Joe Biden met with Hunter Biden business partner at the White House
Hunter Biden’s closest business partner made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015, including a sitdown with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the West Wing.
Visitor logs from the White House of former President Barack Obama reviewed by The Post cast further doubt over Joe Biden’s claims that he knew nothing of his son’s dealings.
Eric Schwerin met with Vice President Biden on November 17, 2010 in the West Wing, when he was the president of the since-dissolved investment fund Rosemont Seneca Partners.
The logs also reveal that Schwerin met with various close aides of both Joe and Jill Biden at key moments in Hunter’s life when he was striking multi-million dollar deals in foreign countries, including China. Yet President Biden has long insisted he had no involvement in his son’s foreign affairs. “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” he said in 2019.
”Not everyone gets to meet the Vice President of the United States in the White House. The press should be asking why Hunter Biden’s business associates — like Eric Schwerin — had that privilege and were given access to the Obama White House,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). “This is additional evidence that Joe Biden lied when he said he never discussed Hunter’s foreign business dealings. It’s well past time for the corporate media to demand the truth from Joe Biden. The corruption of Biden Inc. must be exposed.”
Of all Hunter Biden’s business associates, Schwerin had the most intimate access to the vice president’s personal finances.
His deep involvement in the personal and professional lives of both Bidens were first revealed in emails contained on a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden at a Delaware computer repair store in April 2019.
Hard drive emails show he was involved in Joe Biden’s personal taxes and discussed the vice president’s financial future with him.
In October 2009, just months after Hunter co-founded Rosemont Seneca, Schwerin met with Evan Ryan, Vice President Biden’s assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where the vice president’s office is based, according to the visitor logs.
While working in the halls of power Ryan acted as a conduit for Hunter Biden and his cronies, hard drive emails show.
In one email from February 18, 2010, Ryan received a request from Chris Sloan, Director of Government Relations for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades advocating that union lawyer Craig Becker be nominated to the National Labor Relations Board. Sloan asked that Vice President Biden press Obama on the issue. Hunter was CCed.
“Thanks Chris — I will forward this one,” she responded to both.
Obama named Becker to the job through a recess appointment a month later, sparking howls of protest from Republicans at the time.
Sloan declined to comment on the emails.
Ryan went on to marry Antony Blinken, who now serves as President Biden’s Secretary of State, while she herself was appointed to a plum gig as White House Cabinet Secretary in January 2021.
Schwerin’s visit to Joe Biden in November 2010 coincided with a time of great personal turmoil for the second family.
That same month, Hunter Biden relapsed into alcoholism and once again checked into the rehabilitation facility Crossroads Centre Antigua to dry out.
On August 18, 2011, Vice President Biden arrived in China for three days of high level meetings with top leaders there including future Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Just days later, on August 22, Schwerin was in a meeting in the West Wing with Kellen Suber, an executive assistant to Vice President Biden.
In October, Hunter Biden was in Hong Kong with Jim Bulger where he was wined and dined by Che Feng, a shadowy Chinese tycoon identified in the hard drive as “Superchairman.” Feng is the son-in- law of Dai Xianglong, a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official.
In June 2013 Hunter Biden entered into an agreement with Chinese businessman Jonathan Li to create BHR Partners. Schwerin met with Joe Biden aides in March and May of that same year.
“He did financial stuff for the family but that’s really all I know,” Margaret Campbell, a former Special Assistant to Jill Biden told The Post, adding that “It would make sense if he stopped into the White House.”
Campbell met with Schwerin in February 2010 in the White House records show.
Emails from the hard drive show Schwerin was handling Joe Biden’s “Delaware tax refund check.”
In a July 6, 2010, email titled “JRB Future Memo,” Schwerin said he was in touch with the vice president about personal financial matters and was eager to start discussions with him about how to cash in when he left office.
“Your Dad just called me (about his mortgage) and mentioned he’d be out a lot soon and not really back until Labor Day … He could use some positive news about his future earnings potential,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter Biden.
Schwerin also met with Vice President Biden’s Director of Administration, Faisal Amin in March 2013.
In March 2012 Schwerin met with Betsy Massey for a “West Wing tour.” Massey was an assistant to Jill Biden, and wife of Robert Walker — another Hunter Biden business crony.
Hunter Biden also popped in regularly, showing up for a state dinner offered by President Obama for French President Francois Hollande in February 2014. Hunter Biden also visited with Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Devon Archer and Chris Heinz — two other Rosemont Seneca founders — were at the White House in 2009 and 2011 for a “holiday reception” and “group tour” respectively, records show.
Schwerin was a regular guest at the Vice President’s Residence at the United States Naval Observatory where he attended holiday parties and an inaugural reception in 2013.
In May 2021 The Post revealed that Biden hired a Rosemont employee, Anne Marie Person, into his private staff while vice president.
Neither Schwerin nor the White House responded to requests for comment made by The Post.
Republicans said the records once again underscored the need for an investigation.
“It’s increasingly obvious that Hunter Biden’s business revolved around providing access to his father and the highest levers of power. It reeks of pay-to-play. The clear solution is a Special Counsel investigation to fairly investigate the disturbing allegations of Biden family corruption,” Sen Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told The Post.
Hunter Biden is already facing a federal investigation over his tax filing, which insiders say has widened to include potential money laundering and violations of lobbying laws. Former business partners have reportedly been cooperating with the feds. House leaders have vowed to subpoena the younger Biden before Congress to answer questions should they retake control of the chamber in 2022.
Chief among the unanswered questions is the identity of the Big Guy — a figure mentioned in the hard drive as someone who would receive a slice of equity in a deal with a Chinese energy company.
Tony Bobulinski, another Hunter Biden business partner who appeared frequently in hard-drive emails, has said there is “no question” President Biden was “the big guy.”
The Schwerin White House visits included:
- Meeting with Joe Biden aide Evan Ryan (10/28/2009)
- Meeting with Jill Biden special assistant Meg Campbell (2/13/2010)
- Meeting with Joe Biden assistant Michele Smith (10/24/2010)
- Meeting with Joe Biden (11/17/2010)
- Meeting with Joe Biden assistant Kellen Suber (8/22/2011)
- Meeting with Jill Biden aide Betsy Massey (3/31/2012)
- Meeting with Joe Biden assistant Michele Smith (2/7/2012)
- Meeting with Joe Biden’s Director of Administration Faisal Amin (3/28/2013)
- Meeting with Joe Biden assistant Kathy Chung (5/20/2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment