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Two former Biden family business associates testified Wednesday that President Biden, his son Hunter Biden and his brother James Biden lied when they claimed Mr. Biden was not involved in their business deals dating back to his days as vice president.
Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner, said Mr. Biden’s involvement in the deals was so important that it drew the attention of Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a 2017 electronic message from Hunter Biden that was read aloud at an impeachment hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The second public hearing of the impeachment inquiry featured testimony from Mr. Bobulinski and Jason Galanis. Both said they witnessed Mr. Biden’s involvement in deals with China and Russia.
Hunter Biden was invited but refused to testify. Lawmakers left a chair empty for him at the witness table.
One message from Hunter Biden, sent months after Mr. Biden’s term as vice president ended, indicated that the Chinese energy company CEFC “wanted to do business with the Bidens [and] to be my partners. To be partners with the Bidens.”
SEE ALSO: Tony Bobulinski: Chinese president gave nod to deal with Bidens
Hunter Biden said in the message that CEFC Executive Director Jianjun Zang referred to Mr. Xi’s approval of the Bidens’ partnership with CEFC.
“Both coming to be my partner, to be partners with the Bidens, [Mr. Zang] has implied that the ‘number one’ has made it clear and available to him,” Hunter Biden wrote in a message.
Mr. Bobulinski told lawmakers that “the number one” was a reference to Mr. Xi.
The Bidens netted $10 million from business deals with the Chinese, Mr. Bobulinski said.
The hearing followed months of closed-door testimony from a string of witnesses who said Mr. Biden either appeared in person at his son’s business meetings or phoned into them, acting to seal deals by selling his powerful name. Lawmakers scoured bank records to determine that the family and associates pocketed $24 million on foreign business deals that Republicans believe were leveraged on Mr. Biden’s influence and power.
“It’s done over and over again. The Biden family promises Joe’s power, Joe Biden shows up, and millions of dollars come into the Bidens’ pockets. Joe Biden is the Biden family’s closer,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican.
Galanis testified from a prison cell, where he is serving an 11-year sentence on an unrelated securities fraud conviction. He described Mr. Biden’s involvement in business deals as vice president in the Obama administration.
He described a May 4, 2014, call with Yelena Baturina, a wealthy Russian real estate investor seeking a financial foothold in the U.S.
Galanis said Hunter Biden called his father on speakerphone from a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, where he met with Ms. Baturina and her husband, a former mayor of Moscow.
“The discussion was about Yelena and Yuri coming to town, and [Vice President Biden] talked about [them] being “good to his boy,’” Galanis said.
He said Hunter Biden’s call to his father had been arranged.
“To me, it was clearly set up ahead of time. It was an arranged call,” Mr. Galanis said. Hunter Biden, in the call to his father, referred to the two Russians as “our friends.”
A few days later, Ms. Baturina agreed to pump $20 million into one of Hunter Biden’s business projects, Galanis said.
James and Hunter Biden testified that Mr. Biden was never involved in the business deals, but lawmakers say their closed-door testimony provided last month contradicts the testimony of former business associates.
The president has repeatedly denied interacting with his family on business deals.
When asked about the president’s denials, Galanis called them “misleading to the point of being an untruth.”
Mr. Bobulinski said James Biden lied when he told the committee in a closed-door deposition in February that he did not meet with Mr. Bobulinski and Mr. Biden at the Beverly Hills Hilton in 2017 to discuss the CEFC business deal.
Democrats say the hearing and the Republicans’ impeachment inquiry have not uncovered proof that Mr. Biden committed a crime.
“President Biden didn’t do anything wrong,” said Rep. Katie Porter, California Democrat. “There is no evidence of that.”
Democrats at the hearing interrogated their invited witness, Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Mr. Parnas testified that he was hired to dig up dirt on Mr. Biden.
Mr. Parnas, who served prison time for fraud, said former President Donald Trump was aware of the scheme and that none of the efforts turned up anything incriminating on Mr. Biden.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, called Mr. Bobulinski a disgruntled former business associate and said Galanis is a fraudster whose testimony cannot be trusted.
“Even if we were to believe every word offered by these utterly compromised witnesses … their allegations don’t identify any wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense against the republic by President Biden,” Mr. Raskin said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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