(Daily Mail – April 26, 2022) Joe Biden agreed to pay son Hunter’s legal fees for his deal with a Chinese government-controlled company, emails reveal.
The revelation ties the president even closer to Hunter’s overseas business dealings – and makes his previous claims that he never discussed them with his son, even less plausible.
Joe was able to pay the bills after earning millions of dollars through his and his wife’s companies after he left office as vice president.
Some of the wave of cash came from their book deals and speaking engagements.
But the president’s financial filings reveal that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, an analysis by DailyMail.com of the president’s financial records shows.
Some of that difference can be accounted for with salaries earned by First Lady Jill Biden and other sums not required on his reports – but still leaves $5.2million earned by Joe’s company and not listed on his transparency reports.
The ‘missing millions’ – combined with emails on Hunter’s abandoned laptop suggesting Joe would have a 10% share in Hunter’s blockbuster deal with the Chinese – raise a troubling question: did Joe Biden receive money from the foreign venture?
Emails reveal Joe Biden agreed to pay Hunter’s legal fees for a deal with a Chinese government-controlled company
In January 2019, Hunter’s assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills
One of the last items on a spreadsheet of Hunter’s bills was $28,000 in legal fees for the ‘restructuring’ of Hunter’s joint venture with the Chinese government-controlled Bank of China. The spreadsheet listed the bill as ‘Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring’ costing $28,382 and due ‘ASAP’.
In January 2019, Hunter’s assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills.
‘I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills. It is my understanding that Hunt’s dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career,’ Dodge said.
The assistant attached a spreadsheet of bills with the email, totaling $737,130.61.
One of the last items was $28,000 in legal fees for the ‘restructuring’ of Hunter’s joint venture with the government-controlled Bank of China.
The spreadsheet listed the bill as ‘Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring’ costing $28,382 and due ‘ASAP’.
BHR (‘Bohai Harvest RST’) is a private equity firm and one of Hunter’s two major Chinese business ventures. The joint venture was co-owned by the state-controlled Bank of China.
Hunter’s personal attorney, George Mesires, is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, now called Faegre Drinker.
A separate October 2018 invoice from the law firm shows Hunter spent a total $68,933.41 on the ‘restructuring’ beginning in September 2016.
The same year Joe took on these bills from Hunter, he promised that ‘No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country.’
Yet not only did Hunter hold on to his 10% share of BHR through 2021, confirmed by White House press secretary Jen Psaki last February, the emails also indicate Joe knew about it, and even agreed to pay Hunter’s legal fees for the firm.
The bills also include $412,309.23 in unpaid taxes dating back to 2015.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Hunter had taken out a million-dollar loan to pay his delinquent tax bill in an apparent effort to stave off an alleged tax fraud prosecution.
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who along with Senator Chuck Grassley is investigating Hunter’s foreign business deals, said Joe Biden’s unaccounted-for millions are ‘another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers.’
‘When will the corporate media start doing their job and ask President Biden these questions?’ he said. ‘And when will President Biden start being honest with the public? The American people deserve the truth.’
Iowa Republican Grassley told DailyMail.com: ‘Evidence of the president’s financial and business connections to Hunter continues to grow. It’s imperative for the first family to show the American people the transparency that they deserve.’
Hunter’s personal attorney, George Mesires, is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, now called Faegre Drinker. A separate October 2018 invoice from the law firm shows Hunter spent a total $68,933.41 on the ‘restructuring’ beginning in September 2016
Hunter’s bill for over $68,000 on the ‘restructuring’ is seen in a statement of his account
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson (left), who along with Senator Chuck Grassley (right) is investigating Hunter’s foreign business deals, said Joe Biden’s unaccounted-for millions are ‘another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers’
DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the abandoned laptop’s hard drive and commissioned the founder of the FBI’s cyber forensics unit to analyze it. Their report found the contents were genuine and there was no evidence of tampering – by Russians or anyone else
The president’s son is under federal investigation for tax offenses, money laundering and illegal lobbying for foreign clients.
Joe’s financial transparency disclosures show that he had more than enough money to foot Hunter’s burgeoning bills.
While in office Joe had a relatively modest income, but he enjoyed a flood of millions of dollars soon after he left office, much of which came from his memoir book deal and eye-watering speaking fees.
Between 2017 and 2019 he and First Lady Jill Biden reported $16.5million in gross income on their federal tax returns, released by the Biden campaign.
The vast majority came from their two companies, CelticCapri Corp and Giacoppa Corp, which they use for speaking and writing engagements.
But in Office of Government Ethics (OGE) fillings for the same period, Joe only reported $9.6million in income for himself and his wife.
Joe Biden’s 2019 disclosure to the Office of Government Ethics shows he received millions through his company, CelticCapri Corp – but fails to account for all of the $16.5million shown in his tax filings
The White House released President Joe Biden’s tax returns last Friday, revealing that the first couple made more than $600,000 last year
Joe’s 2017 federal tax return shows $11million of adjusted gross income, almost $4.6million in 2018, and $985,233 in 2019. That’s a total of about $16.5million
Between 2017 and 2019 he and First Lady Jill Biden reported $16.5million in gross income on their federal tax returns, released by the Biden campaign. In Joe Biden’s 2018 Amended Federal tax return document it showed a total of $4,580,437
