Newly emerged documents allegedly help prove Hunter Biden worked with China’s state-linked CEFC China Energy while his father was vice president — as suspected by Republicans leading an impeachment inquiry into the president’s notorious corruption.
President Biden has repeatedly claimed that his family has never received money from China — even though he himself is allegedly directly involved in two Chinese government-backed ventures.
“We expect to collaborate on several opportunities in the US and abroad,” said the potentially damning March 22, 2016 letter, which surfaced Tuesday and was addressed to CEFC Executive Director Jianjun Zang on Hunter’s letterhead about 10 months before his father Joe go position as vice president.
“I believe we have presented a collection of projects that align with your and your team’s interests and we look forward to discussing them in detail,” said the draft letter to Zang, which was circulated among Hunter and his partners Rob Walker and James Gilliar as an email attachment.
“While we await your next visit to the United States, please continue to coordinate all matters with my confidant and trusted advisor, James Gilliar,” the letter said.
President Biden has repeatedly claimed his family has never received money from China — even though he himself is allegedly directly involved in two Chinese government-backed ventures. Getty Images
Walker provided the document to the House impeachment inquiry before a closed deposition on January 26 – which also corroborated some of the points the letter suggested with other alleged evidence.
The email was published Tuesday as part of a transcript of his interview.
It’s unclear whether the letter, presumably signed by Hunter, actually reached Zang and, if so, if any of the words were redacted.
The email indicated that Hunter’s aides would send the letter to the Chinese once approved.
Joe and Hunter Biden have not specifically confirmed or denied the start date of the CEFC relationship, but Hunter is expected to discuss those details during his own deposition later this month.
In the hot seat during Tuesday’s impeachment inquiry closed session was another former Biden family ally, Tony Bobulinski.
He is one of the Republican Party’s best hopes to confirm the sordid details of the president’s ties to his relatives’ Chinese government-related connections.
President Biden has said that in addition to his family never getting money from China, he had no interaction with his relatives’ business associates and that Hunter’s laptop left behind was fake Russian information — claims that have not been proven.
Joe Biden as vice president interacted with first son Hunter and first brother James Biden’s clients from Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Ukraine — and had coffee in 2013 with the CEO of Hunter Biden’s Chinese government-backed venture, according to laptop evidence, photos and witness testimony.
In a court filing Tuesday, the Justice Department said it provided Hunter’s legal team in the gun case with a “complete and identical” copy of a notorious laptop taken by the FBI in 2019 from a Delaware repair shop and first reported by The Post.
Hunter and Democratic representatives have yet to use the cache to support their claims that some of the publicly reported evidence against the president may have been proven.
Newly surfaced documents allegedly help prove Hunter Biden did indeed work with the Chinese state-linked CEFC China Energy. Reuters
In his congressional testimony, Walker broadly defended the president from allegations of wrongdoing while insisting on key details in the Republican impeachment case, including saying the origins of the Hunter Biden-CEFC relationship date back to as early as 2015.
An investigator asked Walker, referring to a different document, “is it fair to say that by February 2016 you, James Gilliar and Hunter Biden had begun to continue doing business with CEFC?”
“That’s right,” Walker replied.
“I remember Zang being in DC,” Walker added. “He’s been in DC maybe three or maybe four times.”
Walker also told investigators that Joe Biden, just weeks after leaving office as vice president, met with his son’s CEFC partners, including Chairman Ye Jianming, at the Four Seasons hotel in DC.
Joe Biden stopped by the meeting shortly before the Biden family received an initial tranche of more than $1 million from CEFC, Walker said.
The multimillion-dollar takeover by the Biden family, which was split between Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden and his sister-in-law Hallie Biden, according to bank records, was about a third of a $3 million transfer from a corporate subsidiary to Walker, who kept about- count a third and send a third to Gilliar.
Gilliar insisted that the $3 million payday had “nothing to do with” Joe Biden’s stay at the DC hotel and was actually payment for services rendered during Biden’s vice presidency.
“The $3 million payment, then, is payment for the success you have shown them before. Do I have that right?” an investigator asked.
President Biden allegedly met with his son’s CEFC partner at the Four Seasons hotel in DC. Rahman, Chad
“From the opportunities we showed them, yes,” Walker said.
‘BELT AND ROAD’ AND THE BIDENS
CEFC’s efforts sparked one of the most explosive corruption allegations against Joe Biden in 2020 when communications appeared to show the Democratic nominee was getting a cut from a Chinese government-linked partnership, which sought to source overseas for China.
A May 2017 email from Gilliar, recovered from Hunter’s laptop, addressed Joe Biden, dubbed “the big guy,” for a 10% cut that would be “held by the H,” though evidence does not confirm that the president ever received the piece.
The October 2017 email also named Joe Biden as a participant in a call about CEFC’s attempt to buy US natural gas.
Tony Bobulinski was warned by Gilliar’s business partner “Don’t mention Joe was involved.”
Republicans say the president is the central figure in the lucrative relationship.
A threatening July 2017 WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to China-based CEF associate Raymond Zhao specifically called out his father and warned of retaliation if an agreed-upon deal was not implemented, according to language provided to Congress last year by an IRS whistleblower.
“I’m sitting here with my father and we want to understand why the commitments that were made were not fulfilled,” Hunter wrote. “Tell the director [Zang] that I want to get this over with now before it gets out of hand, and now that means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or a text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make sure that between the man sitting next to me and everyone he knows and my ability to hold office for -long time. revenge because you will regret not following my orders.”
Within 10 days of the message, CEFC transferred $5.1 million to bank accounts linked to Hunter and James Biden, according to a 2020 report by a Republican-led Senate committee.
President Biden’s memory has been in the spotlight since the scathing DOJ report came out last week. Follow The Post’s coverage here.
IRS whistleblowers say they were blocked by the Justice Department from obtaining cell phone geolocation data that could prove Hunter and Joe Biden were indeed together — but pictures from Hunter’s laptop show he was indeed at his father’s house at the time.
Walker’s testimony fills in some of CEFC’s broader timeline, including the origins of the relationship.
Additional email records produced by Walker show that Hunter Biden was copied in preparation for a February 2016 CEFC board meeting in Beijing, which Gilliar was to attend.
In an email on February 23, 2016, Gilliar wrote, “it was made clear to me that CEFC would like to engage in further business relations with our group and we will present several projects to them.”
Hunter Biden and first brother James Biden ended up receiving more than $7 million from CEFC in 2017 and 2018.
The American partner in the proposed CEFC joint venture, Bobulinski, claimed in 2020 that he twice discussed the plan with Joe Biden in May 2017.
CHINA THINKS HUNTER’S NAME COULD OPEN DOORS: WALKER
Walker told investigators that the Chinese seemed impressed by Hunter’s last name.
“Why use Hunter Biden to deliver the letter instead of Rob Walker or James Gilliar, especially if James Gilliar has the original connection?” a House investigator asked.
“Hunter in our relationship is — everyone has a different role. He’s the one I imagine Zang would have expected coming,” Walker replied.
“Is it because he was the son of the vice president at the time?” asked the congressman.
Hunter Biden and first brother James Biden ended up receiving more than $7 million from CEFC in 2017 and 2018. Getty Images
“Well, I think in Zang’s eyes — that I work for Hunter and James works for us or for Hunter, and that’s it — he’s seen as the head of this organization by Zang,” Walker said.
“And that’s because of his last name?” the questioner pressed.
“I can’t answer for Zang, but, sure, he’s got an interesting last name that would probably attract people’s attention,” replied Walker, who said his own relationship with Hunter later soured more than $50,000 in personal loans he made to the first child who never pay back.
A White House spokesman and Hunter Biden’s legal team did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on Tuesday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/