Over a dozen sources had Hunter Biden tips
Sen. Chuck Grassley interrogated Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Hunter Biden investigation Wednesday, revealing for the first time that “over a dozen sources” had tipped off the FBI and Justice Department to potential criminal activity by the first son.
“Recent lawfully protected whistleblower revelations to my office indicate the Justice Department had — at one point — over a dozen source that provided potentially criminal information relating Hunter Biden,” Grassley (R.Iowa), 89, said to Garland during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing. “The alleged volume of information and similarity would require that the Justice Department investigate its accuracy and truthfulness.”
“Accordingly, what steps has the Justice Department taken to determine the truth and accuracy of the information provided?” Grassley asked. “Congress and the American people both have the right to know.”
Garland, 70, deflected, saying he had promised during his confirmation hearings not to interfere in the probe headed by Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, and “I have carried through on my pledge.”
Later, Grassley questioned Garland’s claim that the probe by Weiss (one of the few remaining US attorneys appointed by Donald Trump) was truly independent.
“Has the Delaware US attorney sought permission of another US Attorney’s Office, such as in the District of Columbia or California, to bring charges?” the senator asked. “If so, was that denied?”
Garland stated, “I don’t know the answer to that,” before insisting that Weiss was told that “he isn’t to be denied any of his needs” and that, if that were to occur, it should rise through the department’s ranks. I have not heard anything from the US attorney to suggest that they are unable to do everything the US attorney wants.”
“Well, let me give you my view,” Grassley said. “If Weiss, the US attorney there in Delaware, must seek permission from a [President] Biden-appointed US attorney to bring charges, then the Hunter Biden criminal investigation isn’t insulated from political interference, as you publicly proclaimed.”
It was not immediately clear if the scenario Grassley referenced was merely hypothetical. Neither a spokesman for the Iowa Republican nor the Delaware US Attorney’s Office responded to requests for clarification.
At one point in the hearing, Garland conceded that it “would be a national security problem” for a US leader’s relative to be paid by a foreign government to influence policy without mentioning any names.
“If it’s an agent of a foreign government asking someone and paying someone to do things to support that foreign government in secret, yes, I definitely think that would be a national security problem,” the AG said.
Hunter Biden, 53, is under federal investigation for possible tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a gun-purchase form. Investigators reportedly believe they have enough evidence to charge him with tax crimes and lying on the gun form.
Hunter and his uncle, James Biden, are known for seeking business in countries where Joe Biden has sway over US policies, such as China and Russia. This has created conflicts-of-interestand corruption concerns.
In China especially, the Biden family reaped a financial windfall from state-owned firms and Republicans say the president is too soft on Beijing because of those links.
Business records suggest Hunter Biden still owns a 10% stake in BHR Partners, which says it manages $2.1 billion in assets, despite his father’s insistence there would be no family-business-related conflicts of interest during his presidency. Hunter co-founded the firm in 2013 within weeks of joining then-Vice President Biden aboard Air Force Two on an official trip to Beijing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Hunter introduced his dad to BHR CEO Jonathan Li and Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s children.
BHR has “unique mixed ownership,” the company says, and “combines the resources and platforms of China’s largest financial institutions (including Bank of China, China Development Bank Capital, Harvest Fund, Postal Savings Bank of China, China Life and the National Council of Social Security Fund) and the networks and know-how of our U.S.-based investment fund and advisory firm shareholders.”
In 2016, BHR Partners facilitated a deal in which a Chinese firm bought a Congolese cobalt mine from US and Canadian companies.
The transaction gained broad attention in 2021 when it was spotlighted by the New York Times. Cobalt is an important material for making electric vehicle batteries.
Chris Clark, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, stated in late 2021 the BHR stake had already been sold. However, neither Clark nor the White House have provided any further information about the transaction.
Joe Biden also allegedly was involved in Hunter and James Biden’s venture with CEFC China Energy, a firm reputed to be a cog in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence campaign.
A May 13, 2017 email recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop said the “big guy” would get 10% of that deal, with that share “held by H.”
Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden business partner, said he discussed the deal and that Joe Biden was the “big guy”.
According to the, Hunter and Jim Biden received $4.8 million in 2017 and 2018.
Washington Post’s review of Hunter Biden’s laptop documents was completed later. An
October 2017 email
Joe Biden is identified as a participant in a conference call about the CEFC’s attempt at buying US natural gas.
Grassley referenced the first allegations from “highly credible whistleblowers” July 2022. He accused Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray of burying “verified, verifiable” dirt on President Biden’s son and adding that investigators had wrongly dismissed the claims as “disinformation.”
Grassley stated that if the allegations were proved, it would prove that federal law enforcement agencies were “institutionally corruption to their core.”
“You have an obligation to the country to take these allegations seriously, immediately investigate and take steps to institute fixes to these and other matters before you,” he told Wray and Garland in the letter.
The Iowa senator also told the agency heads that the “volume and consistency” of the whistleblowers’ information corroborated that the FBI obtained “derogatory information” about the first son’s “criminal financial and related activity” in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
But the agency closed the investigation the month before voting day, according to the whistleblowers, and the assistant special agent in charge of the probe had “attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future,” Grassley wrote.
Gleichzeitig, he said that former intelligence officials tried to “smear” those who requested investigations into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, claiming they were driven by “foreign diinformation”.