by Cameron Cawthorne , Jessica Chasmar
Former President Obama appointee and top exec at Hunter Biden's now-defunct firm visited White House at least 36 times
FIRST ON FOX: Hunter Biden’s former friend and longtime business partner visited the Obama White House and then-Vice President Joe Biden’s residence dozens of times between 2009 and 2016, likely to make him the next target of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Eric Schwerin had visited the White House and vice presidential residence at Observatory Circle at least 27 times during Joe Biden's vice presidency. However, a more extensive review found that Schwerin actually made at least 36 visits during that same time frame.
Schwerin was the founding partner and managing director of Hunter Biden's now-dissolved firm Rosemont Seneca Partners when he was appointed by then-President Obama to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an independent U.S. government agency, in early 2015. Obama reappointed him to the commission in January 2017.
"Eric asked for one of these the day after the election in 2008," Hunter Biden revealed about Schwerin’s initial appointment in an email on March 13, 2015.
From left to right, Eric Schwerin, Hunter Biden and President Biden. (Fox News)
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The number of Schwerin's White House visits could be much higher than 36 if any of his meetings fell under the White House voluntary disclosure policy exception of "purely personal guests," due to his handling of the Biden family’s personal finances.
"The White House will not release access records related to purely personal guests of the first and second families (i.e., visits that do not involve any official or political business)" the Obama administration’s archived website says.
One of Schwerin's visits - in November 2010 - was a sit-down with Joe Biden in the West Wing. Schwerin also visited Joe Biden’s residence at least 15 times for various holiday receptions, including the Dec. 12 holiday reception in 2015 that came a couple of days after then-Vice President Biden’s infamous trip to Ukraine, where he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if the country’s leaders did not fire their top prosecutor.
President Biden leaves St. Edmund Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after attending a Mass on July 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
According to White House visitor logs, Schwerin attended the reception along with Rosemont Seneca co-founder Devon Archer, Hunter Biden and Sebastian Momtazi, an associate who worked with Archer in Rosemont Seneca’s New York City office. Archer, who was also on the Burisma board with Hunter Biden, and Momtazi both had Burisma.com email addresses, according to emails previously reviewed by Fox News Digital.
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The elder Biden was photographed at the Dec. 12, 2015, party by a former Senate staffer, who is confirmed via the White House visitor logs as attending the holiday party.
In April 2015, one month after his appointment in the U.S. government, Schwerin visited Biden’s residence for what the visitor logs labeled a "meeting."
Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on July 26, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prosecution on an additional gun charge. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The visitor log for April 15 does not list who he met with or whether Biden was present, but the timing will likely spark some questions from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee due to the meeting taking place one day before Biden’s infamous dinner at Cafe Milano with multiple Hunter business associates, including top Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi. Schwerin appears to have been present at the dinner.
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Archer confirmed last week that the elder Biden showed up at the upscale Georgetown restaurant Cafe Milano on April 16 and "had dinner" with several of Hunter’s business associates including "Vadym P. from Burisma," blowing the lid off the narrative that the Biden campaign and Biden White House repeatedly pushed denying Biden attended the dinner.
In addition to the receptions and "meeting," Schwerin visited with several of Biden’s aides throughout the tenure of the Obama-Biden administration.
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In 2016, Schwerin met with Steve Ricchetti, who was Biden’s chief of staff at the time and is currently White House counselor, at least twice in room 272 on Feb. 29 and room 276 on Aug. 17 at the Old Executive Office Building.
Hunter Biden, right, the son of President Biden, walks with his wife, Melissa Cohen, upon arrival with President Biden on Marine One at Fort McNair, Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Schwerin also met with Anne Marie Person, who served as a general assistant at Rosemont Seneca until 2014 before joining Biden's office, at least three times between February and June 2016, a Fox News Digital review found.
According to White House visitor logs, Schwerin met person in Biden's "West Wi[ng]" office on Feb. 24, April 8, and June 9. It is unclear if Biden was present for the meetings. She was also the point person for a West Wing tour Schwerin took in August 2015.
In addition to Person and Ricchetti, Schwerin made three other visits with staffers from Vice President Biden's office in 2016. Schwerin met with John McGrail, who was a counselor to Biden, on July 15 and Sept. 9 at the White House.
President Biden, left, and Hunter Biden. (Fox News)
He also met with Kaitlyn Demers, who was serving as an associate counsel in Biden's office in 2016, on June 28. She was serving as a special assistant to President Biden and then-chief of staff Ron Klain until last August.
Schwerin's earliest documented White House visit during the Obama administration was in October 2009 with Evan Ryan, who is married to Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken and is currently serving as the White House cabinet secretary. He also met with several executive assistants of Biden over the course of multiple years.
Fox News Digital previously reported about Schwerin's cozy relationship with the vice president's office.
In 2015, Schwerin worked with Biden's office in trying to quash a Bloomberg News story about Hunter, according to emails published in March.
President Biden has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of his son's business dealings.
At center, Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, arrives for closed-door testimony with the House Oversight Committee at the O'Neill House Office Building July 31, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"First of all, I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period," Biden said in August 2019. "There wasn't any hint of scandal at all when we were there. It was the same kind of strict, strict rules. That's why I never talk with my son or my brother or anyone else, even distant family about their business interest, period."
"I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings," a frustrated Biden told Fox News reporter Peter Doocy a month later. "You should be looking at Trump. Trump’s doing this because he knows I’ll beat him like a drum. … Everybody’s looked at it and said there’s nothing there. Ask the right question."
"I don’t discuss business with my son," Biden said again the next month in October 2019.
Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, gets into an elevator as he arrives for closed-door testimony with the House Oversight Committee at the O'Neill House Office Building July 31, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The news of Schwerin's frequent trips to the Obama White House comes days after Archer spoke with the House Oversight Committee, alleging that the elder Biden sat in on more than two dozen business calls with his son as vice president.
Schwerin and the White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Cameron Cawthorne , Jessica Chasmar is a politics editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Cameron.Cawthorne@Fox.com and on Twitter: @cam_cawthorne
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-bidens-longtime-business-partner-visited-the-obama-wh-vp-residence-more-than-previously-known
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