February 20 2024
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: A businessman with international experience, Mr. Bobulinski was recruited to work with Hunter Biden, Rob Walker and James Gilliar on a business venture with CEFC, a China-based energy firm with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Hunter later eased out Mr. Bobulinski, but not before Mr. Bobulinski saw how the Biden family business worked. He has provided dozens of emails, text messages and business and financial documents to back up his testimony.
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Mr. Gilliar recruited Mr. Bobulinski in 2017 to meet Mr. Gilliar’s partner and be part of what Mr. Bobulinski was told would be a “massive” deal with CEFC. The partner was Hunter. Mr. Bobulinski says it was made clear to him that Hunter’s contribution was “providing his name and the power of his family and what they’ve developed over the prior 50 years.”
He says Joe Biden was also central to the deal. Mr. Bobulinski says he met the then former Vice President in early May 2017 in Los Angeles in the context of the CEFC deal. Hunter arranged a meeting with his father, though Mr. Bobulinski says he was “coached” by his partners that “this is going to be a high-level meeting. We’re not going to go into a lot of detail” about CEFC.
This was prelude to an email chain in mid-May that discussed shares in the new business venture, including “10 held by H for the big guy.” Mr. Bobulinski says “the big guy—100 percent—is Joe Biden.” He told the committees that “not once did anybody else that was on that email chain” question this phrase because everyone knew “who they were talking about.”
Mr. Bobulinksi provided the committee with texts and emails in which Hunter and Mr. Gilliar refer to Joe’s involvement in the deal. Mr. Gilliar warned Mr. Bobulinski in late May in a text: “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid.”
Mr. Bobulinski says another dispute concerned a sudden demand that James Biden, Joe’s brother, get a stake. Mr. Gilliar explained in a text message that this was necessary because “H could be unreliable, so I pushed another family member.”
Mr. Bobulinski says he once asked James Biden about the potential political implications of the deal: “Aren’t you guys concerned that if Joe does run for President of the United States in the future that you guys are doing business directly with the Chinese?” He says James Biden laughed and responded: “Plausible deniability.”
Mr. Bobulinski had tough words for Mr. Walker’s recent testimony claiming to be unaware of Joe’s involvement. “For every one of these guys to now have amnesia or, like, you know, claim that, ‘Oh, Hunter wasn’t really talking about his father’ is just absurd,” he told the committees.
He points to “stacks of evidence that Joe Biden showed up at meetings, shook hands, participated in phone calls,” including claims he was on at least 20 Hunter business calls.
Joe Biden “was calling to demonstrate the Biden brand to whoever was in that meeting, whether it was the Ukrainians, the Romanians, the Russians, Colombians, Chinese, whoever it was. That’s all he had to do.” Mr. Bobulinski says. “Just him being on the phone is evidence of involvement and enabling the transaction.”