Friday, July 28, 2023

The Emails That Laid out How Those Biden Foreign Business Deals Worked


Nick Arama reporting for RedState 

It’s hard to believe that Hunter Biden hasn’t been pursued yet for a Foreign Agents Registration Act FARA) violation, given all the foreign nationals with whom he was working.

It was that question that contributed to the sweetheart plea deal that Hunter’s team thought they’d worked out for him falling apart in court on Wednesday. It also looked like they were trying to put one over on the judge during the plea hearing. The judge wanted to know if this was an ongoing investigation, were they pursuing things like FARA? The prosecutor said yes. The plea agreement Statement of Facts spoke about his involvement in the Ukrainian energy company and with the Chinese, and we’ve written extensively about those aspects. They could implicate FARA.

However, those were just some of the deals. For a guy who had a lot of problems, Hunter certainly got around. There’s a story that we want to remind folks of, where you can see how Hunter operated. Everything is laid out in a couple of emails. What makes the story different, too, is that the emails don’t come from the laptop, so they can’tt be argued away by anyone on the left as somehow “Russian disinformation”—even though the laptop was real.

These are emails that were uncovered by Business Insider that we reported on before, back in 2021. They show that Hunter Biden wanted $2 million to help recover billions in Libyan assets frozen by the Obama administration. They show a Democratic donor Sam Jauhari, on January 28, 2015, communicating with Sheikh Mohammed al-Rahbani, another Obama campaign donor involved in the proposal. The assessment is brutally honest, and it shows what Hunter was offering to people who might want to engage him, listing the people he was connected to (and how he would presumably help achieve their goal).

Per phone conversation I met with #2 son. He wants $2 per year retainer +++ success fees. He wants to hire his own people – it can be close circle of people for confidentiality. His dad is deciding to run or not.

His positives are he is Chairman of UN World Food Program, son of #2 who has Libya file, access to State, Treasury, business partner SofS [Secretary of State] J. [John] Forbes K [Kerry] son and since he travels with dad he is connected everywhere in Europe and Asia where M. Q. [Muammar Qaddafi] and LIA [Libya Investment Authority] had money frozen. He said he has access to highest level in PRC [China], he can help there.

His negatives are that he is alcoholic, drug addict – kicked [out] of U.S. Army for cocaine, chasing low class hookers, constantly needs money-liquidity problems and many more headaches.

We should meet in Gstraad or London to decide next steps.

Notice how they describe his connections to “State,” “Treasury,” and particularly his connections to the “highest level” in China. As Hunter said he was connected to the “spy chief of China,” Patrick Ho. Notice, also, the very important: “his dad is deciding to run or not,” Biden (#2) had the “Libya file” (like he had the Ukrainian file?), and they lay out that Hunter traveled everywhere with his dad. Translation: here’s a guy who may soon be connected to even more power, and he’s used Dad to increase his profile. There’s the influence right there. But it’s also sort of hilarious that they spared nothing in their brutal description of Hunter, too.

The second email, in Feb. 2016 from a lawyer back to the Jauhari and al-Rahbani, shows they considered the deal into the following year. The email is also fascinating for stressing keeping the group small so fewer people would know.

I spoke with HB’s team yesterday. They are interested in the project, but emphasized that for them to get involved, the team (lobbyists, lawyers and PR) would need to be a small group of folks they have a tight relationship with. They do not want a large group involved and they only want people with whom they have a close relationship with due to the sensitivities surrounding their involvement.

“Sensitivities” is one way of putting it.

But while the deal ultimately didn’t go through, this shows what was going on, laying it out in very clear detail.

Hunter’s business partner Devon Archer is expected to give an interview to the House Oversight Committee on July 31, and he will likely detail more. But as his attorney also noted, he’s already testified to a federal grand jury on questions related to what he’s going to tell the members of Congress. He’s expected to lay out Joe Biden’s involvement in phone calls during meetings. But he knows a lot, so the Bidens have to be concerned about what he might say and how that could now impact any potential charges—including FARA—when it comes to Hunter, as well as influence peddling in regard to Joe Biden.