First son Hunter Biden claimed in congressional testimony Wednesday that he was “high or drunk” when he wrote to a Chinese associate in 2017 that he was “sitting here with my father” — shortly before the transfer of $5.1 million into Biden family-linked accounts.
A readout of the 54-year-old first son’s closed-door impeachment inquiry deposition was provided to numerous news outlets Wednesday evening citing Hunter’s claim that President Biden had nothing to do with the shakedown of Chinese state-linked CEFC China Energy.
The readout said “Hunter admitted that he was high or drunk when he sent the ‘sitting here with my father’ WhatsApp message, sent it to the wrong recipient, and is now embarrassed by the message.”
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Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images
The same source said that Hunter “confirmed that his dad was not sitting next to him” — as photos from the first son’s abandoned laptop actually show he was at his dad’s Wilmington, Del., home on the day of the threat.
A second source confirmed to The Post that Hunter Biden gave the excuse that he may have been high at the time of writing the message.
Since Hunter appeared under a subpoena, the testimony technically counted as a more sensitive deposition, rather than a typical “transcribed interview,” increasing the risks to anyone who discussed its content before a formal vote to release the transcript, sources said.
The WhatsApp missive implicating Joe Biden was provided to Congress last year by IRS case agent Joseph Ziegler, who alongside his supervisor Gary Shapley alleged a Justice Department coverup to protect Joe and Hunter Biden.
The IRS agents told Congress they were not allowed by the Justice Department to get cellphone geolocation data that could have established whether Hunter was indeed sitting with his father and were repeatedly blocked from pursuing evidence related to Joe Biden.
The CEFC deal was one of the most lucrative for the Biden family and prominently included first brother James Biden.
In bombshell testimony last month, former Biden family business partner Rob Walker testified on Jan. 26 that $3 million in funds from CEFC flowed to him in March 2017 — with about a third going to the Bidens — shortly after Joe Biden met CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming at DC’s Four Seasons hotel.
Walker said the money, dispatched just weeks after Joe Biden left office as vice president, was a “thank you” for preliminary services sourcing business opportunities in a relationship that began in 2015.
A May 2017 email written by Biden family associate James Gilliar penciled in the “big guy” — Joe Biden — for a 10% cut in a proposed joint venture with CEFC, according to files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop, first reported by The Post in October 2020.
Also in May 2017, former Biden family business associate Tony Bobulinski testified he discussed the CEFC venture twice with Joe Biden.
About two months later, Hunter put the Chinese company on notice that he expected them to transfer funds, after cutting out most of his other business partners with the exception of his uncle James, who helped the Chinese firm scout out natural gas opportunities in the US.
The readout simultaneously reported by many news outlets Wednesday night said Hunter testified that Gilliar was “out of his mind” when suggesting a 10% cut for his dad, though Joe Biden’s perceived involvement seemed to oil the wheels of commerce.
Within 10 days of the threatening message, $5.1 million flowed from CEFC to Biden-linked accounts, according to information in a 2020 report by Republican-led Senate committees.
In an opening statement distributed to the media, Hunter accused House Republicans of spreading “baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies” about his father’s role in an array of foreign business relationships and insisted he “never” involved President Biden “in my business” — despite what Republican investigators say is substantial evidence to the contrary.
Hunter did not speak to reporters as he arrived shortly before 10 a.m. for a full day of questioning from the three House committees leading the investigation.
“I am here today to provide the committees with the one incontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business,” Hunter claimed.
“Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.”
President Biden similarly has said that he “never” discussed business with Hunter or first brother James Biden and in December insisted he “did not” interact with any of their associates — despite evidence that he actually met repeatedly with them during and after his vice presidency.
Emails, witness testimony, and even photos show Joe Biden encountered his son and brother’s associates from two different Chinese government-linked business deals and others from Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine.
‘PUBLIC HEARING’ NEXT
Republican and Democratic committee members bickered over the course of the six-and-a-half hour testimony about whether the evidence gathered at this point amounted to the constitutional threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“This is supposed to be an impeachment investigation, which means it’s supposed to be focusing on treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the president,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel. “We’ve heard no evidence of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors touching Joe Biden.”
“I think this is a great deposition for us,” Oversight chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) countered, adding that the first son’s testimony yielded “contradictory statements that need further review.”
“This impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase, which will be a public hearing,” he added, saying he was hopeful the venue would “clear up some discrepancies” between the testimonies of Hunter and his former business partners.
Raskin and Democrats harped on the recent indictment of Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who alleged the owner of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma said he bribed Joe Biden and his son with $10 million to shut down an investigation into the firm.
They also downplayed many phone conversations Joe Biden had with Hunter’s associates while defending the first son’s “serious” experience in “corporate governance.”
“He has served on multiple corporate boards. He’s been involved in lots of business. And he was an expert on corporate governance,” Raskin said. “So he rendered the value that people do.”
Hunter waived his Fifth Amendment rights in the hearing, but his testimony was misleading at several points, Republicans said.
“It’s been impressive to listen to Hunter Biden either give excuses about being a drug addict, and how difficult it is to go through years of addiction, and then swing the next minute to his extreme expertise and business experience that applies to him on so many boards and allowed him to teach at Georgetown University,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said.
Greene said the first son “lied” about his involvement with Democratic PR shop Blue Star Strategies but was then presented with an email exchange confirming he set up talks between Blue Star and Burisma.