Senators release new evidence tying Hunter Biden business to communist China, Russian energy
The "relationships created counterintelligence and extortion concerns," Grassley and Johnson warn.
by John Soloman, November 19, 2020
Two Republican-run Senate committees on Wednesday released new evidence they say shows Hunter Biden and his business associates were working deals as late as 2017 tied to communist China and Russian energy interests, arguing the activities created potential counterintelligence concerns for Joe Biden's family.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) made the documents public as part of a supplemental report in their ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden's business activities. The documents include emails, text messages and business memos provided to the committee by Biden family business associate Tony Bobulinski, who is cooperating with both Senate and FBI investigations into the Biden family.
"These new records confirm the connections between the Biden family and the communist Chinese government, as well as the links between Hunter Biden's business associates and the Russian government, and further support the Committees' September 23, 2020 report's finding that such relationships created counterintelligence and extortion concerns," the senators wrote in their new report.
Specifically, the committees' evidence traces business deals discussed between Hunter Biden, Bobulinski and an American businessman close to the Biden family named Rob Walker. The senators released an email in which Walker described himself as "being a surrogate for H or Jim when gauging opportunities." The committee said that in the email "H appears to refer to Hunter Biden, and Jim appears to refer to Joe Biden's brother, James Biden."
Click Here to Watch the Newest We the People Convention News & Opinion Podcast!
Many of the new documents involve discussions with a business venture called CEFC China Energy, which was under the leadership of Ye Jianming. The senators stated that Ye "had established ties to the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army" and worked with Hunter Biden and his associates to pursue energy deals around the globe, including in Oman, France and Russia. The committee said a company affiliated with Ye wired money to U.S. accounts tied to Biden's associates in 2017.
"In 2017, during the time that Ye's companies were sending millions of dollars to Hunter Biden associated companies, Ye had business dealings with Kremlin-controlled companies and Kremlin-aligned businessmen," the report said. "In effect, Ye appears to have been China's unofficial bridge to Russia on energy. As noted in the Committees' September 23, 2020 report, in September 2017, CEFC announced its intention to purchase a 14.2 percent stake in the Russian state-owned energy company, Rosneft, for approximately $9 billion."
The committee cited direct communications in which Hunter Biden acknowledged he "was in close contact with Ye in 2017 and was aware of these developments."
"In an October 2017 message exchange produced to the Committees by Bobulinski, Hunter Biden told Bobulinski that although he 'stayed out of that Russian mess,' he 'discussed the Roseneft [sic] deal' with Ye personally and was familiar with the deal, including the fact that Ye was 'pissed off ... by the execution,'" the report said. "In the same exchange, Biden explained that he spoke to Ye on a 'regular basis,' they have a 'standing once a week call,' was the 'first guest in his new apartment,' 'he cooked me lunch himself and we ate in the kitchen together,' and was helping Ye 'on a number of his personal issues (staff visas and some more sensitive things).'"
Hunter Biden's attorney, George Mesires, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday evening.
The release of the evidence came as the unsettled U.S. election between President Trump and Joe Biden entered a third week of recounts and legal disputes, and Republicans began stepping up questions about Biden family conflicts should the Democrat ultimately be certified the winner and take control of the White House on Jan. 20.
The evidence suggesting Hunter Biden discussed with Ye a deal with a Russian state-owned oil giant like Rosneft could also provide political grist for liberal Democrats, who are pushing Joe Biden to pursue an aggressive climate agenda that phases out reliance on fossil fuels.
Sen. Johnson told Just the News in an interview Wednesday night that the committees' earlier report on Biden family business dealings in September had spurred new witnesses to come forward and new evidence to surface.
"Our report obviously raised serious questions and broke a logjam of information, and now we have whistleblowers coming forward with new information showing even more troubling ties back to the Chines government, Russia's Rosneft and possibly the People's Liberation Army," the senator said. "… These are the people that Hunter Biden associated with and Joe Biden knew full well his family was engaged with."
