The L.A. real estate developer who paid big bucks for one of Hunter Biden‘s paintings has been no stranger to the White House, visiting more than a dozen times, visitor logs reveal.
Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali has been revealed to be one of the purchasers of artwork by the president’s son, amid concerns by ethics experts that difficult to value art purchases could raise conflict of interest concerns.
President Joe Biden appointed her to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an obscure but prestigious board.
In addition to having a colorful Biden painting she can hang on her wall, Naftali has made repeated trips to the seat of executive power.
She has been there at least 13 times since December 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
That includes a March 22 meeting with White House senior adviser Neera Tanden, a key policy maker in the White House. She is now domestic policy advisor but previously served as Biden’s staff secretary, a key gatekeeper.
Naftali is also a Democratic donor. She also met twice with White House policy adviser Richard Figueroa, in December and September of last year.
Logs show she was with 40 people inside the East Wing on Sept. 17, 2022. Her events with the president were large events with hundreds of people in attendance.
Hunter Biden, who on Wednesday is set to appear in federal court to plead guilty to to tax misdemeanors, has made art throughout his life, and turned to the craft after his battles with addiction.
According to the Georges Berges gallery, which features his work in New York, he produces ‘powerful and impactful paintings ranging from photogenic to mixed media to the abstract, using mediums from wood to metal and canvas.
Nevertheless, the president’s son faced some sneering reviews from Republicans after two well-heeled purchasers of his modern art projects were unmasked.
‘Let’s call the Hunter Biden art scam what it is: bribes for the Biden family, approved by the president,’ wrote Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, following reports that one of the buyers was real estate investor and Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali.
Republicans, who had already pounced on information gleaned from Hunter’s infamous laptop to probe his business deals and accuse the first family of corruption, are now armed with new information from the art world.
The White House had previously announced that a team of lawyers had reviewed sales and kept purchasers anonymous as a way to avoid potential conflicts of interest when buyers handed hefty sales prices to the president’s son.
‘Corruption at every turn with this administration. It makes you wonder, what else is going on?’ tweeted Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
Scott himself has admitted ‘mistakes’ as the CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital company, which paid a $1.7 billion settlement in 2000 and 2002 for alleged Medicare fraud.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer once again accused the Biden family of a scheme involving ‘bribes’ in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News.
‘Well, we’ve got already proven over $10 million, and we’re sitting on a lot more bank records. We’re gonna bring people in now to try to explain where this money came from,’ he said.
He spoke after the testimony of IRS ‘whistleblowers’ who claimed the first son got preferential treatment in a probe of his taxes. He will plead guilty in federal court Wednesday to two misdemeanor tax counts.
‘I think all roads point to Joe Biden I think any reasonable American would see that, but for this mainstream media, Sean, we have to have a whole lot more evidence than Adam Schiff or Jamie Raskin did when they were going after Trump,’ he said, mentioning two Trump impeachment managers for House Democrats.
‘But we’re going to provide the evidence and I think we’re making progress every day,’ he said.
Biden has not been charged or convicted of bribery and Republicans have yet to provide evidence he was offered one.
The White House had defended the art sales against charges of a conflict back in 2021.
‘After careful consideration, a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards,’ said White House press secretary Jen Psaki when the art sales were being criticized.
‘Of course, he has the right to pursue an artistic career just like any child of a president has the right to pursue a career, but all interactions regarding the selling of art and the setting of prices will be handled by a professional gallerist adhering to the highest industry standards, and any offer out of the normal, of course, would be rejected out of hand,’ she said.
Hunter Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell told Business Insider, ‘The gallery sets the pricing and handles all sales based on the highest ethical standards of the industry and does not disclose the names of any purchasers to Mr. Biden.’
Hunter Biden’s transition from international wheeler-dealer to L.A.-based artist raised immediate concern from ethics experts, even after his works drew positive reviews.
Hunter Biden’s paintings have been bought by a top Democratic donor and the lawyer who has caught smoking a bong during a visit from the First Son last week, a bombshell new report has revealed.
Despite a White House promise that all purchasers’ identities would be kept a secret, two names have been revealed: Los Angeles-based real estate investor and Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali and Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris.
In July 2022, eight months after Hunter’s exhibition opened in New York City, Joe Biden appointed Naftali to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. It’s not clear whether she had already purchased the art at that time.
Hunter’s Hollywood ‘fixer’ lawyer Morris was seen smoking on the balcony of his Malibu home last week and loaned the president’s son $2million to help him pay back taxes.
When Hunter Biden first announced he would make a high-dollar foray into the art world, the Biden team promised the identities of those who purchased Hunter’s art would remain anonymous. On the campaign trail, Joe Biden promised an ‘absolute wall’ between his duties as president and his family’s business dealings.
In 2021, Hunter made his debut at a ritzy New York art gallery, where the sticker price clocked in on some of his amateur pieces at $500,000.
The White House said at the time the buyers had been vetted and their identity was only known to the gallery – suggesting Hunter’s latest business venture would not become a way to sell White House influence.
But Hunter Biden did in fact learn the identity of two of his collectors, according to an Insider report that cites three people with direct knowledge of Biden’s art career.
Membership of the commission Naftali was appointed to is unpaid and often filled by friends and allies of the president, much like ambassadorships.
Naftali is prominent in California Democratic circles. She’s given some $13,000 to the Biden campaign and has donated $29,700 to the Democratic National Campaign Committee this year.
Last year she hosted a fundraiser that was headlined by Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s also not clear how much Naftali spent on Hunter’s art. One single purchaser spent $875,000 on 11 of Hunter’s paintings- though the identity of that person is unclear.
The buyer apparently does not reside in New York and is listed as ‘out of state’ in purchasing documents obtained by Insider.
The gallery received a 40 to 45 percent commission on the total $1,379,000 in sales.
A White House official told Insider that Naftali’s appointment had been recommended by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and there was no connection between her art purchase and her spot on the commission.
An email found on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop suggests that he has helped people get a spot on the commission before. When a cousin wrote to Hunter asking for help in getting a similar appointment for their mother, Hunter wrote back: ‘Eric asked me for one of these the day after the election in 2008.’ He was referring to Eric Schwerin – a former business partner who President Obama appointed to the commission in 2015.
Morris, a confidant and ‘fixer’ for Hunter, has spent an undisclosed amount on the first son’s art. The wealthy Los Angeles-based attorney has loaned Hunter some $2 million to pay the back taxes he owed and avoid felony charges. Hunter recently pleaded guilty two misdemeanor charges for his tax crimes.
Morris has at times paid Hunter’s living expenses in Los Angeles, according. to the New York Times. He helped him find a high-powered literary agent for his memoir ‘Beautiful Things’ and helped him seal the art gallery deal.
Morris has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic causes.
Republicans have Hunter Biden in their sights for alleged influence-peddling schemes. Last week they released an unverified FBI form where a confidential human source detailed a conversation with a Burisma executive who claimed Hunter and Joe had been paid $5 million each in exchange for policy outcomes when he was vice president.
