WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has made the explosive claim that the work of Democrat Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, and his brother, James Biden, for CEFC China Energy Co. “directly benefited the communist Chinese government thereby making them potential agents of that government.”
In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Grassley laid out some of the evidence of the Bidens’ ties to communist China via their business partnership with CEFC, which Grassley said is “clearly a foreign principal as defined by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”
Grassley wrote, “The records also show that CEFC was an extension of the Chinese government and that CEFC intended to alter U.S. policy and public opinion to its benefit and that the Chinese government would be the principal beneficiary of those actions.”
“The apparent relationships came to light not through proper FARA registration but only through the work of my oversight activities and through recent media revelations,” he continued. Many mainstream media outlets, as well as social media, had suppressed the reporting first done by the New York Post.
FARA “requires individuals to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) if they act, even through an intermediary, ‘as an agent, representative, employee, or servant’ or ‘in any other capacity’ at the behest of a foreign principal, including a foreign political party, government, or corporation, for purposes of engagement with a United States official to influence U.S. policy or the public.”
Grassley cited “recently released” emails and texts as revealing “significant connections to CEFC.” Just this October, Rudy Giuliani alleged that Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive, which was in Giuliani’s possession, revealed that the Bidens “have been business partners with the Chinese communist government,” and provided “clear evidence of crime” by the Biden family.
About a week later, Tony Bobulinski, who had worked with the Bidens as CEO of their entity Sinohawk, revealed that Sinohawk partnered with what had been described to him as the “Chinese state-owned enterprise CEFC China Energy.”
Bobulinski’s testimony implicated not only Hunter Biden, but Joe Biden as well, in the CEFC partnership. Bobulinski claimed he received an email in 2017 that said ten percent of Sinohawk’s equity was “held by H for the ‘Big guy.’”
“In that email, there’s no question that H stands for Hunter, big guy for his father, Joe Biden,” said Bobulinski.
Bobulinski thereafter provided Senate Committee members and the FBI with devices showing correspondence to back up his claims.
Although, as Grassley noted, CEFC “reportedly remained a private company until state-owned enterprises assumed control of it in 2018,” there were many indicators that prior to that time, it was, for all intents and purposes, owned by the Chinese government.
“Reporting in 2017 indicated that it received financing from the China Development Bank, ‘hired a number of former top officials from state-owned energy companies,’ and had ‘layers of Communist Party committees across its subsidiaries — more than at many private Chinese companies,” wrote Grassley. “Records state that CEFC is ‘dedicating itself to serving China’s national energy strategy.’”
Grassley claimed that in fact Ye Jianming, the chairman of CEFC and a close business associate of the Bidens, was shown in a recent report to be connected “not just to the communist party in China, but also China’s People’s Liberation Army, the armed forces of the Chinese communist party.”
In remarks he gave in July, FBI Director Christopher Wray shed light on the role that “middlemen” and the “private” sector play in the Communist Chinese government’s efforts to influence foreign powers:
“China is engaged in a highly sophisticated malign foreign influence campaign, and its methods include bribery, blackmail, and covert deals. Chinese diplomats also use both open, naked economic pressure and seemingly independent middlemen to push China’s preferences on American officials,” said Wray.
“Many of the distinctions that mean a lot here in the United States are blurry or almost nonexistent in China — I’m talking about distinctions between the government and the Chinese Communist Party, between the civilian and military sectors, and between the state and the ‘private’ sector.”
“For one thing, an awful lot of large Chinese businesses are state-owned enterprises — literally owned by the government, and thus the Party. And even if they aren’t, China’s laws allow its government to compel any Chinese company to provide any information it requests — including American citizens’ data,” he continued.
“On top of that, Chinese companies of any real size are legally required to have Communist Party ‘cells’ inside them to keep them in line. Even more alarmingly, Communist Party cells have reportedly been established in some American companies operating in China as a cost of doing business there.”
A bombshell revelation made by Grassley regarding CEFC and Hunter Biden raises further questions about the nature of Biden’s association with the Chinese:
“Chi Ping Patrick Ho, a business associate of Ye’s and CEFC, was charged and convicted of international bribery and money laundering offenses stemming from his work for the CEFC-backed China Energy Fund Committee. After his arrest, his first call was reportedly to James Biden. Hunter Biden reportedly represented Patrick Ho for a period of time and received at least $1 million for his representation,” said Grassley.
“According to recent reporting, the federal government obtained at least one FIFSA warrant on Patrick Ho, indicating his potential counterintelligence threat to the United States. Indeed, Hunter Biden was well aware of Patrick Ho’s links to the communist Chinese government, specifically its intelligence services,” the Senate Finance Committee chairman pointed out.
“According to records reportedly released from Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hunter Biden said …, ‘I have another New York Times reporter calling about my representation of Patrick Ho — the f***ing spy chief of China who started the company that my partner, who is worth $323 billion, founded and is now missing.’”
Grassley said that Hunter Biden’s reference to his “partner” is an apparent reference to Ye, “who The New York Times has since described as “[wanting] access to the corridors of power in Washington.”
“Before Ye disappeared, he and CEFC had been looking to do business in the United States. In order for Ye to succeed with future business in the United States, he had to, as The New York Times stated, ‘build influence.’ Based on the recently released records, that is exactly what Hunter Biden and James Biden were supposed to do for CEFC,” Grassley continued.
“Accordingly, it appears that Hunter and James Biden, based on their family name and political influence, were agents of CEFC, as both had planned roles with CEFC’s investment vehicles and engaged in efforts to seal financial deals for Ye and CEFC, which would ultimately benefit the communist Chinese government.”
In fact, Hunter Biden’s correspondence shows he was concerned about potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Grassley wrote, “On May 1, 2017, Hunter Biden reportedly said in reference to his work for CEFC, ‘No matter what it will need to be a US company at some level in order for us to make bids on federal and state funded projects. Also we [sic] don’t want to have to register as foreign agents under the FCPA which is much more expansive than people who should know choose not to know. James has very particular opinions about this so I would ask him about the foreign entity.’”
Grassley didn’t shy away from tough questions for the DOJ regarding its investigation of the Bidens. He requested that Barr answer a series of questions “no later than November 23, 2020,” including, “What actions has the DOJ taken to assess whether Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their corporate entities or employees should have registered under FARA for work on behalf of the Chinese government or other foreign governments or foreign principals?”
“The American public deserves to know when foreign entities are operating in and attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion,” Grassley said.
Readers may voice their support for Sen. Grassley’s letter to Attorney General Barr at the DOJ:
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
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Comment Line: 202-353-1555