Fresh revelations from Hunter Biden‘s laptop raise new questions about his possible effort to buy a stake in a Russian oil company, and what President Joe Biden knew about his son’s dealings.
They also underscore the profound dishonesty of the “Steele dossier” created by ex-British spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Democratic National Committee: With a Russian oil company preparing to sell shares, the dossier claimed a Donald Trump official had set up a secret deal to make favorable Russian policy in exchange for the shares. In reality, it was a Chinese firm paying the Biden family that ultimately tried to buy them.
“But amidst all of that and the NYTs calling about the major article they are doing on me and discussing with dad about what I need to get in order before he runs for president I spent an equal amount of time dealing with… your sh–,” read an August 2, 2018, text from Hunter Biden to Elizabeth Secundy, the sister of Beau Biden’s widow, who Hunter began dating after his brother’s death. Another text indicates that Hunter believed the Times was probing whether he did deals with Russia.
Hunter Biden’s involvement with Chinese energy firm CEFC first came to light in a December 12, 2018, New York Times story. The company’s chairman, Ye Jianming, was imprisoned in China at the time, and Patrick Ho, another top CEFC official, who was Hunter Biden’s “client” who was arrested on corruption charges in New York. Shortly after the Times story was published, Joe Biden left his son a voicemail saying: “I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear.”
Other messages culled from the laptop and reviewed by The Daily Wire provide more clues about what that reassurance might have meant.
Two days after the story ran, Hunter Biden texted his sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend Hallie Biden that he was “dealing with the aftermath of the abduction and likely assassination (that’s what NYT’s suspects) of my business partner the richest man in the world, the arrest and conviction of my client the chief of intelligence of the people’s republic of China by the U.S. government, the retaliation of the Chinese in the ouster and arrest of US suspected CIA operatives inside China, my suspected involvement in brokering a deal with Vladimir Putin directly for the largest sale of oil gas assets inside Russia to China… And Dads running for president.”
A Times reporter, Mathew Goldstein, had reached out to Hunter about his story by May, laptop materials show. The eventual Times story did not say that Ye had been assassinated, only that he “disappeared into the custody of the Chinese authorities.” Hunter Biden’s message suggests that a Times reporter discussed additional information or impressions with him that were not included in the article. It also implies that it was the Times that “suspected” Biden of brokering a deal with Putin. The Times ultimately reported only that Ye had “bought a $9 billion stake in Rosneft, Russia’s state oil giant,” but did not implicate Hunter Biden — a possible reason for his father’s relief.
The “largest sale” of Russian oil referred to by Hunter Biden likely refers to the fact that in September 2016, Vladimir Putin said state-owned oil company Rosneft hoped to sell a 19.5% stake, valued at some $11 billion, to “strategic” private investors by the end of the year.
The discredited Steele dossier commissioned by Democrats — which ironically involved engaging with Russians to falsely assert that Trump was engaged with Russians — claimed that Trump official Carter Page met with Rosneft President Igor Sechin in July 2016 and that Sechin “offered Page/Trump’s associates the brokerage of up to a 19 per cent (privatised) stake in Rosneft” if Trump would lift U.S. sanctions on Russia. “Page had expressed interest and confirmed that were Trump elected US president, then sanctions on Russia would be lifted,” it claimed.
But it was associates of Hunter Biden, not Trump, who ultimately made a deal for Rosneft shares. In late 2016, Rosneft sold the 19.5% stake to a partnership between the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Glencore. Less than a year later, in September 2017, CEFC made arrangements to buy a 14% stake, valued at $9 billion, from the pair.
That deal fell apart after Ho’s arrest, as did another deal Hunter was working on for CEFC in the U.S.
The Daily Wire did not find evidence of Hunter Biden brokering a “deal with Vladimir Putin directly” in a review of his laptop materials. However, the materials do suggest that Hunter Biden was used by CEFC and others to facilitate top-level introductions for deals, and that he might have been in a position to play such a role for a deal involving Russian oil and China.
Glencore is a mining and commodity company founded by Marc Rich, the Democratic Party super-donor who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton on his last day in office in 2001. Rich exited the company in 1994, but Hunter Biden’s associates had numerous ties to Glencore alums.
Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s closest business partners, cultivated a relationship with a former Glencore executive named Jonathan Dimitry, who he called “our little Glencore PM,” an email showed.
Archer also had a relationship with oligarch Mikhail Gutseriyev, who with Glencore co-owned RussNeft, a different Russian oil company unrelated to Rosneft. In 2013, Archer forwarded a news article on Glencore’s involvement with RussNeft, saying “This could be useful down the line with our O&G play. As you know Gutseriev is our guy. Keep in mind for when we get out of AAA ball.”
Hunter Biden also had a relationship with Mohammed Bin Hamad Khlaifa Al-Thani, who was at one point in charge of QIA and is the brother of Qatar’s Emir. “Let me know if you need anything with regards to QIA, I would be more than happy to help,” Al-Thani wrote to Biden in 2014. Biden’s partner Eric Schwerin contemplated deals to do with the Qataris, saying “Thinking big but with QIA you have to.”
A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not return a request for comment.