James Biden testifies Wednesday. He should be pressed on Joe’s role in his Chinese business dealings and his defunct rural-hospital scheme.
President Joe Biden’s brother is set to testify on Wednesday, and House investigators will likely ask probing questions about his history of making money off the family name.
James Biden’s role in Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings and lucrative partnership with defunct health-care company Americore have been heavily scrutinized as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Here are five major questions Biden should be made to answer to further the investigation.
Was Your Brother Ever Involved in Your Chinese Business Dealings?
James Biden is listed alongside Hunter Biden in the initial operating agreement for Hudson West III, a joint venture the Bidens set up with Chinese conglomerate CEFC in August 2017. He was set to make $65,000 per month and Hunter Biden was supposed to make $100,000 per month, in addition to a $500,000 initial retainer fee.
Upon the creation of Hudson West, Hunter Biden received a $400,000 payment from the new venture and wired $150,000 of the funds to James Biden’s business account, Lion Hall Group, bank records show. James Biden and his wife Sara Biden proceeded to transfer $50,000 of the funds to their personal account. Afterwards, Sara Biden wrote a $40,000 check to Joe Biden in September 2017, the bank records indicate.
Former CEFC associate Mervyn Yan testified in January that Hudson West III was created to facilitate CEFC’s expansion into U.S. energy markets. None of the liquefied-natural-gas deals negotiated by James and Hunter Biden came to fruition.
James and Hunter Biden texted many times about the CEFC dealings. In one 2018 text, Hunter Biden suggested that his uncle’s only role in the venture was to “protect” Joe Biden, presumably by representing Joe’s interests. James Biden responded angrily, saying “I am no dupe for anyone. If you see me as an agent for my brother, there is something seriously wrong.”
James and Hunter may have been getting jumpy about their exposure in the venture as those texts, provided to Congress by IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, were sent around the time CEFC chairman Jianming was detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of bribery.
If James Biden proves reticent to admit his brother’s involvement in the family’s Chinese business dealings, evidence can be presented to jog his memory.
Hunter Biden invoked his father in a July 2017 text messages to Chinese business associate Raymond Zhao when the Hudson West III deal was being finalized, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley revealed during closed-door testimony he gave in May to the Ways and Means Committee. The text messages came from an Apple iCloud search warrant.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter Biden texted, according to Shapley.
“And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
Images from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive place him and Joe Biden together on the day he sent the text, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Why Did Joe Biden Require ‘Plausible Deniability’ If He Wasn’t Doing Anything Wrong?
Before the Hudson West III venture started, the Bidens and their associates negotiated with CEFC a $10 million joint venture proposal called “SinoHawk” that ended up falling apart. Former business partner Tony Bobulinski, a central figure in the “SinoHawk” talks, testified on February 13 and recalled meeting with Joe, Hunter, and James Biden to discuss the proposal, according to a transcript of his testimony.
“And so I’m asking [James Biden] — not from a criminal perspective. If I had criminal concerns at that point, I would have got up and walked out of there. My questions were focused on political headlines,” Bobulinski testified.
“And he looks at me and sort of chuckles and says, ‘Plausible deniability.’”
In March 2017, CEFC affiliated company State Energy HK sent $3 million to Biden associate Rob Walker, bank records show. Walker testified in January and said the payment was related to introducing CEFC to potential deals during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
Walker directed roughly $1 million of the State Energy funds to bank accounts tied to Biden family members including James Biden.
Around the time of the State Energy HK payment, Joe Biden met with Walker, Hunter Biden and a group of CEFC associates at a Four Seasons hotel, Walker testified. He clarified that Hunter Biden instructed him to send portions of the State Energy HK funds to his family members even though they had not worked for the firm at the time.
Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment in California confirms the business relationship with CEFC began when Joe Biden was in office but no money was paid until his vice presidency concluded.
The indictment does not name the other business associates involved with CEFC. The bank records show a company linked to businessman James Gilliar received a little over $1 million of the State Energy HK payout.
Gilliar is the business associate who floated the possibility of giving Joe Biden a 10 percent stake in “SinoHawk” through Hunter Biden, emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive show.
“10 held by H for the big guy?” Gilliar asked Bobulinski, Walker, and Hunter Biden, the New York Post first reported ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Bobulinski testified the “big guy” moniker was a reference to Joe Biden, and Gilliar often spoke in coded language because of his intelligence background.
Did You Make Promises to Americore about Joe Biden’s Role with the Company? If So, Was Joe Biden Aware of Those Promises?
Beginning in 2017, James Biden and health-care company Americore entered into a business relationship and made Joe Biden a central aspect of his pitch to the firm, Politico reported based on interviews, public records, court filings, and a trove of internal documents.
James Biden floated giving Joe Biden equity in Americore and putting him on the company’s board, former executives told the outlet. A third former executive told Politico James Biden said his brother could potentially promote the company during his upcoming presidential campaign
A complaint filed by U.S. bankruptcy trustee Carol Fox in July 2022 against James Biden said he promised his last name could “open doors” and vowed to use his political connections to secure a large investment from the Middle East. The Middle East investment never materialized.
Americore wired James Biden $400,000 of purported loans in January 2018 and another $200,000 on March 1, 2018, according to the complaint. In addition, Americore sent James Biden $10,000 for supposed consulting and marketing services.
James Biden and his wife Sara wrote a $200,000 check to Joe Biden on the same day Americore sent the $200,000 payment, the House Oversight Committee revealed in October.
Fox testified in January and said she did not have documentation of either of the supposed loans from Americore. She also said it was unclear what role James Biden played at the firm to earn those large sums of money. Fox had not seen the $200,000 check to Joe Biden until she testified and the exhibit was shown to her.
Were the Checks You Sent to Joe Biden Really Loan Repayments? Will You Turn over Financial Documentation to Prove It?
The $40,000 check and $200,000 check to Joe Biden are classified as loan repayments. White House spokesman Ian Sams has said repeatedly the checks were written to pay back loans Joe Biden made to his brother.
The Biden administration has declined to provide financial documentation of the apparent loans in response to a request from Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) in October for the paperwork. Comer said the bank records in his possession do not indicate any loans between the Biden family members.
Bank records reviewed by the Washington Examiner appear to indicate Joe Biden sent his brother $240,000 through law firm Monzack, Mersky, McLaughlin, and Browder, a firm with longstanding ties to the Biden family. A GOP Oversight Committee aide told the Examiner it’s unclear if the bank account was Joe Biden’s personal account and the law firm is tied to multiple Biden business accounts.
Joseph Langston, a former Biden fundraiser convicted on bribery charges, testified in January and recalled loaning $800,000 to James Biden, a source familiar told National Review. Biden only paid back $400,000 of the loan, which Langton does not have financial records of.
Did You Mislead Federal Agents about the Nature of Your Chinese Business Dealings?
James Biden told federal investigators he only received payments from Hudson West III through Hunter Biden, according to a memo produced by IRS agents summarizing the interview. One of the IRS agents who created the memo is IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, and he turned it over to the House Ways and Means Committee.
“James B was not exactly aware of the HW3 entity as he was always paid by RHB through Owasco PC. James B was not sure how much exactly RHB was making from HW3 but RHB told James B that he was making $100,000 and that RHB would pay James B $60,000, in addition to fees,” the memo reads. RHB refers to Hunter Biden, whose first name is Robert.
The bank records indicate that James Biden received more than $70,000 from Hudson West III directly in 2018, contradicting the story he told the IRS.
Hudson West III’s revised operating agreement in spring 2018 does not list James Biden. Rather, it declared Hunter Biden the recipient of $165,000 of monthly payments, the combined sum of the monthly income he and James Biden made from Hudson West III beforehand. The new agreement made Yan one of the Hudson West III managers instead of Gongwen “Kevin” Dong, a CEFC associate who left the U.S. in the wake of federal bribery charges leveled against CEFC executive Patrick Ho.
Nonetheless, Hunter Biden continued to make large payments to another business associate involved with Hudson West III, according to his tax indictment.
The indictment does not directly name James Biden. Yan testified the payments to James Biden’s Lion Hall Group continued after the revised business agreement.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty on January 11 to the federal tax charges. His congressional testimony is scheduled to take place on February 28 for the impeachment inquiry.