WASHINGTON, D.C. – New records (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4) obtained from America First Legal’s (AFL) lawsuit against the National Archives reveal additional evidence of Biden family influence peddling and ethical lapses. The National Archives released these documents in response to AFL’s lawsuit and investigation into Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency and Hunter Biden’s corrupt foreign business dealings during the Obama Administration.
These records confirm that there was no separation between Hunter’s private business dealings and the official business of the Obama-Biden White House and provide a window into the extent of Hunter’s influence in the Office of the Vice President. As AFL has previously revealed, Hunter was involved in planning for official State visits from China, Turkey, Germany, France, and the UK. The new documents show how Hunter leveraged his involvement in official foreign engagements for private gain and influenced the Vice President’s meetings and calendar. The evidence further undermines Joe Biden’s claims that he was never involved with Hunter’s business dealings and raises more questions about the payments that the Biden Family received from over 20 countries.
- Hunter Biden lobbied for the Vice President to speak at the Truman National Security Project’s Annual Conference:
On March 5, 2015, the Truman National Security Project President Michael Breen invited then-Vice President Biden to be the featured speaker at their annual conference. At the time, Hunter Biden and Burisma lobbyist Sally Painter were on the Truman Project’s board. The problematic relationship between Hunter Biden and Painter, which the Truman Project never disclosed to the IRS, led to an administrative complaint; indeed, the Truman Project may have skirted federal law by providing publicity for Burisma and its interests without registering as the agent of a foreign principal.
On March 7, 2015, Hunter Biden lobbied for his father to accept the invite via his scheduler in the Office of the Vice President.
Vice President Biden agreed to keynote the Truman Project event after speaking with Kathy Chung, then-Vice President Biden’s scheduler and gatekeeper. According to the Washington Post, Chung got this job through Hunter Biden. The newly obtained records do not indicate that former Vice President Biden sought or obtained ethics counsel regarding the propriety of keynoting for an organization whose board included his son and other agents of Burisma.
2. Hunter Biden leveraged his involvement in official foreign diplomacy for private gain:
As the President of the Truman Center for National Policy, the Truman Project’s sister organization, Scott Bates also served as an ex officio member of the Truman Project’s board alongside Hunter Biden.
In 2014, Truman Project board members Scott Bates and Michael Breen asked Hunter to pitch the Japanese Ambassador on behalf of their private organization, according to an email recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop.
They were unable to secure funding from the Japanese government for the Truman Project in 2014. However, as AFL previously revealed, Hunter had access to official diplomatic channels and had the opportunity to try again at the Japan State Arrival Ceremony in 2015.
Hunter’s wife, daughter, and sister-in-law also attended the Japan State Lunch at the White House in 2015.
A few months later, after Hunter sent a “supportive letter” on behalf of the Truman Project and its sister organization, the Truman Project ultimately secured $100,000 from the Japan Foreign Ministry, according to an email recovered from the Hunter Biden laptop.
Hunter Biden’s relationship with the Truman National Security Project and the Project’s having two board members who simultaneously represented the interests of Burisma have been central to America First Legal’s claims that the DOJ failed to ensure Hunter Biden was properly registered as a foreign agent.
3. Biden’s Office of the Vice President was clearly aware of their ethical obligations but only enforced the rules in some cases and not others:
Hunter Biden sought to use the Office of the Vice President to provide a personal service to a former Rosemont Seneca business partner, Caryn Suffredini.
Caryn Suffredini was part of a business group that provided Rosemont Seneca with access to Chinese interests in 2010, according to an email recovered from the Hunter Biden laptop:
Arlene Busch was a Partner of Hunter Biden’s at Rosemont Seneca. Unfortunately for Hunter, the Office of the Vice President caught the ethical ramifications. On October 14, 2014, Kathy Chung emailed the Rosemont Seneca team, “we cannot do this.”
The pushback could be due to 5 C.F.R. 2635.702(a), or “Use of public office for private gain,” which states that “an employee shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any authority associated with his public office in a manner that is intended to coerce or induce another person, including a subordinate, to provide any benefit, financial or otherwise, to himself or to friends, relatives, or persons.”
If Vice President Biden signed the photo, he would have used his government position to benefit his son, whose business financially benefited from Caryn Suffredini. If the Office of the Vice President thought it would be ethically problematic for the Vice President to sign a photo of someone who was a financial partner of Rosemont Seneca’s, why did it not find it ethically problematic to accept a speaking invitation to a nonprofit whose board included Hunter and Burisma’s chief U.S. lobbyist?
America First Legal will continue to release documents to the public to uncover the corruption and influence peddling by the Biden family.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel:
“Our critical lawsuit has revealed evidence about the extent to which Hunter Biden and his business associates used the Office of the Vice President—with apparent full knowledge of Joe Biden himself—as leverage for personal enrichment. This is particularly problematic because the records establish that substantial portions of the enrichment at issue were the result of favors for and connections made with foreign nationals. Biden first, America last, apparently,” said Gene Hamilton.
Read the full production (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4) and all the records here.
Read about everything AFL has uncovered thus far here.
Follow us on social media for the latest updates on America First Legal’s fight to protect your constitutional rights!
Twitter, Facebook, GETTR, Parler, Instagram
To schedule an engagement with America First Legal, please email [email protected].
Photo credit: christianthiel.net/Adobe Stock Images
