Joe Biden messages show meeting with Hunter Biden business partners

Text messages released by a former business partner of Joe Biden’s son have thrown the Democratic nominee’s campaign into chaos.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Text messages obtained by Fox News show the CEO of a venture with Jim and Hunter Biden discussing a meeting with Joe Biden, despite the Democratic presidential nominee previously saying he didn’t talk about his son’s business dealings.

Fox News obtained the text messages, dated from May 2017, from retired US navy lieutenant Tony Bobulinski who is the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings. Mr Bobulinski said the company was a partnership between the now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co and Joe Biden’s brother Jim and son Hunter.

The text message chain was obtained after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee requested documents related to Mr Bobulinski’s business affairs with the Biden family.

Mr Bobulinski, who will be US President Donald Trump’s surprise special guest in attendance at tonight’s final presidential debate in Tennessee, provided the committees with the documents. Fox News has also, separately, obtained those documents.

The messages seem to indicate that a meeting took place, though it’s unclear what the substance of the meeting may have been.

The text messages are unrelated to the laptop or hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden, which has been linked to an FBI money laundering investigation.

“Mrng plse let me knw if we will do early dinner w your Uncle & dad and where, also for document translation do you want it simple Chinese or traditional?” Mr Bobulinski texted Hunter Biden on May 2, 2017.

“Not sure on dinner yet and whatever is the most common for a Chinese legal DOC,” Hunter Biden replied.

“Chinese legal docs can be both, I’ll make it traditional,” Mr Bobulinski wrote.

Hunter replied: “Dad not in now until 11 – let’s me I and Jim meet at 10 at Beverly Hilton where he’s staying.”

Later on the same day, Mr Bobulinski sent a text to Jim Biden, saying, “Great to meet u and spend some time together, please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk thx Tony b.”

May 20, 2017 text exchange obtained by #FoxNews - Tony Bobulinski is warned by business partner James Gilliar "Don't mention Joe being involved, it's only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid", which I'm told is a reference to Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/TB0UlEfOg0

— Mike Emanuel 🇺🇸 (@MikeEmanuelFox) October 22, 2020

Another text message purportedly shows Mr Bobulinski being instructed by James Gilliar, another business partner, not to make any mention of the former Vice President’s involvement.

“Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face-to-face, I know u know that but they are paranoid,” a screenshot of the message reads.

The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the May 13, 2017, email obtained by Fox News last week, which included a discussion of “remuneration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm.

The email appeared to identify Hunter Biden as “Chair/Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC”, in an apparent reference to CEFC China Energy Co, whose founder Ye Jianming has been under detention in China on charges of bribery since 2018.

The email includes a note: “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.”

A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details.

Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in 2016. Picture: Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images

The Biden campaign has said it has released the former vice president’s tax documents and returns, which do not reflect any involvement with Chinese investments.

The campaign declined to comment to Fox News.

Mr Bobulinski, in a lengthy statement released to media outlets including Fox News, the New York Post and Breitbart this week, said: “Hunter Biden called his dad ‘the Big Guy’ or ‘my Chairman,’ and frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing.

“I’ve seen vice president Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business,” Mr Bobulinski said.

“I’ve seen first-hand that that’s not true, because it wasn’t just Hunter’s business, they said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line.”

He added that he “realised the Chinese were not really focused on a healthy financial ROI (return-on-investment)” and that “they were looking at this as a political or influence investment”.

“Once I realised that Hunter wanted to use the company as his personal piggy bank by just taking money out of it as soon as it came from the Chinese, I took steps to prevent that from happening,” Mr Bobulinski said, adding that he asks “the Biden family to address the American people and outline the facts so I can go back to being irrelevant – and so I am not put in a position to have to answer those questions for them”.

Mr Bobulinski said he doesn’t “have a political axe to grind”.

“I just saw behind the Biden curtain and I grew concerned with what I saw,” he said. “The Biden family aggressively leveraged the Biden family name to make millions of dollars from foreign entities even though some were from communist-controlled China.”

Mr Bobulinski will be US President Donald Trump’s surprise special guest in attendance at tonight’s final presidential debate in Tennessee.

Tony Bobulinski’s navy photo. Picture: Fox News

TONY BOBULINSKI’S FULL STATEMENT

My name is Tony Bobulinski. The facts set forth below are true and accurate; they are not any form of domestic or foreign disinformation. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and offensive. I am the recipient of the email published seven days ago by the New York Post which showed a copy to Hunter Biden and Rob Walker. That email is genuine.

This afternoon I received a request from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and the Senate Committee on Finance requesting all documents relating to my business affairs with the Biden family as well as various foreign entities and individuals. I have extensive relevant records and communications and I intend to produce those items to both Committees in the immediate future.

I am the grandson of a 37-year Army Intelligence officer, the son of a 20+ year career Naval Officer and the brother of a 28-year career Naval Flight Officer. I myself served our country for four years and left the navy as LT Bobulinski. I held a high-level security clearance and was an instructor and then CTO for Naval Nuclear Power Training Command. I take great pride in the time my family and I served this country. I am also not a political person. What few campaign contributions I have made in my life were to Democrats.

If the media and Big Tech companies had done their jobs over the past several weeks I would be irrelevant in this story. Given my longstanding service and devotion to this great country, I could no longer allow my family’s name to be associated or tied to Russian disinformation or implied lies and false narratives dominating the media right now.

After leaving the military I became an institutional investor investing extensively around the world and on every continent. I have travelled to over 50 countries. I believe, hands down, we live in the greatest country in the world.

What I am outlining is fact. I know it is fact because I lived it. I am the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings which was a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye and the Biden family. I was brought into the company to be the CEO by James Gilliar and Hunter Biden. The reference to “the Big Guy” in the much publicised May 13, 2017 email is in fact a reference to Joe Biden. The other “JB” referenced in that email is Jim Biden, Joe’s brother.

Hunter Biden called his dad “the Big Guy” or “my Chairman,” and frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing. I’ve seen vice president Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business. I’ve seen first-hand that that’s not true, because it wasn’t just Hunter’s business, they said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line.

I realised the Chinese were not really focused on a healthy financial ROI. They were looking at this as a political or influence investment. Once I realised that Hunter wanted to use the company as his personal piggy bank by just taking money out of it as soon as it came from the Chinese, I took steps to prevent that from happening.

The Johnson Report connected some dots in a way that shocked me – it made me realise the Bidens had gone behind my back and gotten paid millions of dollars by the Chinese, even though they told me they hadn’t and wouldn’t do that to their partners.

I would ask the Biden family to address the American people and outline the facts so I can go back to being irrelevant – and so I am not put in a position to have to answer those questions for them.

I don’t have a political axe to grind; I just saw behind the Biden curtain and I grew concerned with what I saw. The Biden family aggressively leveraged the Biden family name to make millions of dollars from foreign entities even though some were from communist controlled China.

God bless America.

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission