Photo: Presumptive President-Elect and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, with his son Hunter Biden in a 2016 file photo.
Photo Credit: Visar Kryeziu / AP file photo
The Center Square [By Bethany Blankley]-
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, released more details this week about Hunter Biden’s overseas business deals, alleging links to foreign individuals who have ties to the Chinese Communist Party and Moscow.
Their supplemental report published by the Finance and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees comes two months after their initial report issued on Sept., “Hunter Biden, Burisma and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns.
“Some of the additional findings from their investigation include millions of dollars sent from a Shanghai-based company with links to CEFC, which was effectively an extension of the communist Chinese government, to a close business associate of Hunter Biden,” the senators said in a joint release.
CEFC was founded by billionaire Ye Jianming, who is reported to have ties with the CCP.
In a letter dated Nov. 9, Grassley requested the U.S. Department of Justice to review the evidence “to determine if the actions undertaken by Hunter Biden and James Biden for CEFC, Ye Jianming, and other individuals linked to the communist Chinese government, constitute activity that requires registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.” He requested a response by Nov. 23.
In their supplemental report, the senators state that in February 2017 and in March 2017, a “Shanghai-based company called State Energy HK Limited sent two wires, each in the amount of $3,000,000, to a bank account for Robinson Walker LLC” and records show that “it is unclear what the true purpose is behind these transactions and who the ultimate beneficiary is.”
On the first page of the 70-page report, they write, “Robinson Walker LLC is controlled by Hunter Biden’s longtime business associate, Rob Walker. Walker appears to have been associated with at least three companies connected to Hunter Biden: Oldaker, Biden and Belair LLP; Seneca Global Advisors; and Rosemont Seneca Advisors. Hunter Biden was a founding partner at Oldaker, Biden and Belair LLP, and he reportedly maintained an ownership stake in Seneca Global Advisors.”
The transactions under investigation “are a direct link between Walker and the communist Chinese government and, because of his close association with Hunter Biden, yet another tie between Hunter Biden’s financial arrangements and the communist Chinese government,” the senators state.
Hunter’s former law partner and fellow lobbyist, William Oldaker, had registered as a foreign agent under FARA, and is Joe Biden’s longtime campaign lawyer and fundraiser, RealClear Investigations reports.
None of these contacts were publicly disclosed in government filings, according to a search of both FARA and Lobbying Disclosure Act records, Real Clear Investigations reports. Hunter Biden was registered as a federal lobbyist in 2001 and stopped filing disclosures in 2008, its investigation found.
A search of Justice Department databases reveals that Hunter Biden failed to register as a foreign agent while promoting the interests of foreign business partners in Washington, including brokering meetings with his father and other government officials, RealClear Investigations reported.
The senators cite a Fox News interview with a former Biden business associate, Tony Bobulinski, who was the CEO of a former joint venture in which Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s brother and son, James and Hunter Biden, respectively, were reportedly involved.
Bobulinski claimed the former vice president and his family were “compromised by China,” adding, “Obviously, I’ve referenced I’ve held a Q-clearance – you’re briefed on compromise and who you’re able to talk with and deal and do business with – and I just don’t see, given the history here and the facts, how Joe can’t be influenced in some manner based on the history that they have with CEFC.”
Grassley and Johnson said they found records produced by Bobulinski, dated May 15, 2017, including plans for CEFC in Oman, Romania, Colombia and Luxembourg, among other countries, in which Hunter Biden “was key in relationship set up, messaging the good will around the chairman [Ye Jianming] and the non-conflict status of CEFC entry, ‘a bridge between two great nations.’”
According to the senators’ report, the 2017 document suggests that Hunter was allegedly responsible for “writing to all parties and organizing meetings to continue CEFC promote, as well as approving step-by-step strategic and operational elements.”
In an October 2017 text message to Bobulinski, Hunter Biden allegedly wrote that he discussed a deal with Russian state-backed Rosneft with Ye Jianming personally and had knowledge of the deal.
Grassley and Johnson argue that Jianming “appears to have been China’s unofficial bridge to Russia on energy.”
They also cite text messages between Hunter Biden and Bobulinski that Hunter spoke to Jianming on a “regular basis” and had a “standing once a week call.”
Joe Biden has repeatedly denied he has had any knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business deals. During the final presidential debate, he said, “nothing was unethical” about Hunter sitting on the board of Burisma Holdings.
