Boy, asking the “Big Guy” anything about his son and his foreign his business dealings and watch his demeanor change in a hurry.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden was leaving the White House to deliver a speech on the economy in Chicago. Before he boarded Marine One, however, he fielded the customary spray of questions from reporters.
According to a White House transcript, the questions ranged from Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville blocking Pentagon promotions unless the White House abandons a plan to pay travel expenses in the cases of members of the military who want to obtain an abortion to whether the attempted coup in Russia over the weekend would weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For the most part, Biden dealt with these questions calmly. Then, a reporter asked about the one topic on Washington’s mind at present:
“President Biden, how involved were you in your son’s ‘Chinese shakedown’ text message?” a reporter asked. “Were you sitting there? Were you involved? Were you involved?”
Ruh-roh.
“No, I wasn’t. And I don’t–” a visibly piqued Biden responded.
Were you?” the reporter followed up.
“No!” Biden yelled.
Uncle Joe doth get angry quickly when anyone mentions how much he knew about his son’s foreign business dealings. During the campaign trail, he all but swore upon a stack of copies of “The Audacity of Hope” that he’d never discussed Hunter’s foreign business affairs with him during his time in office.
This seemed unusual at the time, considering that Hunter Biden’s only discernible talent, at least in the business world, was his last name and the access to the powerful that it provided him.
These claims became even more outlandish after the contents of a laptop Hunter left at a Delaware repair shop began to spill out — which included interesting data like emails that seemed to indicate Hunter had introduced some of his associates to his father at events, a voice mail in which Joe talked to Hunter specifically about a New York Times report on his business dealings, and pictures of Biden and son with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and other Latin American movers and shakers taken during Biden’s time as vice president.
According to former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski, that meant 10 percent of the money would be held by Hunter for his father, “the Big Guy.”
Alas, this came during the closing days of the 2020 campaign and reporting on the scandal was limited by Big Tech giants like Twitter and Facebook and Google, which likely was decisive in Biden winning the presidential election.
In the aftermath of the election, establishment media outlets did their best to downplay news about the evidence on the laptop and allegations of corruption in the Biden family, but Republicans like Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and conservative news outlets kept a light on the ongoing scandal, especially since the 2022 midterms gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives.
In late May, IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley testified before the GOP-run House Ways and Means Committee. In that testimony, released last week, Shapley claimed that investigators discovered a WhatsApp message between Hunter Biden and Henry Zhao, who worked with CEFC.
In the message, Shapley testified, Hunter threatened Zhao over a business deal going sour — and warned that Biden himself was involved in the matter.
“For example,” Shapley said, “we obtained a July 30th, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, where Hunter Biden wrote: ‘I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.’”