President Joe Biden’s troubled son Hunter admitted Wednesday during his deposition on Capitol Hill that his father joined his business meetings and was invited to join business lunches.
Hunter also confirmed his dad was “the Big Guy” in certain transcripts from business meetings.
Yet Hunter maintained that his father was never involved in various Biden family international business dealings despite the millions of dollars flowing to Hunter and his uncle from Ukraine, China, and other countries.
That’s according to the staggering 230-page transcript from Hunter Biden’s seven hour testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee.
The White House has long denied that Joe Biden was involved in his son’s controversial international business deals while he was vice president.
But when under oath, Hunter confirmed sworn testimonies from former partners Devon Archer and Rob Walker that then-Vice President Joe Biden would call into business meetings and be put on speaking phone.
Hunter also confirmed that his father was referred to as “the Big Guy” and would attend business lunches and meetings.
Archer testified that he recalled at least 20 times over one year that Hunter put his father on speakerphone at a business meeting.
Hunter claimed it was very normal to talk with his powerful, politically connected father during international business meetings.
“My dad calls me like I’m sure a lot of your parents do or a lot of you do with your children, and if I’m with people that are friends of mine, I’ll have him say hi,” he testified.
“I’m surprised my dad hasn’t called me right now, and if he did, I would put him on speakerphone to say hi to you and to Congressman [Jamie] Raskin and everybody else in the room,” Hunter said. “It is nothing nefarious, literally.”
Hunter said it was nothing “nefarious” to call his dad into lunches with business associates, either.
When asked about his lucrative deal with the Chinese Communist Party-linked energy firm CEFC, Hunter confirmed he received huge sums of cash while answering to the company but said his father wasn’t directly involved in any deals. Hunter said he didn’t know how much he was paid.
“I received money from a Chinese company,” he said. “I don’t know the exact amount, but I know that it was all completely legal, it was incredibly ethical.”
“I do know this: is that my father never received any money or any benefit from any of the businesses that I’ve ever done,” Hunter said.
He also claimed he couldn’t remember when Joe Biden had met with the chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, despite his ex-business partner Walker confirming the 2017 meeting while previously under oath.
“I do not recall the date of the meeting,” he said. “And so number one is this: My business with CEFC, which was completely legitimate and completely 100 percent in line with my experience and my abilities, was done when my father wasn’t even in office. He was out of office. It had nothing to do with my father.”
When pressed about the email from ex-business partner James Gilliar regarding “10 held by H for the big guy,”
“I truly don’t know what the hell that James was talking about,” he said. “All I know is that what actually happened. All I know is that what was executed in the agreement, and the agreement didn’t have anything to do with my father.”
“My father’s never been involved with my business,” Hunter claimed. “He’s never benefited from my business, and he’s never taken an action to benefit me or any of my business.”
But Hunter confirmed Gilliar was referencing the president when he talked about the “big guy.”
“I think that it was just as Rob Walker said. I think that it was pie in the sky,” Hunter testified. “Like, Joe Biden’s out of the office. Maybe we’ll be able to get him involved.”
“Remember … that Joe Biden, for the first time in 48 years, is not an elected official and is not seeking office. And so [Gilliar] is probably, like, wow, wouldn’t it be great if a former Vice President could be in our business together?” he said.
“And I say you’re out of your mind,” Hunter continued, and said his dad was too smart to do “cross-border” deals. “I mean, it’s just ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
He said the deal ultimately had “nothing to do with my dad. Zero.”
The Horn editorial team