A former business associate of Hunter Biden reportedly offered to testify in front of a Delaware grand jury, but never received an invitation.
Tony Bobulinski, who worked with Biden on a 2017 deal with the Chinese energy company CEFC, sent an offer to testify to the U.S. attorney in Delaware David Weiss but never received a response, according to CBS News. Bobulinski has asserted publicly that Biden engaged in influence peddling with his father, the sitting president of the United States, to score hefty payouts from foreign agents.
“I’ve heard Joe Biden say that he’s never discussed business with Hunter. That is false. I have firsthand knowledge about this because I directly dealt with the Biden family, including Joe Biden,” Bobulinski said in a press conference in 2020.
Whistleblowers have alleged that the Department of Justice interfered with the investigation into Hunter Biden to close off avenues that could implicate his father, the president of the United States. Bobulinski’s reported failure to testify to the grand jury raises further questions about the extent of alleged DOJ intrusion into the Biden investigation.
Not appearing before the grand jury does not mean his statements and evidence were not presented to the grand jury, however, according to former federal prosecutor Bill Shipley.
In addition to asserting DOJ interference, whistleblowers with the IRS team investigating Biden’s tax affairs turned over a 2017 WhatsApp message that allegedly shows Biden attempting to intimidate a CEFC executive with his father’s approval.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Biden allegedly wrote to CEFC executive Henry Zhao. “And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
Here is that text: pic.twitter.com/51rbUaur4X
— Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) June 24, 2023
Within days of sending the message, accounts associated with CEFC wired around $5 million to accounts associated with Biden.
Whistleblowers have alleged that the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland denied Weiss’s requests to bring charges against Biden in Washington, D.C., and California. Garland also allegedly denied a request to give Weiss special counsel status.
Garland has flatly denied all whistleblower claims. The New York Times has confirmed at least one of the claims, however. The paper reported the top federal prosecutor in Washington blocked an attempt by Weiss to bring charges against Biden last year.
President Joe Biden has repeatedly asserted he knew nothing about his son’s business dealings. The president rejected suggestions that he ever spoke with his son about those business affairs during the 2020 campaign, and reasserted that claim recently when questioned about the WhatsApp revelation.
“How involved were you in your son’s Chinese shake-down text message? Were you sitting there? Were you involved?” a reporter asked the president on Wednesday.
Biden responded: “No, I wasn’t.”
A statement offered by the White House counsel’s office last week hedged the president’s role in relation to his son’s business dealings. The statement did not assert that the president never spoke with his son about those dealings.
“As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son,” said Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House counsel’s office.