Biden had been so busy “not” discussing Hunter’s China business that he wrote a letter of recommendation, at Hunter’s request, to try to help Jonathan Li’s son score admission into Brown University.

But after raking in what NBC News estimates is $11 million in revenue from his foreign partners in just the period from 2013 to 2018, Hunter Biden still apparently could not pay his bills. Lucky for him that his influential father was flush enough to extend thousands of dollars here and there when he was in a bind.

The yeoman’s work of Grassley and Johnson notwithstanding, there are severe limits on what Republicans can do to investigate unless and until they take control of at least one congressional chamber after the midterms. The Justice Department has been at the investigation for over two years, yet nothing has happened. Attorney General Merrick Garland owes the nation an explanation of the probe’s status, of why he has not appointed a special counsel despite federal regulations that would seem to call for one, and why Americans should have any confidence that there will be no political interference in the probe, no matter how high the suspect list goes.