Another key witness in the House Republican impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden appears to have deeper ties to Russia than previously known.
Hunter Biden's former business associate Tony Bobulinski will publicly testify Wednesday to clear up alleged “inconsistencies” in what he's already told the inquiry, but the investigation has already revealed this witness had deeper knowledge of a deal between the privately owned Chinese energy firm CEFC and a sanctioned Russian company than he has let on, reported The Daily Beast.
Bobulinksi's longstanding ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Veksleberg appear to be more close and complex than he has suggested in his House testimony, and texts show that he was more closely involved in a proposed 2017 investment deal involving CEFC and a startup known as "SinoHawk."
He went public in 2020 claiming the finances of that deal involved Hunter Biden and his father, who was not in office at the time of the negotiations, and Republicans have used Bobulinski's accusations as the basis of their impeachment inquiry, but many of his claims have fallen apart under closer scrutiny.
Bobulinski testified last month that he first learned that CEFC was pursuing an even larger deal with the state-owned Rosneft, the oil conglomerate founded by Vekselberg, from press reports in 2017, when the Chinese company was also negotiating with SinoHawk, and he told both lawmakers and the FBI that was deeply concerned when he learned of the Rosneft deal.
But WhatsApp messages gathered by former White House staffer Garrett Ziegler, who claims to be working with GOP lawmakers in the Biden probe and has been sued by Hunter Biden over his infamous laptop, show that Bobulinski had actually been in Moscow to discuss business with CEFC's executive director a month earlier.
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“Can you please get confirmation of itinerary of Director [Jian Jun Zang] trip to Russia,” he asked a CEFC associate in a May 5 message, which a representative of Bobulinski confirmed as authentic.
“The director is still on the plane, so I have not got any update on the time table in Ru,” the associate replied, adding that CEFC would procure a visa for Bobulinski’s own travel to Russia. “Regarding the Visa, CEFC will issue a letter of invitation to you, plz send me [your] passport copy, a position in a certain company (which you would like the officer to know).”
Bobulinski offered to arrange lodging and logistics when the associate confirmed Zang would be in Moscow the following month, and he discussed that Moscow trip with another SinoHawk partner.
“[Z]ang wants to organize with me in Bucharest. I would like to do before Moscow or straight after,” said that associate, James Gilliar, who is the individual that sent Bobulinski a link to the public report about the CEFC-Rosneft deal in July 2017.
The SinoHawk partners all seemed to agree that CEFC’s negotiations with Rosneft ultimately killed their project, although their interpretations vary, but the WhatsApp messages show Hunter Biden objected to Bobulinski's links to the sanctioned Russian company and Vekselberg – and even threatened to break his jaw.
“I’ll say it one final time. I don’t care how much money you’ve made what teams you were captain of or how many soulless oligarchs you call friend,” Hunter Biden wrote. “Money doesn’t interest me winning is ephemeral and fleeting and I have no interest spending my days on a super yacht measuring my dick with the people on the super yacht next to me.”
“I care about one thing. My family," Hunter Biden said. "And your demands make me uncomfortable and you’re [sic] insults remind me of the s--t the captain of the lacrosse team said to me in college about my dad right before I broke his ... jaw. So you’re [sic] choice Tony act like a child and take all your millions of marbles home and throw them at me from afar or sit down like men do and have a discussion face to face. One request though stop the 5th grade group text insults — Jesus my daughters texts are more cogent and mature.”
Bobulinski assured Hunter Biden that all their partners were “trying to protect u and your family,” and he said that if he was so worried about his family he wouldn't touch the deal "with a 100 foot pole."
The deal ultimately fell through, and a separate entity Hunter Biden co-founded with Chinese investors got $5 million from a CEFC affiliate in August 2017, which paid him a one-time retainer fee of $500,000 plus $100,000 per month in consulting fees.
