President Joe Biden claimed from the 2020 presidential debate stage that his son has not “made money” from China, but Hunter Biden confirmed on Wednesday that he received several payments from Chinese Communist Party-linked companies and individuals.
Hunter’s confession, revealed during a closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee, not only corroborates evidence uncovered by Republican impeachment investigators but also invalidates claims made by Joe on the 2020 campaign trail to evade scrutiny for his involvement in Hunter’s foreign business deals.
According to the deposition transcript released Thursday, an unnamed interviewer asked Hunter to confirm or deny Joe’s assertions that the Biden family never “received any money from China” and Joe “never interacted with any of your business associates.”
The younger Biden initially claimed those statements were correct. Even when the interviewer noted that if Hunter introduced Joe to Ye Jianming, the founder and then-chairman of the Chinese Communist Party-linked energy company CEFC, “that would be untrue.” Hunter obfuscated.
“No, that is not untrue. I’m telling you this. The question being asked, that you’re stating, is that my father said I never received any money from China, the Government of China,” Hunter replied.
Before the interviewer pointed out that Joe never said “Government of China,” Hunter threw a jab at former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and made the sweeping claim, “I’ve never received money from a foreign government.”
It wasn’t until he was asked directly about getting paid by “China or not” that Hunter admitted, “I received money from a Chinese company.”
“How many millions have you received from Chinese companies?” the questioning continued.
Hunter feigned ignorance on the “exact amount” but argued every transaction, including CEFC Chairman Jianming’s diamond gift, was “completely legal” and “incredibly ethical.”
Bank receipts, White House visitor logs, testimonies from Biden business partners, and other documents obtained by the Republicans investigating Biden family corruption suggest otherwise. One Hunter and Joe-linked bank account received millions of dollars shortly after Hunter threatened Chinese businessman Henry Zhao that he would use his father’s position to ensure “promises and assurances” were kept.
In his opening line on Wednesday, Hunter claimed he “did not involve my father in my business.” Not only was Joe involved in Hunter’s international business deals, including shuttling him to and from meetings with Chinese business partners on Air Force Two and connecting with those partners himself in person or over the phone, but overwhelming evidence suggests the now-president leveraged his name and position in government with foreign entities, including ones from China, to enrich himself and his family.
Biden family associate Tony Bobulinski not only testified to Joe’s involvement in the CEFC deal but said his status as the Biden family brand in various overseas transactions should prompt an investigation into whether he and his family members violated “the Foreign Agents Registration Act; anti-corruption and public integrity statutes; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act” (RICO).