House Republicans are finally getting the opportunity to ask Hunter Biden directly about the extent of his father’s involvement in the sprawling network of foreign business deals he set up while Joe Biden was serving as vice president and in the time immediately afterwards.
Hunter Biden is testifying privately on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees after months of public posturing and negotiation between lawmakers and the first son’s legal team over whether he would appear publicly, as was Hunter’s preference, or behind closed doors, as committee chairmen Jim Jordan and James Comer insisted.
Coming after months of investigation and testimony from players in the Biden family orbit, the hearing represents the most significant opportunity yet for Republicans to directly scrutinize Hunter’s hand-waving explanations for his father’s proximity to his foreign influence-peddling schemes.
The Biden Family ‘Brand’
Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified in July and described how Hunter leveraged the Biden family “brand” to enter into business deals with foreign entities. Archer and Biden were both board members of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings and once had a close friendship.
Joe Biden spoke with his son’s business associates an estimated 20 times and dined with them at least twice, Archer recalled. Specifically, Joe Biden attended a dinner in 2014 with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and another dinner in spring 2015 where Burisma executive Vadim Pozharskyi was present. Baturina wired Hunter Biden and Devon Archer $3.5 million in February 2014, around the time of the dinner, bank records show.
Pozharskyi thanked Hunter Biden for allowing him to meet then–vice president Joe Biden in April 2015, the New York Post reported ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Burisma was paying Hunter Biden over $80,000 per month at the time of the dinner, the bank records indicate.
Hunter Biden held a press conference in December and said his father was not “financially involved” in his business dealings, an apparent climbdown from the president’s repeated insistence that he never so much as discussed business with Hunter. Hunter has never explained why he routinely placed his father on the phone with his business partners and invited him to dine with them.
Recruitment of Burisma Lobbyists
In late 2015, Hunter Biden helped recruit international lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies to bolster Burisma’s U.S. influence operation. Blue Star produced a memo for Burisma in December 2015 outlining then-VP Biden’s talking points for his upcoming Ukraine trip where he addressed the nation’s struggle to root out corruption.
Burisma held a board meeting in Dubai days before Joe Biden’s Ukraine trip was set to begin. Pozharskyi and Mykola Zlochevsky, the company’s embattled founder, pressured Hunter Biden to “call D.C.” after dinner at a Four Seasons hotel, Archer detailed.
The next year, Blue Star lobbyists and Hunter Biden’s business associate Eric Schwerin wrote in an email that they were taking a “victory lap” after learning that Zlochevsky was no longer wanted for financial crimes.
Blue Star belatedly registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in May 2022 for its meetings with Obama-administration officials on Zlochevsky’s behalf.
Chinese Business Dealings during Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency
Business partner Rob Walker was a central figure in Hunter Biden’s dealings with Chinese conglomerate CEFC, which began during his father’s vice presidency. Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment in California states the CEFC relationship started in late 2015 and meetings took place over the next two years to help CEFC explore infrastructure deals.
“But you did have — in February of 2016, there was some sort of relationship at least developing with CEFC. Do I have that correct?”
“That is correct,” Walker testified.
In March 2017, CEFC-linked firm State Energy HK wired Walker $3 million and he proceeded to distribute approximately $1 million to bank accounts tied to Biden family members, bank records show. Another $1 million went to a company linked to business partner James Gilliar.
Walker vaguely recalled Joe Biden attending a meeting with CEFC associates in 2017 around the time of the payment.
’10 Held by H for the Big Guy’
CEFC negotiated a joint venture known as “SinoHawk” with Hunter Biden and his business associates in 2017 that was supposed to launch with $10 million in seed capital, former business partner Tony Bobulinski testified. Bobulinski vividly recalled meeting Joe, James, and Hunter Biden to talk through the deal in May 2017.
At one point, Gilliar floated the possibility of giving “the big guy” a 10 percent ownership stake in the CEFC venture.
“10 held by H for the big guy?” Gilliar asked Hunter Biden, Bobulinski, and Walker, the New York Post first reported. Bobulinski confirmed “the big guy” was Joe Biden and admonished Walker for hesitating to say so during his testimony.
The “SinoHawk” deal ended up falling through, and Hunter Biden instead created Hudson West III, a lucrative joint venture with James Biden and CEFC associates.
“Joe Biden attended dinners, spoke on speakerphone, showed up to meetings, and had coffee with his son’s foreign business associates,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky) told National Review in a statement.
“Our committees have the opportunity to depose Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, about this record of evidence. This deposition is not the conclusion of the impeachment inquiry. There are more subpoenas and witness interviews to come.”