Hunter Biden's art dealer lashes out after testimony, says Congress is where 'real' influence peddling happens

EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden's New York City art dealer lashed out in defense of the first son following his closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee last week, arguing the halls of Congress was where the "real" influence peddling happens.

In an email to Fox News Digital, Georges Bergès, owner of the Georges Bergès Art Gallery in Manhattan that showcases Biden's paintings, decried the focus on his business as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, all "while the pigs are at the trough in Washington, D.C."

"Broadly speaking, if the issue is selling influence — then no one needs to look outside Washington, D.C., as there are plenty of lobbyist[s] advertising all the influence they have for sale on K street," Bergès wrote. 

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"If the issue is fear of family members of powerful politicians leveraging their ties for personal gain, then ban former congressm[e]n and their relatives from ever becoming lobbyists, but that’s never going to happen because that’s where the real peddling is happening," he wrote.

"So they want us to focus on the gallery in [New York City] while the pigs are at the trough in Washington D.C.," he added.

Bergès also told Fox that he never violated the agreement his gallery had with Hunter in which he would conceal his buyers' identities to avoid ethical problems for the presidential family selling potentially high-value items.

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"If [Hunter] knew the identities of some of the buyers — it’s because they were his friends or by happenstance," he wrote. "My obligation to Hunter is to not disclose the buyers — which I haven’t." 

The White House said in July 2021 that the "system" had been "established" to ensure the anonymity of Hunter's buyers' identities. But according to the transcript of his testimony, Bergès said that the agreement was not set up for several months following that statement and that the first son knew the identities of approximately 70% of those buyers.

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Bergès’ testimony came after the House formalized the impeachment inquiry against Biden last month. It is being led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.