Hunter Biden’s ex-associate Tony Bobulinski heads to Capitol Hill this week to testify in impeachment inquiry

Posted on February 12, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill Tuesday as the latest witness in the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

A source familiar with the planning first told Fox News Digital that Bobulinski will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 10 a.m. for a transcribed interview before both the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

The testimony could last eight hours, according to the source.

Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017.

Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden "stop lying" about that meeting and called on him to "correct the record."

"Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?" Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!"

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN

He added: "I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record."

Bobulinski said he is a "former decorated Naval Officer who was willing to die for this great country and held the highest security clearance issued by the Department of Energy."

Bobulinski worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC.

Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president's office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020.

"Mrng plse let me knw if we will do early dinner w your Uncle & dad and where, also for document translation do you want it simple Chinese or traditional?" Bobulinski texted Hunter Biden on May 2, 2017.

"Not sure on dinner yet and whatever is the most common for a Chinese legal DOC," Hunter Biden replied.

"Chinese legal docs can be both, i’ll make it traditional," Bobulinski said.

Hunter replied: "Dad not in now until 11 – let’s me I and Jim meet at 10 at Beverly Hilton where he’s staying."

BOBULINSKI OFFERED TO TESTIFY AT HUNTER BIDEN GRAND JURY BUT 'NEVER HEARD BACK': SOURCE

Later, Bobulinski sent a text to Jim Biden, Joe Biden's brother, on the same day, May 2, 2017, saying: "Great to meet u and spend some time together, please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk thx Tony b."

The following day, May 3, 2017, Bobulinski sent another text to Jim Biden, saying: "Morning, please let me know all set for things this mrng. I don't have credentials to get into Milken so just want to make sure not an issue to get me in, where should we meet this mrng?"

"Milken" was in reference to the 2017 Global Conference, which, in part, was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the program directory.

Joe Biden, on May 3, 2017, spoke at the conference, hosting "A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden."

The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT 'DAD,' 'BIG GUY' DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER

The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate." A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.

Bobulinski has repeatedly said "the big guy" was Joe Biden. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden, also said "the big guy" was known to be Joe Biden.

The president, in December, was asked whether he had communicated with his son's business partners. The question came after Fox News Digital first reported that IRS whistleblowers turned over metadata to the House Ways & Means Committee revealing that he had used an email alias to communicate hundreds of times with Hunter Biden and his business associate Eric Schwerin during his time as vice president.

"I did not, they’re lies. It’s a bunch of lies," Biden said Wednesday at the White House.

Bobulinski last year suggested that he and President Biden, Hunter Biden and James Biden "appear together" before Congress for a public hearing.

His suggestion came after Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, claiming that Bobulinski lied to the FBI during an interview Oct. 23, 2020, about his business dealings with the president’s son.

James Biden is set to appear for his deposition on Capitol Hill on Feb. 21. Hunter Biden is set to appear on Feb. 28. Both Bidens were subpoenaed and will testify behind closed doors.

Mayorkas ducks responsibility on border crisis, migrant figures: ‘Congress is the only one who can fix this’

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who narrowly escaped impeachment last week, said Sunday that the Biden administration doesn't "bear responsibility for a broken system," demanding Congress enact legislation to mitigate what has become an illegal migration crisis during this election year.

"No doubt there is gridlock in Congress. But do you bear responsibility for what is happening at the border with the president himself? It's called a crisis," NBC host Kristen Welker asked during an interview with Mayorkas on "Meet the Press."

"It certainly is a crisis. And we don't bear responsibility for a broken system. And we're doing a tremendous amount within that broken system. But fundamentally … Congress is the only one who can fix it," Mayorkas said.

"There is no question that we have a broken system," he added. "There is no question that we have a challenge, a crisis at the border. And there is no question that Congress needs to fix it. And we're doing everything we can within that broken system, short of legislation to address what is a not just a challenge for the United States but one throughout our region."

HOUSE FAILS TO IMPEACH DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS IN MAJOR BLOW TO GOP

Since Mayorkas took the helm at the Department of Homeland Security three years ago, Welker noted, the asylum case backlog has more than tripled since 2019 and more migrants have crossed the border illegally in 2023 than ever before. She pointed to how Mayorkas himself has said that more than 85% of migrants crossing the border illegally are being released into the U.S. as they await their court dates.

"Let's just put impeachment aside for a minute. Why do you deserve to keep your job, Mr. Secretary?" she asked.

"The data that you cite is a powerful example of why we need legislation to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system," Mayorkas said. "Before the last three years, that case backlog, which is about 3 million cases, has been growing year over year over year. The time between when we encounter an individual at the border and the time of final adjudication of an asylum claim case has been years, five to seven years, for years and years."

"I remember when I entered the Department of Homeland Security in 2009, we were wrestling with these very same issues. The system has not been fixed for 30 years. A bipartisan group of senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need – bipartisan group. And yet, Congress killed it before even reading it," he said.

Mayorkas was referring to how the U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to pass a $118 billion supplemental spending agreement that included aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as an ambitious border security and immigration package that drew widespread opposition from conservative Republicans in both chambers since its release just days earlier. Wednesday's vote was 50-49. It needed 60 votes to pass. The vote went mostly along party lines, except for five Democrat no votes and four Republicans voting yes.

Welker pressed Mayorkas on why President Biden would not shut down the border immediately – as Republicans have called on him to do – and "just let the courts try to stop him."

SENATE TANKS IMMIGRATION, FOREIGN AID SPENDING PACKAGE AFTER GOP BACKLASH AGAINST BORDER PROVISIONS

"We have taken executive actions already. We continuously review what options are available to us, but those are always challenged in the courts, and whether or not they see the light of day and actually are able to be operationalized is an open question," Mayorkas said. "That is why the bipartisan group of senators actually prepared and presented a piece of legislation that would … base it in statute, the ability to close the border for a limited period of time, an extreme measure, and would it would be immune from court challenge because it is statutorily based."

"If it were done legislatively, no doubt you wouldn't have these these legal challenges, but isn't trying to do something better than doing nothing at all? Why doesn't President Biden try to shut down the border? Are you encouraging him to do that?" Welker insisted.

"Well, we have already taken important steps. We certainly haven't done nothing. I will tell you, we issued a regulation that circumvention of lawful pathways that increased, that actually created a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility for asylum seekers if they did not avail themselves of the lawful pathways that we built. And so we've done a tremendous amount. It's very important to remember we have removed, returned or expelled more individuals in the past three years than the prior administration did in all four."

Asked if he was considering reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy on Sunday, Mayorkas told Welker, "First of all, it depends upon Mexico's agreement. And Mexico has articulated publicly that it will not allow the re-implementation of Remain in Mexico, number one. Number two, it's been challenged in the courts. And number three, remember something, that Remain in Mexico was implemented in January of 2019. In 2019, there was almost a 100% increase in the number of encounters at our southwest border over 2018."

The Republican-led House of Representatives on Tuesday failed to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the crisis at the southern border. It was considered a crushing defeat for the Republican majority, which held hearings throughout 2023 on Mayorkas' apparent "dereliction of duty" and additional hearings on the impeachment articles themselves this year.

Lawmakers accused Mayorkas of disregarding federal law with "open border policies" that have made the ongoing crisis at the southern border worse. They have pointed to the rolling back of Trump-era policies, like border wall construction and Remain in Mexico, and reducing interior enforcement and expanding "catch-and-release." They say it has fueled record numbers at the southern border, breaching the 300,000 mark in December.

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Biden retained records related to Ukraine, China; Comer demands ‘unfettered access’ amid impeachment inquiry

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

President Biden retained documents marked "secret" and "confidential" related to Ukraine and China, according to Special Counsel Robert Hur's report.

Hur, who released his report to the public on Thursday after months of investigating, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents — and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.

Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

SPECIAL COUNSEL CALLS BIDEN 'SYMPATHETIC, WELL-MEANING, ELDERLY MAN WITH A POOR MEMORY,' BRINGS NO CHARGES

But Biden also kept classified documents related to Ukraine and China.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is currently co-leading the impeachment inquiry against Biden, had asked Hur last year if any of the classified records Biden held were related to the countries that his family conducted business with.

Comer is now demanding "unfettered access to these documents to determine if President Biden’s retention of sensitive materials were used to help the Bidens’ influence peddling."

Hunter Biden, joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in June 2014. Hunter Biden also had joint business ventures with Chinese energy firms.

COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS

With regard to the Ukraine documents, according to the special counsel report, Biden kept a September 2014 memo with the subject line "U.S. Energy Assistance to Ukraine." That memo was marked as confidential.

Biden, at the time, did run U.S.-Ukraine policy.

The report also states that the FBI located a green file folder Biden kept, labeled "Ukraine 2/19/15." That folder was inside an "unlabeled green hanging folder." Also, inside that folder was a red file folder labeled "VP Personal."

In the "VP Personal" file folder was a telephone call sheet from Dec. 12, 2015, and talking points for a call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk. There is a handwritten note attached addressed to Biden’s executive assistant that states: "Get copy of this conversation from Sit Rm for my Records please." The note is signed "Joe." That document was marked as "Secret."

Attached to that document was another, dated Dec. 11, 2015. The report describes that document as "a transcript documenting the substance of a Dec. 11, 2015 call between Mr. Biden and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk." The document is marked "CONFIDENTIAL" and "EYES ONLY DO NOT COPY."

NO CHARGES FOR BIDEN AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE INTO IMPROPER HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

The special counsel’s report analyzes the documents, saying there "is reasonable doubt that Mr. Biden willfully retained" the documents.

"Mr. Biden's handwritten note does not request that executive assistant save the classified call sheet containing talking points for the call (A9) in his records; rather, he only requested the transcript of the phone call itself," the report states. "And no jury could reasonably find that the substance of the call between Mr. Biden and the Ukrainian Prime Minister was national defense information."

The report states that Biden and the Ukrainian prime minister "exchanged pleasantries and the Prime Minister heaped praise upon Mr. Biden for his December 9, 2015 speech to Ukraine's parliament."

"They did not engage in a substantive policy discussion. There may be technical or nuanced reasons to maintain the classification of the call, but no reasonable jury could conclude the call or its contents were national defense information after the end of Obama administration, or that by asking for a transcript of the call Biden intended to retain national defense information," the report states.

Biden, on Dec. 9, 2015, gave a speech in which he discussed corruption in Ukraine.

"And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption," Biden said in the speech. "The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform."

In that speech, Biden also said Ukraine’s "energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles — not sweetheart deals."

"It’s not enough to push through laws to increase transparency with regard to official sources of income," he said. "Senior elected officials have to remove all conflicts between their business interest and their government responsibilities. Every other democracy in the world — that system pertains."

At the time, Burisma Holdings was under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Several months later, in March 2016, Biden successfully pressured Ukraine to remove Shokin. At the time Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, Hunter had a highly lucrative role on the board receiving tens of thousands of dollars per month.

Biden, at the time, threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.

BIDENS ALLEGEDLY ‘COERCED' BURISMA CEO TO PAY THEM MILLIONS TO HELP GET UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: FBI FORM

"I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in,' I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’" Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden recollected the conversation during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.

"Well, son of a b----, he got fired," Biden said during the event. "And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."

Biden allies maintain the then-vice president pushed for Shokin's firing due to concerns the Ukrainian prosecutor went easy on corruption, and say that his firing, at the time, was the policy position of the U.S. and international community.

But Comer blasted the discovery of this information as "concerning" and questioned the timeline.

"It’s no secret Hunter Biden made millions by sitting on the board of Burisma when Joe Biden was Vice President and that Burisma benefited from the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin," Comer told Fox News Digital, saying it is "concerning Joe Biden retained classified materials related to Ukraine around the same timeframe he called for the firing of Viktor Shokin."

"The Justice Department must provide Congress with unfettered access to these documents to determine if President Biden’s retention of sensitive materials were used to help the Bidens’ influencing peddling schemes," Comer said.

Meanwhile, with regard to China, Biden retained a memo with the subject, "Engagement with China in the Second Term." That document "suggests activities Vice President Biden could do in his second term to "build on my work last year by engaging with China’s leaders in the second term." The document was marked as confidential.

Comer’s investigation and the House impeachment inquiry is probing Hunter Biden and James Biden’s Chinese business dealings, and whether Joe Biden was involved or had knowledge of the ventures.

No charges for Biden after Special Counsel probe into improper handling of classified documents

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Special Counsel Robert Hur will not recommend criminal charges against President Biden for mishandling classified documents, according to his report after a months-long investigation into the president's alleged improper retention of classified records.

Hur has been investigating Biden’s improper retention of classified records since last year. Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, among other records related to national security and foreign policy which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

"We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter," the report states. "We would reach the same conclusion even if the Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president."

The special counsel also described Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur wrote in the report. "Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."

GARLAND SAYS SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBING BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS HAS SUBMITTED REPORT, UNDER WHITE HOUSE REVIEW

But Hur said his investigation "uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen."

The materials included "marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

Hur said FBI agents recovered the materials from "the garages, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home."

But Hur said that the evidence "does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." :

"Prosecution of Mr. Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors set forth in the Department of Justice’s Principles of Federal Prosecution," the report states. "For these reasons, we decline prosecution of Mr. Biden."

The White House was given the opportunity to review the report for privilege after Hur initially submitted his report on Feb. 5, and did not seek any redaction to the report. The report was transmitted to Congress Thursday afternoon.

Damning photos were included in the report — photos that the Biden campaign reportedly feared could have a negative impact on his 2024 re-election bid.

Classified records were first found inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank on Nov. 2, 2022, but only disclosed to the public in early January 2023.

BIDEN CAMP REPORTEDLY FEARS PHOTOS FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL CLASSIFIED DOCS PROBE COULD DEVASTATE REELECTION BID

A second stash of classified documents was also found inside the garage of the president’s home in Wilmington in December, but revealed to the public earlier this month, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Rob Hur to serve as special counsel.

Days later, additional classified documents were found in the president’s home in Delaware. The FBI conducted a more than 12-hour search of Biden’s Delaware home Friday, seizing additional classified records.

Biden has defended the storing of classified documents in the past.

"By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it's not like they're sitting out on the street," he once said.

In a statement after Special Counsel released the report, Biden said he was "pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach – that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed."

"This was an exhaustive investigation going back more than 40 years, even into the 1970s when I was a young Senator. I cooperated completely, threw up no roadblocks, and sought no delays. In fact, I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis. I just believed that’s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter closed," Biden's statement continued.

"Over my career in public service, I have always worked to protect America’s security. I take these issues seriously and no one has ever questioned that," he added.

But Garland, on Nov. 18, 2022, appointed former DOJ official Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to investigate whether Trump was improperly retaining classified records at Mar-a-Lago.

When Smith was appointed to investigate Trump, Garland and top DOJ officials were simultaneously conducting an internal review of President Biden’s mishandling of classified records. That review, and the discovery of classified records at Biden’s office, was not disclosed to the public until January.

BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

Republicans and allies of former President Trump were outraged, blasting the Justice Department for a double standard.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, was then charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of Smith’s investigation – an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts. Trump pleaded not guilty.

That trial is set to begin on May 20, 2024.

Biden's aides told Axios earlier this week that they are fearful former President Trump's campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch.

COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS

Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, accused the Biden team of slow-walking discovery in the president’s classified records case, versus the handling of the Trump probe.

"Against the backdrop of former President Trump's indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team's drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse," he wrote in an op-ed.

Before Hur’s findings were released, reports suggested the Biden campaign was concerned about potentially embarrassing photos included in Hur's expected report that could be released as soon as this week.

The campaign was concerned that the images would show how Biden stored classified materials. The classified documents were carried over from Biden's time as former President Obama's vice president.

Hur interviewed Biden at the White House – an interview that lasted two days. The White House said the president’s interview with Hur was "voluntary."

Last year, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who is co-leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden, began investigating whether the sensitive, classified documents Biden retained involved specific countries or individuals that had financial dealings with Biden family members or their related companies.

Comer questioned why Biden would have kept certain classified materials and asked Hur to provide his committee with a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings.

It is unclear if Hur cooperated with Comer's request.

Hunter Biden was paid $100K through joint-venture with Chinese energy firm, ex-associate testified

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Hunter Biden was paid $100,000 a month and James Biden was paid $65,000 a month in 2017 from their joint-venture with Chinese Communist Party-linked Chinese energy firm CEFC, a former associate testified to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

Mervyn Yan, who testified behind closed doors at the committees last month, said he did not know the nature of the work the Bidens provided, according to a transcript of the testimony obtained by Fox News Digital.

FORMER HUNTER BIDEN ASSOCIATE TONY BOBULINSKI TO TESTIFY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AS PART OF IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Yan testified that he met Hunter Biden and James Biden in May 2017 through a CEFC business partner Gongwen Dong, also known as "Kevin." Yan said that meeting lasted less than 15 minutes, but that it was the impetus for the joint-business venture, Hudson West III, with the Bidens.

Yan said the business venture was intended to facilitate the investment of Chinese energy infrastructure firms – like CEFC – into U.S. energy companies in exchange for energy exports to China.

"It was in May 2017, four of us. And then Kevin asked me to come to a meeting. And then eventually we met. I met Hunter Biden and James Biden and Kevin, just four of us… in Midtown. That was a relatively quick meeting, roughly 15 minutes, because I noticed the time because I couldn’t even get a water in that place," Yan told the committees.

DEMOCRATS BLAST IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY AFTER GOP WITNESS SAYS HE WAS 'UNAWARE' OF JOE BIDEN'S ROLE IN FAMILY BIZ

"So basically we shake hands and basically say we can work together," Yan continued, adding that he would be "sort of like on-the-ground person who executes and pretty much sources the infrastructure deals." Yan said he would be "working closely with Hunter."

Yan was asked what he thought Hunter Biden "brought to the table" in the joint-venture.

"I don’t know," Yan testified. "I don’t know what he can contribute."

Yan said he did not know if Hunter Biden had "knowledge" in the energy infrastructure field.

Yan said Hunter Biden was given a $500,000 retainer, and then paid $100,000 per month. Yan also testified that Hunter Biden had been working for CEFC prior to their introductory meeting, but did not know for how long.

JOE BIDEN RECEIVED $40K IN 'LAUNDERED CHINA MONEY' FROM BROTHER IN 2017, COMER SAYS

Hunter Biden, though, in correspondence that was shown to Yan during his interview last month, initially requested $30 million for introductions in the industry.

Fox News Digital last year reported correspondence between Hunter Biden and Gongwen Dong, in which the first son demands $10 million to "further the interest" of the joint-venture, saying that the "Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly" what the chairman of the CCP-linked firm wanted.

"The Biden's [sic] are the best I know at doing exactly what the Chairman wants from this partnership," Hunter Biden writes in the WhatsApp message. "Please let’s not quibble over peanuts."

According to a September 2020 report released by the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Senate Finance Committee on their investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong and other Chinese nationals that Hunter Biden had business associations with were linked to the Chinese Communist government and the People's Liberation Army.

That Senate report, showed that on Aug. 8, 2017, just days after this WhatsApp message, CEFC wired nearly $5 million to the bank account for Hudson West III, a firm that Hunter Biden opened with Chinese associates.

"These funds may have originated from a loan issued from the account of a company called Northern International Capital Holdings, a Hong Kong-based investment company identified at one time as a ‘substantial shareholder’ in CEFC International Limited along with Ye," the report stated. "It is unclear whether Hunter Biden was a half-owner of Hudson West III at the time."

The report also stated, "the same day the $5 million was received, and continuing through Sept. 25, 2018, Hudson West III sent request payments to Owasco, Hunter Biden’s firm." The report stated the payments were described as consulting fees and reached "$4,790,375.25 in just over a year."

Meanwhile, Yan testified that none of the five infrastructure deals he worked on with the Bidens in 2017 came to fruition, but said Hunter and James Biden were still compensated for their work in attempting to bring business.

Yan testified as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

Yan told congressional investigators that Joe Biden was not involved in the joint-venture, and said neither Hunter nor James Biden ever suggested he would be involved.

HUNTER DEMANDED $10M FROM CHINESE ENERGY FIRM BECAUSE 'BIDENS ARE THE BEST,' HAVE 'CONNECTIONS'

Yan also testified that he was not aware of any funds from the joint-venture going to Joe Biden. Yan maintained that he was never in contact with Joe Biden, and that Hunter and James Biden did not discuss the then-former vice president in their conversations.

Yan was pointedly asked if he was ever told that he could receive political favors from Joe Biden if he engaged in business with Hunter Biden, to which he replied in the negative.

"Did you engage in a business relationship with Hunter and James with the expectation that you would receive political favors from Joe Biden?" Yan was asked.

"No," Yan said.

After his interview last month, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., pointed to Yan’s testimony in which he "admitted on the record the Bidens had no experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors and was not sure what they brought to the table."

Comer has stressed that evidence collected by congressional investigators reveals that President Biden "was at least aware of some of his family’s business ventures and sought to influence potential business deals that financially benefited his family."

Yan’s testimony came as the committee continues to interview former business associates of Hunter Biden. Next up is Tony Bobulinski on Feb. 13. Then, James Biden will appear for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 21, and Hunter Biden's deposition is set for Feb. 28.

From the border to impeachment to the courts, gridlock reigns in Washington

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

The government of the most powerful country on earth is no longer functioning.

Every attempt to do just about anything goes down in flames.

This happens periodically in a capital built on a divided government established by the founders. But when you meld that with the hyper-partisan atmosphere that is now embedded in our culture – set against a momentous presidential election – things seem more dysfunctional than ever.

BIDEN KNEW THE BORDER BILL WAS ON LIFE SUPPORT AND WANTED TO BLAME TRUMP: HOWARD KURTZ

Neither side trusts the other. The paramount concern is the blame game, making sure the opposition party takes a hit when things fall apart.

At the same time, two major lawsuits, including one being heard by the Supreme Court today, will shape the 2024 election in ways we’ve never had to contemplate before.

The Trump team will try to convince the high court that Maine and Colorado acted illegally when they kicked the former president off the ballot. The appellate court ruling, which must be appealed to SCOTUS by Monday, says Donald Trump can’t be shielded from prosecution by unlimited immunity, especially after leaving office.

Who would ever have imagined that such battles would be fought for the first time in American history? Then again, we’ve never had an ex-president accused of criminal wrongdoing in four separate indictments–with the added twist that analysts agree the charges have boosted Trump’s campaign among the majority of Republicans who view him as being unfairly persecuted.

The long-running battle over the southern border is equally divisive. Now there’s no question that this is a major liability for President Biden, who has failed for more than three years to prevent record-setting waves of illegal migrants from flooding into the country.

Why he hasn’t done more, on a problem that even big-city Democratic mayors say is damaging, is hard to fathom. It is, after all, the signature issue that helped Trump get elected in 2016.

WHAT BULLY PULPIT? WHY BIDEN STAYS OFF TELEVISION DURING BIG BREAKING NEWS

So both parties, at least in the Senate, made an all-out attempt to hammer out a resolution.

After four long months, they finally settled on compromise language involving asylum, parole and other thorny issues. Biden made more concessions than most thought he would–including the power to shut down the border if illegal crossings exceeded 5,000 a day (which still seems way high). The Border Patrol union backed the measure, as did the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

And more than just immigration was at stake. Foreign policy had to be baked into the cake. The president saw the measure as a tradeoff, with border security greasing the skids for long-stalled military aid to Israel and Ukraine.

But Trump, the unquestioned leader of the party, said the bill would be a death knell for Republicans and urged them to oppose it, to hold off until he took office. Trump invited them to "blame me." Biden said his likely opponent wanted the campaign issue more than a solution.

Once the bill’s text was released, Republicans started abandoning it in droves. There was little question that Trump was the motivating force. He is the party’s undisputed leader and on the verge of the nomination.

JEFFERIES DEFEND SURPRISE APPEARANCE BY TEXAS DEMOCRAT IN FAILED MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT VOTE

When Mitch McConnell, who strongly supports U.S. assistance to Ukraine, conceded the bill couldn’t pass, it was over. Ted Cruz called for McConnell to be ousted as minority leader.

Speaker Mike Johnson, just a few months into the job, does not want aid to Ukraine, but brought to the floor a stand-alone measure to provide billions to Israel. That failed by a sizable margin. Now there’s chatter that Johnson could suffer the same fate as Kevin McCarthy.

What’s more, Johnson revived an effort to impeach Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas – the first such attempt to oust a Cabinet officer in 150 years. The media and those on the Hill thought it would be a slam dunk.

But the maneuver failed by two votes, with three dissenting Republicans saying it wasn’t fair to impeach Mayorkas for carrying out Biden’s policies. So even that exercise in scapegoating was botched. Not that he would have been convicted by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

There’s a long way to go between now and November, both in Congress and the courts. But right now Washington is in a state of paralysis.

Garland says special counsel probing Biden classified records has submitted report, under White House review

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Attorney General Merrick Garland notified congressional lawmakers that Special Counsel Robert Hur has submitted his final report after months of investigating President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records.

Garland, in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, Garland said Hur submitted the final report on Feb. 5 to the Justice Department.

BIDEN CAMP REPORTEDLY FEARS PHOTOS FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL CLASSIFIED DOCS PROBE COULD DEVASTATE REELECTION BID

"Prior to submitting his report to me, Special Counsel Hur engaged with the White House Counsel’s Office and President’s personal counsel to allow comments on the report," Garland wrote. "That included review by the White House Counsel’s Office for executive privilege consistent with the President’s constitutional prerogatives."

Garland, though, said the White House’s privilege review "has not yet concluded."

"As I have made clear regarding each Special Counsel who has served since I have taken office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy," Garland wrote.

Garland vowed to "produce to Congress the report, its appendices, and the letter from counsel following completion of the White House’s privilege review."

Hur has been investigating Biden’s improper retention of classified records since last year. Reports suggest there will be no charges filed against the president.

Classified records were first found inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank on Nov. 2, 2022, but only disclosed to the public in early January 2023.

A second stash of classified documents was also found inside the garage of the president’s home in Wilmington in December but revealed to the public earlier this month, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Rob Hur to serve as special counsel.

Biden has defended the storing of classified documents in the past.

"By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it's not like they're sitting out on the street," he once said.

But Garland, on Nov. 18, 2022, appointed former DOJ official Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to investigate whether Trump was improperly retaining classified records at Mar-a-Lago.

BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

Republicans and allies of former President Trump were outraged, blasting the Justice Department for a double standard.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

That trial is set to begin on May 20, 2024.

Biden's aides told Axios earlier this week that they are fearful former President Trump's campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch.

COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS

Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, accused the Biden team of slow-walking discovery in the president’s classified records case, versus the handling of the Trump probe.

Reports this week suggested the Biden campaign was concerned about potentially embarrassing photos included in Hur's expected report.

The campaign was concerned that the images would show how Biden stored classified materials. The classified documents were carried over from Biden's time as former President Obama's vice president.

Hur interviewed Biden at the White House – an interview that lasted two days. The White House said the president’s interview with Hur was "voluntary."

It is unclear if Hur cooperated with Comer's request.

Former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski to testify behind closed doors part of impeachment inquiry

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill next week as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned.

A source familiar with the planning told Fox News Digital that Bobulinski will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. for his transcribed interview before both the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

The source said his interview is expected to last eight hours.

Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017.

Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden "stop lying" about that meeting and called on him to "correct the record."

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN

He added: "I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record."

Bobulinski said he is a "former decorated Naval Officer who was willing to die for this great country and held the highest security clearance issued by the Department of Energy."

Bobulinski worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Karine Jean-Pierre blames GOP for failure to secure border despite Democrats being in charge on day 1

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday repeatedly blamed Republicans after the collapse of a bipartisan deal that paired border policy changes with billions in wartime aid for Ukraine.

Throughout the press conference, Jean-Pierre accused the GOP of playing games with national security and not having a spine for supporting the deal. She said President Biden, in contrast, had taken the border issue seriously "from day one."

"He said, ‘I’m going to put forward a legislation,' a comprehensive immigration legislation that was introduced more than three years ago … and [Republicans]," have failed to act, Jean-Pierre said when asked if President Biden bore some responsibility for the collapsed deal.

Later on, Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre on the matter.

"So, you guys talk a lot – including today – about how the border wouldn’t be such a big deal if Congress would have just passed your immigration bill on day one," Doocy asked. "Who was in charge of Congress on day one?"

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL DEMANDS SOUTHERN BORDER CRISIS BE CLASSIFIED AS ‘AN INVASION’

Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration has called on Congress to act since Biden took office more than three years ago, but Republicans "have gotten in the way" of trying to fix the border by using the immigration crisis as a political stunt.

When President Biden took office, Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. Republicans took back the House by a slim majority in the 2022 midterm elections.

After taking office, Biden signed two executive orders on immigration and pledged to roll back many of the policies put in place by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Within a few months, Biden took more than 90 actions related to the border.

Under the president’s stewardship, illegal immigration has skyrocketed to historic levels. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 showed that the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in FY 2023.

HOUSE CLEARS WAY TO ADVANCE IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES OF DHS SECRETARY MAYORKAS

The number of illegal immigrants being deported has increased, according to the report, but it is still a fraction of the increase in the illegal immigrant population. There were 142,580 removals in FY 23, up considerably from 72,177 in FY 22 and 59,011 in FY 21, but still down from the highs of 267,258 under the Trump administration in FY 19.

With the 2024 election looming, Biden has for months engaged in a plan to pair policies intended to curb illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border with $60 billion in wartime aid for Ukraine. The bill would have also sent tens of billions of dollars more for Israel, other U.S. allies in Asia, the U.S. immigration system and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.

But after Republicans backed away from the compromise, the president and Senate leaders are now stranded with no clear way to advance aid for Ukraine through Congress. They have run into a wall of opposition from conservatives — led by Trump — who reject the border proposal as insufficient and criticize the Ukraine funding as wasteful.

Biden laid the blame for the bill's demise squarely on Trump — his presumed Republican opponent in the November presidential election.

"For the last 24 hours he's done nothing, I'm told, but reach out to Republicans in the House and the Senate and threaten them and try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal," Biden said. "It looks like they're caving. Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right."

Meanwhile, House lawmakers have cleared the way to advance an impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, for alleging "refusing to enforce our nation's laws."

"An architect of destruction at our southern border, the secretary has caused serious injury to society, as the Founding Fathers discussed," Rep. McCaul, R-Texas, said in a statement.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

House Oversight, Judiciary to hear testimony from another Biden family biz associate amid impeachment inquiry

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

The House Oversight and Judiciary committees are expected to hear testimony from another Biden family business associate Thursday.

Joey Langston is expected to appear before the committees Thursday morning on Capitol Hill for a closed-door, transcribed interview.

Langston is said to have hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden and donated thousands to his political campaigns.

The House Oversight Committee says Langston pleaded guilty in 2008 to participating in a conspiracy to attempt to influence a judge by providing the judge with "favorable consideration" for a federal judgeship. Langston was sentenced to three years in federal prison and fined $250,000.

ERIC SCHWERIN 'NOT AWARE' OF JOE BIDEN ROLE IN HUNTER'S BIZ; EX-ASSOCIATE BLASTS 'CAREFULLY WORDED' TESTIMONY

The Mississippi state bar then disbarred him from practicing law. And, in 2016, a federal judge denied his requests to have his "conviction for conspiring to bribe a judge thrown out" and to have his "record cleared."

But the House Oversight Committee says it obtained bank records revealing that after Langston lost his appeal, his company, Langston Law Firm Consulting Inc., began making payments, totaling more than $200,000, to James and Sara Biden directly, and to their entity, Lion Hall Group.

The committee says it is "interested in the nature and purpose of these payments, which totaled $187,000 while Joe Biden was serving as vice president."

HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE ROB WALKER SAYS JOE BIDEN WAS 'NEVER INVOLVED' IN BUSINESS DEALINGS

House Republicans hope the witnesses can provide information on whether, among other things, Joe Biden, as vice president and/or president, "took any official action or effected any change in government policy because of money or other things of value provided to himself or his family, including whether concerns that Chinese sources may release additional evidence about their business relationships with the Biden family have had any impact on official acts performed by President Biden or U.S. foreign policy; abused his office of public trust by providing foreign interests with access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him; or abused his office of public trust by knowingly participating in a scheme to enrich himself or his family by giving foreign interests the impression that they would receive access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him."

DEMOCRATS BLAST IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY AFTER GOP WITNESS SAYS HE WAS 'UNAWARE' OF JOE BIDEN'S ROLE IN FAMILY BIZ

Langston’s testimony comes after Hunter Biden business associates like Eric Schwerin, Rob Walker and Mervyn Yan all appeared for their own transcribed interviews before the committee. Their testimony was sought by House Republicans as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

So far, Yan, Walker and Schwerin have testified that they were not aware of any involvement President Biden had in his son’s business dealings.

Langston’s expected testimony comes ahead of a deposition of President Biden’s brother, James Biden’s, which is scheduled for Feb. 21. The committees subpoenaed Biden last year.

Hunter Biden defied his subpoena to appear for a deposition Dec. 13 and was at risk of being held in contempt of Congress.

His attorneys and the committees came to an agreement earlier this month that the first son will appear for a closed-door deposition Feb. 28.