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Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., discusses Hunter Biden’s upcoming appearance for his deposition on ‘Hannity.’
President Biden met with the chairman of the Chinese energy firm Hunter Biden sought to create a joint venture with at the Four Seasons in Washington D.C. in 2017, a former business partner of the first son told congressional investigators.
Rob Walker, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, testified at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees earlier this month as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.
Walker, during his closed-door transcribed interview, told congressional investigators that Joe Biden attended a meeting where he, Hunter Biden, their other business partners and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming were having lunch.
"I don’t remember the exact time, but I remember being in Washington, D.C., and the former vice president stopped by. We were having lunch," Walker testified, according to a transcript of his interview reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Joe and son Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Walker said he did not know the "exact" date, but said "it was 20-probably-17 at some point."
"I can say it was for certain he was out of office," Walker said, referring to Joe Biden being out of the Obama administration at the time of the lunch.
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Walker said the lunch took place "at the Four Seasons in a restaurant in a private room."
"I’m certain—I’m certain Ye was there," Walker said, noting there were also other CEFC business partners.
Ye Jianming, at the time, was the chairman of Chinese energy company CEFC.
Walker said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss "ways we could work together."
"I don’t think we had structured a deal on how to work together at this point," Walker said, noting the meeting lasted "probably an hour and a half," but said Biden "was not" there for the entirety of the meeting.
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"The former vice president was not there the entire time. He was there maybe 10 minutes," Walker said. "He spoke nice, you know, normal pleasantries. I think he probably did most of the talking and then left."
Walker testified that Biden addressed the entire group—which consisted of approximately 10 CEFC-linked individuals— during his visit.
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Walker testified that the visit, and Biden’s appearance, "likely" took place before his Robinson Walker LLC received $3 million from State Energy HK Limited—a CEFC-linked entity.
But Walker maintained that Joe Biden was not involved in any of his business ventures with Hunter Biden, despite his appearance at the lunch.
Walker did, however, say that early correspondence to CEFC was sent on behalf of the group—which included himself, James Gilliar, Jim Biden, and Hunter Biden—by Hunter Biden.
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"He had an interesting last name that would probably get people in the door," Walker said.
When pressed again as to why correspondence came from Hunter Biden, Walker testified: "It had just seemed—if a U.S. entity was going to have a foreign national represent them, It would probably make more sense to come from Hunter versus me."
"Because he’s the son of the vice president at the time, correct?" Walker was asked.
"He is the son of a vice president at the time, yes," Walker replied.
"So it made more sense to get this business deal to put him as the front-facing person, right?"
Walker replied: "Yes."
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that it can "now confirm Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign national who funneled money to his son, including Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, Romanian oligarch Kenes Rakishev, Burisma’s corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky, Jonathan Li of BHR, and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming."
Biden attended dinners at Washington D.C. restaurant Cafe Milano in Georgtown with Baturina, Rakishev and Pozharsky in 2014 and 2015. Biden also met with Li of BHR in China in 2013. Biden met with Ye at the meeting in 2017, according to testimony from Hunter Biden's ex-business partners Rob Walker and Devon Archer.
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The revelations come ahead of highly-anticipated testimony from another ex-business associate of the first son--Tony Bobulinski.
Bobulinski is set to testify behind closed doors Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017.
Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, speaks to reporters at a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee on October 22, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden "stop lying" about that meeting and called on him to "correct the record."
"Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?" Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!"
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He added: "I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record."
Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president's office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020.
The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.
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The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate." A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.
Bobulinski has repeatedly said "the big guy" was Joe Biden. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden, also said "the big guy" was known to be Joe Biden.
The president's brother, Jim Biden, is expected to testify on Feb. 21. Hunter Biden is expected to appear for his deposition on Feb. 28.
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