by Steven Richards
Public testimony Wednesday by two impeachment witnesses sharply contradicted President Biden’s denials of knowledge of his son’s business dealings.
The first public hearing in the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden wrapped on Wednesday after two former business partners of Hunter Biden testified extensively about their experiences, primarily reiterating claims made in their closed door interviews that the Biden family patriarch was involved in various ways in his son’s dealings with foreign clients.
This allegations are in stark contrast to repeated assertions by President Biden and his White House team to the contrary. “First of all, I have never discussed with my son, or my brother, or anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses, period,” then-candidate Biden famously said on the campaign trail in August 2019.
“There will be an absolute wall between the personal and private, and the government. There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there. And I will impose the same kind of strict, strict rules. That is why I have never talked with my son or my brother, or anyone else in the distant family about their business interests, period,” he asserted.
The committee is still struggling to get answers directly from the Bidens in order to address the discrepancies between these partners’ testimony and the Biden's. Hunter Biden refused to appear, creating another obstacle for the probe.
The first son reversed course from his previous demands to testify in public, telling the committee he would not appear at the March 20 public hearing. His lawyer cited a “scheduling conflict” with Hunter Biden’s upcoming court date in California where he is charged with nine counts of tax violations. Biden’s lawyer also expressed concerns about the partisan nature of the inquiry.
The White House did not respond to an email request for comment from Just the News on Wednesday about the testimony of Hunter’s ex-partners.
Both witnesses, Jason Galanis and Tony Bobulinski, alleged the Biden family used their name and access to the family patriarch to ink deals across the world—recounting specific times that Joe Biden was in direct contact with his son’s associates through phone calls and meetings.
Galanis testified about a specific 2014 phone call when then-Vice President Joe Biden called in to a meeting Hunter Biden had organized with Devon Archer, Galanis, and two Russian oligarchs—Yelena Baturina and her husband, the late Yuri Luzhkov, the former Mayor of Moscow—at a New York bar.
“Hunter called his father, said hello and ‘hold on, Pops,’ then put the call on speakerphone and said, ‘I am here with our friends I told you were coming to town, and we wanted to say hello’,” Galanis recounted.
After exchanging pleasantries, the vice president ended, saying: “Ok then, you be good to my boy.”
“Everything is good, and we are moving ahead,” Hunter Biden said to his father, according to Galanis. Joe Biden then concluded the call by saying “something about 'being helpful’,” Galanis testified.
“It was clear to me this was a pre-arranged call with his father meant to impress the Russian investors that Hunter had access to his father and all the power and prestige of his position,” Galanis said of the phone call and its apparent purpose. A few days after this meeting, Galanis said Yelena Baturina committed to a $10-20 million “hard order” in a Hunter Biden affiliated business.
“The entire value-add of Hunter Biden to our business was his family name and his access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden,” Galanis said of the arrangement in his opening statement.
Galanis appeared virtually at the hearing from an Alabama prison, where he is serving a sentence for his participation in a fraudulent tribal bonds scheme with fellow Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer.
In August, President Biden continued to insist he never spoke with his son’s business partners over the phone despite the emerging testimony of several impeachment witnesses to the contrary.
“There’s this testimony now where one of your son’s former business associates is claiming that you were on speakerphone a lot with them talking business. Is that what?” Biden was asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy. “I never talked business with anybody, and I knew you’d have a lousy question,” Biden replied.
Devon Archer, who also refused to appear at the testimony Wednesday, described similar phone calls in his closed door interview with the committee, estimating there were about 20 calls.
Tony Bobulinski, the only Republican witness able to appear in person, after both Hunter Biden and Archer refused to appear, explained how he met personally with Biden family patriarch.
“Joe Biden was more than a participant in and beneficiary of his family’s business; he was an active, aware enabler who met with business associates such as myself to further the business, despite being buffered by a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability,” Bobulinski said in his opening statement.
He described one meeting he had with Joe Biden in May 2017, shortly after the former vice president left office. “Hunter arranged the meeting between his father and me at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on May 2, 2017. The sole reason Hunter wanted me to meet his father was because I was the CEO of Sinohawk, the Bidens’ partnership with CEFC. I was a business associate,” Bobulinski said in his opening statement.
Asked later about the details of the alleged meeting, Bobulinski described it: “Well, as I said earlier, before Joe Biden showed up, Hunter and Jim Biden coached me…sorta outlined that we wouldn’t go into a lot of details. So, through the 45 to 60 minute meeting I had with Joe Biden—it was about 10:40pm after he flew across country—we talked about my background, my family’s military background, the different business ventures I’ve done around the world, the family I worked with.”
Bobulinski’s account of this meeting contradicts closed door testimony from both James and Hunter Biden. In his public statements on Wednesday, Bobulinski accused both of perjuring themselves before the Oversight Committee.
"On Page 48 of his transcript, Hunter is asked, 'He's never interacted with any of your business associates. Is that correct?' The 'He's' is a reference to Joe Biden. Hunter responds, 'Yes'," Bobulinski said in his opening statement.
"Hunter arranged the meeting between his father and me at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on May 2, 2017. The sole reason Hunter wanted me to meet his father was because I was the CEO of Sinohawk, the Bidens’ partnership with CEFC. I was a business associate. In his transcript, Hunter confirms that that meeting with Joe took place and incriminates his Uncle Jim for perjury by confirming it," he added, explaining the alleged contradictions.
Bobulinski also accused presidential brother James Biden of lying to the committee. "Jim Biden also lied extensively throughout his transcribed interview before the Oversight Committee on February 21, and ironically, Hunter Biden – in his own testimony as outlined above – confirmed that Jim Biden perjured himself," Bobulinski claimed.
Hunter Biden, in his transcribed interview with the committee, did confirm this meeting took place between Bobulinski and his father, directly contradicting James Biden's testimony that the meeting "absolutely" did not happen. Bobulinski also believes President Biden is lying about his knowledge and involving in his son’s foreign business dealings.
“[Why] is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people? Why has he not simply leveled with the American people about all of the meetings, phone calls, emails and handshakes he has had with the Biden family’s U.S. and foreign business partners, including players from some of America’s most challenging adversaries such as China and Russia, as well as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania and others,” Bobulinski asked aloud.
“If he were doing nothing wrong, why go through this insane exercise of obstructing and denying obvious facts?” he asked.
Steven Richards
Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/be-good-my-boy-impeachment-inquiry-zeroes-joe-bidens-involvement
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