President Biden was seen in newly revealed photos meeting with Hunter Biden's Chinese business partners in China while serving as Vice President, drawing further scrutiny of his claim that he “never discussed” business with his son.
The photos, obtained by the conservative-leaning organization America First Legal through a lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), appear to show then-Vice President Biden introducing his son to Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Vice President Li Yuanzhao. Other photos show Joe Biden posing with Hunter's business partners from BHR Partners, including Jonathan Li and Ming Xue.
“These photos highlight the connections between then-Vice President Biden, Hunter, his Chinese business partners, and Chinese government officials including President Xi Jinping,” America First Legal said in a statement. press release this week. “Lawyers and representatives for President Biden and President Obama have delayed NARA’s release of these photos, as they have with other records, until after Election Day.”
“These photos confirm the findings of the investigation conducted by the House Oversight Committee, which indicate that Hunter Biden He arranged for his father to meet Jonathan Lee and other BHR executives during a 2013 China trip, where Mr. Lee sought — and obtained — access to political power for Vice President Biden, including, for example, preferential access to then-U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus…a condition of Hunter Biden and his associates’ participation in the BHR deal,” America First Legal books.
Hunter Biden: A look at how the saga that spanned more than six years developed
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden with Ming Xue, Jonathan Lee and Rock Shi (America's First Legal)
America First Legal also wrote that according to the committee's investigation, “the Biden family benefited from its business dealings with BHR.”
It was Hunter Biden Asked earlier this year By the House Oversight Committee about his meetings while traveling to Asia with his father.
“When we got back from an event to the hotel, there was a rope line, and Jonathan Lee was in the hotel lobby where I was going to meet him for coffee,” Hunter Biden said at the time. “At this line, I introduced my father to Jonathan Lee and a friend of his, and they shook hands and I think they might have taken a picture. Then my father went up to his room, and I went to have coffee with Jonathan Lee.”
Hunter Biden added that he did not tell his father “anything” about Lee's identity.
Joe Biden has repeatedly denied any role in his son's business.
Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Chinese President Xi and former US Ambassador to China Max Baucus (America's First Legal)
“I never talked to my son about his business dealings abroad.” Joe Biden said In the 2019 presidential election campaign.
But emails sent to and from Hunter Biden cast doubt on that, including a 2017 email obtained by Fox News showing Hunter He ordered keys for Joe and Jill Biden with his uncle Jim Bidenfor the space he planned to share with an “emissary” of the head of a now-bankrupt Chinese energy company.
In another 2017 email also obtained by Fox News, Biden wrote to the head of the same Chinese energy company expressing “best wishes from the entire Biden family” and urging the president to “quickly” send a $10 million cable to “finance and operate.” appropriately.” Biden's joint venture with the company.
Joe Biden says Hunter did nothing wrong. truly? Let's count the ways
Photo of Hunter Biden and Joe Biden from America First Legal (America's First Legal)
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's former business partner and longtime friend, sat for hours before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door hearing last year. Contradicting the president's claims, Saying Hunter put his father on speakerphone during a meeting with business partners at least 20 times.
Archer described how Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell the “brand”.
The photos sparked intense criticism on social media in light of President Biden's repeated claims that he never discussed business with his son.
“Amazing” Red State writer Bunchy Published on X.
“These images are incredibly devastating and speak volumes,” said author and journalist Peter Schweitzer Published on X.
“It is shameful that only through litigation, and only at the conclusion of the Biden administration's term, is its corruption through ties to the Chinese Communist Party coming into full focus,” said Benjamin Weingarten, editor of Real Clear Politics. Published on X.
“The Biden crime family’s Christmas card just dropped,” Republican Rep. Eric Burleson said. Published on X.
“China has the Biden family in its back pocket,” Judicial Watch chief Tom Fitton said Published on X.
Hunter Biden, left, President Biden's son, arrives with attorney Abby Lowell at the O'Neill House office building for a closed session in the Republican-led investigation into the Biden family on Capitol Hill in Washington on February 28, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Newly discovered photos of Biden meeting with Hunter's Chinese business partners renew scrutiny of the email exchange Previously reported by Fox News Digital. A 2014 email exchange reveals that Hunter Biden once said he would be “happy” to introduce his business partners to a senior Chinese Communist Party official to discuss potential investments after that official sat at Hunter’s table during a 2013 dinner in Beijing to welcome his father. Then-Vice President Joe Biden.
An email exchange between Hunter and James Bulger in 2014 referenced the same China trip referenced in the America First Legal press release.
Bulger, who goes by “Jimmy,” served as chairman of Boston-based Thornton Group LLC, a company that joined forces with Hunter's now-defunct Rosemont Seneca to launch its joint venture with Chinese investment firm Bohai Capital to create BHR Partners after Brief. The Bidens traveled to China. BHR Partners is controlled by Bank of China Limited.
President Biden and Hunter Biden arrive in Syracuse, New York (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
In the 2014 email, Bolger asked Hunter to introduce BHR CEO Jonathan Lee and Andy Lu, who was on the BHR committee, to “Mr. Tung,” which refers to CH Tung, the former governor of Hong Kong and a billionaire who served as vice president. . Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, linked to the Chinese Communist Party, to discuss “BHR's investment objectives” and “fund raising”.
The email claimed Hunter sat next to Tong at the welcome dinner in December 2013 Vice President Joe Biden To Beijing. Fox News Digital previously reached out to the White House several times to request a seating chart for the Beijing dinner, specifically Hunter's table, but did not respond.
“I understand that during the trip you took to Beijing with your father, President Xi hosted a welcome dinner,” Bolger wrote. “(A) At that dinner, you were sitting right next to Mr. Tung, so J and Andy thought it would be very helpful if you could send a brief email to Mr. Tung explaining that you are a partner and board member of BHR and that you would be grateful to Mr. Tung if he could Meet your local partners to discuss the fund.
“Please let me know if you can introduce these two to Mr. Tong via email, this is very important to our BHR (sic) initiative at this moment.”
Hunter responded that he was “happy” to oblige the request but said he could not remember the names of the gentlemen who sat next to him at dinner.
It appears to be the “welcome dinner” in Beijing hosted by President Xi that Bulger was referring to in his initial email It happened during the evening On December 4, 2013, after then-Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao met with Joe Biden earlier in the day to discuss strengthening US-China relations.
President Biden pardoned his son earlier this month for any crimes he may have committed dating back to 2014.
Hunter Biden smiles big as he leaves an Arby's restaurant in Santa Barbara on December 4, 2024. It was the first time President Biden's son was photographed since his father pardoned him. (Live image by Fox News Digital)
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“Today I signed a pardon for my son, Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement at the time. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere in the decision-making process at the Department of Justice, and I kept my word even as I watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted.
“There were efforts to break Hunter — who had been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” the 82-year-old father wrote. “In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me – and there's no reason to think it'll stop here. Enough is enough.”
Fox News Digital has reached previously to the White House about why the pardon was so broad but received no response.
“Although President Biden has pardoned his son Hunter for anything and everything he has committed, may have committed, or participated in since 2014, more evidence emerges every day showing how his family has benefited from his influence.” “Joe Biden has spent a longer career in public office for private gain,” Michael Deng, legal counsel for America First, said in a statement.
“America First Legal will not stop fighting to uncover the full story of the Biden family’s corruption.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, Hunter Biden's legal team, and the Chinese businessmen in the photos, but did not receive any comment.
Fox News Digital's Jessica Schmar, Brooke Singman and Tyler Olson contributed to this report
