(CNN) — Newly launched footage present then-Vice President Joe Biden assembly a few of his son Hunter Biden’s Chinese language enterprise companions throughout an official go to to the nation, in addition to Hunter assembly Chinese language President Xi Jinping and different senior officers.
That is the primary time these photographs have been made public, although the photograph ops and conferences they depict have been identified about for years. The Nationwide Archives and Data Administration launched the photographs after a public data request from a pro-Trump right-wing authorized group.
The pictures are from Joe Biden’s go to to China in 2013. In a single set of photographs, Hunter Biden is seen, alongside along with his father, assembly and chatting with Xi. In one other set of photographs, Joe Biden introduces his son to Li Yuanchao, who was China’s vp on the time.
One other group of images reveals Hunter Biden introducing his father to his Chinese language enterprise companions, a few of whom had been executives on the personal fairness agency BHR Companions. After handshakes and hugs, the Bidens posed for a gaggle image with a couple of of the Chinese language businessmen.
These photographs are notable as a result of they additional undercut Joe Biden’s already-diminished unequivocal assertions that he by no means had any business-related contact along with his son. In actual fact, the Home Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden uncovered a minimum of two dozen interactions between him and his son’s enterprise companions from China and different international locations.
Nevertheless, Hunter Biden and others concerned have testified that — regardless of occasional cellphone calls, meet-and-greets and dinners with Joe Biden — enterprise was by no means substantively mentioned. Hunter Biden’s former important US enterprise accomplice later testified that Hunter was promoting the “illusion” of entry to his father, however “nothing of material was discussed” throughout these interactions.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell criticized the Trump-aligned teams that fought to acquire and launch the photographs, saying in an announcement, “There is simply nothing new here.”
“The photos match perfectly to Hunter’s congressional testimony description of who he saw at this public event during a 2013 trip to China,” Lowell stated, referring to Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition in February, throughout which he was grilled by Republicans for six hours.
“These attacks trying to twist these images into something they are not is just more of the same old tired, misinformation spin from some Republicans who can’t let go of their ridiculous conspiracy theories and baseless accusations,” Lowell stated within the assertion.
America First Authorized, a pro-Trump group, filed the data request in 2022 and later sued the Nationwide Archives to acquire the data. The group is led by Stephen Miller, who served in President-elect Donald Trump’s first White Home and is ready to return subsequent yr as deputy chief of workers for coverage.
“These photos corroborate the House Oversight Committee’s investigative findings that Hunter Biden arranged for his father to meet with Jonathan Li and other BHR executives during the 2013 China trip, where ‘Mr. Li sought — and received — access to Vice President Biden’s political power,’” America First Authorized stated in a information launch final week.
CNN has reached out to the White Home for remark in regards to the newly launched footage.
Hunter Biden’s overseas enterprise offers drew intense scrutiny from Hill Republicans and Justice Division investigators. Federal prosecutors charged him with tax crimes partly stemming from unpaid taxes from his abroad offers. He was by no means accused of corruption or unlawful lobbying, regardless of GOP claims that he engaged in legal influence-peddling.
In a controversial postelection transfer, Joe Biden pardoned his son for the 12 tax and gun crimes he was convicted of earlier this yr. The sweeping pardon additionally shielded Hunter Biden from future prosecution for any potential federal crimes he might have dedicated between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
The-CNN-Wire
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