One of the Biden family’s closest business associates told the FBI that President Biden met several times with Chinese energy company executives on behalf of his son Hunter.
The meetings started when Mr. Biden was vice president in the Obama administration and continued as he prepared to launch his 2020 White House run, according to the associate, Rob Walker.
Mr. Walker’s statements to the FBI shot holes in Mr. Biden’s steadfast denials that he had any knowledge or involvement in his son’s lucrative foreign business deals.
The FBI interviewed Mr. Walker as part of a tax fraud investigation of the president’s son. Mr. Walker provided crucial details that put the president physically in the middle of his son’s business dealings.
A second business associate, Devon Archer, is set to cooperate in July with House lawmakers investigating the Biden family’s foreign business deals, a source told The Washington Times.
Like Mr. Walker, Archer knows details about Mr. Biden’s involvement in his son’s efforts to score big-money payouts from foreign energy company executives. Emails show that Archer helped plan a 2015 dinner with Mr. Biden, foreign officials and business executives.
SEE ALSO: IRS investigator says Justice Dept. protected Hunter Biden in tax probe
Mr. Walker’s Dec. 8, 2020, interview with FBI and IRS agents, revealed in a new whistleblower report, flags another appearance by the president that suggests a pattern of involvement in his son’s business deals.
Mr. Walker said Hunter Biden asked his father, “I may be trying to start a company or try to do something with these guys, and could you?”
Mr. Biden told his son he would attend a luncheon “if I’m around,” Mr. Walker said.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley recounted that Mr. Walker said Mr. Biden stopped by the Four Seasons Hotel, where Mr. Walker and Hunter Biden were dining with executives of CEFC, a Chinese energy company tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
“He stopped in, just to say hello to everybody,” Mr. Walker told the agents. He said it was after Mr. Biden’s vice presidential term.
Mr. Biden “literally sat down. … I don’t even think he drank water,” Mr. Walker said.
He said Hunter Biden hoped his father’s presence would bolster his chances of securing a deal with CEFC.
The FBI agent asked Mr. Walker whether Hunter Biden said he set up similar meetings between his father and Chinese energy company officials while Mr. Biden was vice president.
“Yes,” Mr. Walker said.
No more details about Mr. Biden’s involvement in his son’s foreign business deals came from the interview because the FBI agent “inexplicably changed the subject,” Mr. Shapley reported in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Whistleblowers have told lawmakers that high-ranking Justice Department, FBI and IRS officials derailed criminal investigations of Hunter Biden.
In the China deal, bank records revealed that CEFC and an affiliate paid millions of dollars to Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden’s brother James Biden, Mr. Walker and other business associates. The payments began two months after Mr. Biden left the post of vice president in 2017.
Mr. Walker has emerged as the centerpiece of the congressional investigation into Biden family business deals. He once said that exposing his financial dealings with the first family would “bury all of us.” The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has deemed him a critical witness, but he refuses to cooperate in the panel’s investigation.
The FBI said Mr. Shapley provided rare insight into Mr. Walker’s knowledge of Mr. Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals. His statements to the FBI coincide with evidence that Mr. Biden had at least peripheral involvement in his son’s deals.
Emails found on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop computer document Mr. Biden, as vice president, attending a dinner with foreign business associates on April 16, 2015.
The emails, first reported by the New York Post, show a guest list for the dinner in a private room at Cafe Milano in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood. The list included the now-deceased former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his wife, Yelena Baturina, as well as Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, three officials from Kazakhstan and other foreign officials.
The guest list email was sent to Archer, one of two Biden business associates who have agreed to cooperate with the House oversight investigation. Archer and Hunter Biden planned the guest list in back-and-forth messages.
Hunter Biden wrote to Archer: “Obviously save a seat for your guy (and mine if he’s in town.)”
Hunter Biden was referring to his father, but it’s unclear who Archer’s “guy” is.
In an email sent to a guest ahead of the Cafe Milano dinner, Hunter Biden said, “The reason for the dinner is ostensibly to discuss food security.” He said, “Dad will be there but keep that between us for now.”
Emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop revealed a thank-you note sent the next day from Mr. Pozharskyi.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent some time together,” Mr. Pozharskyi wrote.
It is not clear whether Ms. Baturina attended the dinner, but bank records obtained by congressional investigators show she sent a $3.5 million payment to a company linked to Archer and Hunter Biden in February 2014.
An FBI whistleblower said a paid informant claimed Mr. Biden accepted a $5 million bribe from Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky in 2015 or 2016. The allegation has not been substantiated.
Mr. Biden’s appearances at his son’s business meetings add to the evidence suggesting he knew about and perhaps had involvement in securing the lucrative deals.
In a WhatsApp message Mr. Shapley provided to House investigators, Hunter Biden told businessman Henry Zhao that he was sitting next to his father and wanted to see action on an energy deal.
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter Biden wrote in August 2017 about the proposed deal. “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.”
Several days after Hunter Biden sent the message, CEFC Infrastructure Investment wired $5.1 million to two companies associated with him.
This week, the president denied being untruthful in his repeated statements that he never had knowledge or been involved in his son’s business deals.
“No,” Mr. Biden said in response to a reporter’s question about whether he lied about speaking with Hunter Biden about his business deals.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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