Tony Bobulinski Puts President at Center of Foreign Influence-Peddling Scheme: ‘Biden Family Business Was Joe Biden, Period’

Former Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski claimed that Joe Biden was at the center of the Biden family’s shady overseas business dealings in his testimony before Congress on Tuesday.

Testifying behind closed doors before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, Bobulinski argued in his opening statement that the president was not only aware of the influence-peddling operation being conducted by his son Hunter and his brother James while he was vice president, but that he actively enabled the lucrative scheme.

“It is clear to me that Joe Biden was ‘the Brand’ being sold by the Biden family,” Bobulinski said in his opening statement, which was obtained by National Review. Bobulinski’s statement echoes the July testimony of former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer. Archer and Hunter Biden were both board members of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings and once had a close relationship.

“His family’s foreign influence peddling operation — from China to Ukraine and elsewhere — sold out to foreign actors who were seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government. Joe Biden was more than a participant in and beneficiary of his family’s business; he was an enabler, despite being buffered by a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability,” Bobulinski added.

“The only reason any of these international business transactions took place — with tens of millions of dollars flowing directly to the Biden family — was because Joe Biden was in high office. The Biden family business was Joe Biden, period.”

The Biden family and its associates received more than $24 million over an approximately five-year period beginning in 2014 and ending in 2019, according to a memo put forward in September by House Republicans. The Biden family itself and affiliated companies hauled in $15 million of that sum, the memo says.

Bobulinski was involved with Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC and its negotiations with Hunter Biden and his business associates over a joint venture known as “SinoHawk” that ended up falling through.

He previously told the FBI he met with Joe Biden in Beverly Hills, California and the pair discussed business, according to FBI notes turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee by IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler. Joe Biden and Bobulinski met during the Milken Institute Global Conference where Joe Biden gave a speech, Bobulinski told federal agents.

Bobulinski accused the Bidens of defrauding him as the CEO of SinoHawk and repeated his description of meetings with Joe Biden in May 2017 to discuss business dealings. He also said law enforcement and several grand juries have refused to contact him to get his perspective on the Biden family’s business dealings.

Hunter Biden’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell wrote a letter in October to Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves alleging Bobulinski lied to the FBI, a charge Bobulinski vehemently denied in his opening statement.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) wrote a letter Monday to Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) casting doubt on Bobulinski’s credibility as a witness.

Raskin’s letter portrays Bobulinski as a Trump campaign surrogate and disputes the claims Bobulinski made about SinoHawk ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Bobulinski’s opening statement begins by disclosing his military service and his family’s long history of serving in the armed forces. He was invited to testify for the impeachment inquiry into President Biden based primarily on his son’s foreign business enterprise.

In October 2020, the New York Post first reported on emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive where business associate James Gilliar floated a 10% stake for Joe Biden in a CEFC deal.

“10 held by H for the big guy?” Gilliar asked, referring to Joe Biden.

CEFC began working with Hunter Biden and his associates during Joe Biden’s vice presidency, resulting in a $3 million payment from CEFC’s State Energy HK account to business associate Rob Walker in March 2017, bank records show.

The SinoHawk negotiations resulted in the Hudson West III joint venture involving Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden and CEFC officials being formed in August 2017, according to Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment in California.

Hunter Biden’s indictment does not name James Biden as the other business associate involved with Hudson West III, but his name is listed on Hudson West’s initial operating agreement and bank records of transactions involving the Bidens and Hudson West.

James Biden previously told federal investigators he received payments from Hudson West III through Hunter Biden, a memo outlining his interview says.

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty in January to the federal tax charges. His congressional testimony is scheduled to take place on February 28th.