President Joe Biden’s brother told the Internal Revenue Service that Hunter Biden told him he was in business with a “protege of President Xi,” referring to the leader of China, according to notes by an IRS investigator that were divulged during a congressional interview of Jim Biden.
When asked by Congress about the comment, Jim Biden affirmed that “It was alleged by Hunter to me, and I, obviously, I said that, and that’s my recollection,” he said in regards to Ye Jianming, the chairman of Chinese energy firm CEFC, who was later arrested for fraud in China and disappeared.
He later said his comments used a “term of art,” saying “It was a gratuitous comment, okay, and it wasn’t well chosen, okay, being a protege of the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Jim also denied the existence of a meeting between the now-president and himself, Hunter, and Tony Bobulinski, who were pursuing a lucrative deal with CECF–appearing to contradict Hunter, who later corroborated elements of the meeting to the same congressmen.
In his transcribed interview, Jim railed against Bobulinski, who has said that Joe Biden met with him and Hunter Biden about CEFC in May 2017 at the bar of a hotel in Beverly Hills where Joe Biden was staying. Text messages showed Jim arranging to meet with Bobulinski. But Jim strenuously and unambiguously declared that a meeting with Joe never occurred. “I could have been there just with Tony Bobulinski. I could have been there with Hunter as well. But my brother was never there,” he told Congress.
Jim testified privately to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees on February 21 as part of their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, but the committees did not release the transcript until Friday, shortly after of testimony by Hunter Biden, who engaged in overseas businesses with his father’s brother.
So Hunter might not have known about his uncle’s answer when he admitted this week that “My uncle and myself” were “in the lobby bar with Mr. Bobulinski having coffee” when “my dad went and shook hands with Tony.”
Additionally, Bobulinski texted Jim: “please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk.”
Jim Biden said in the deposition that he helped Zang Jianjun, Chairman Ye’s lieutenant, get a U.S. visa through a former immigration official, find an apartment in New York City, and locate a school for his children. “I was doing it out of personal kindness to — to familiarize him and his family with the city,” he said.
Jim Biden said that Zang, through a Washington, D.C.-based associate, gave Hunter Biden a diamond, and that Hunter Biden gave it to him. He threw it in the trash after a jeweler told him it was only worth a few hundred dollars, he said.
Jim Biden said that Joe Biden’s assertion during the election that his family did not take money from China was not false because CEFC was a private Chinese company. Jim Biden said he believed CEFC was not government-affiliated because he took Hunter Biden’s word for it, even though he also said that Hunter Biden was erratic.
He also said that Joe Biden didn’t know about the CEFC deal at all, contradicting other evidence. The IRS interviewed Jim Biden and also reviewed evidence into Hunter Biden’s affairs, some of which was introduced in the congressional deposition. In one text, Hunter Biden wrote that his “uncle will be here with his BROTHER who would like to say hello to the chairman,” he said, referring to Ye.
Jim Biden said he later encouraged Hunter Biden to cut Bobulinski and other partners out of the CEFC deal, saying they had not brought any investment leads — though he also couldn’t point to any that Hunter had generated.
The president’s brother said that when bank records show him writing checks for $240,000 to Joe Biden — money traceable back to CEFC — it was to repay money that Joe lent him, though it was unclear whether bank records reflect Joe actually sending that money.
“We haven’t seen the evidence of you receiving that money. Do you have any documentation surrounding receipt of that money, whether it’s a bank deposit, bank transfer, wire, anything of that nature?” a congressman asked.
“Congressman, I think we received those documents at the same time you received those documents from the banks,” Jim Biden’s lawyer said.
“It’s my understanding there’s nothing in the bank records that show the receipt of the money,” the congressman said.
“I can’t point to it at the moment, but I don’t think that that’s correct,” the lawyer said.
Jim Biden categorically denied numerous specific charges from multiple sources in a recent Politico story that said he invoked his brother’s name when doing business with hospital firm Americore. The article said a “former executive said that Jim Biden spoke of plans — which did not come to pass — to give Joe Biden equity in Americore.”
Jim Biden said of the claim, “That is ridiculous on its face. No.”
The article also claimed that “a third former executive said that [Americore’s founder] and Jim Biden spoke of plans to put Joe Biden on Americore’s board,” to which Jim Biden responded: “Again, ridiculous. No.”
Politico also obtained an email in which Jim Biden wrote to a healthcare executive, “This would be a perfect platform to expose my brother’s team to your protocol.” House Republicans asked, “Does this — quoting an email, does this change any of your other answers about never involving –” to which Jim Biden replied “No.”
Asked if “it would be odd if somebody went into a business meeting and put Joe Biden on speakerphone, correct, if it had nothing to do with the business meeting? Would you agree with me?” Jim Biden said, “Yes, I would.” Other Hunter business associates have said that Hunter did just that.
The president’s brother, who went on rambling discursions during the interview, said he had a close relationship with Hunter Biden in part because he was also a recovering alcoholic. “I have probably taken, you know, two dozen people to treatment centers, half of them being family members and/or extended family members or friends,” he explained.
He said he has taken loans from John Hynansky, who owns car dealerships in the Ukraine and Delaware, and who President Biden mentioned in a speech in the Ukraine while he was Vice President. He said he has not paid them off because the lender is wealthy and “is not pressing.”
After Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris paid off Hunter Biden’s tax debts, Jim Biden said Hunter Biden asked him to thank Morris “on behalf of the family,” with the comment suggesting that he was speaking on behalf of Joe.
Post a Comment