(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s tale of how Hunter Biden flew into Beijing aboard Air Force Two and left a billionaire -- an episode he now wants China to investigate -- isn’t supported by known details about the episode.
Trump’s account isn’t even a faithful retelling of the original allegation first outlined in a 2018 book by a conservative author -- an accusation whose details are in dispute.
There’s no indication that Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has profited from the Chinese deal, much less made billions. The younger Biden’s involvement with the company was initially unpaid, and he didn’t obtain an equity interest in the Chinese venture until after his father left office, according to his lawyer.
And although Biden provided his son a ride on the vice presidential plane -- a perk that presidents and vice presidents including Trump have frequently taken advantage of -- there’s no evidence that Joe Biden was involved in the Chinese deal. Indeed, it’s unclear whether any business was conducted on the trip.
‘Russia, If You’re Listening’
Trump’s request for China to investigate the matter Thursday had echoes of his famous “Russia, if you’re listening” plea in 2016, when he asked Moscow to find Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails.
The cast of characters and the general plot line is similar to claims Trump has made about Hunter Biden in Ukraine, where he served on the board of an energy company, Burisma Holdings.
“China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,” Trump told reporters Thursday as he left the White House for Florida. “All of a sudden, he’s getting billions of dollars. You know what they call that? They call that a ‘payoff.’”
Trump’s allegations relating to Ukraine are at the center of a House impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers are looking into Trump’s conduct in a July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. After freezing military aid to Ukraine, which is battling a Russia-backed insurgency, the American president asked Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump’s top Democratic rivals in the 2020 presidential contest.
The Biden campaign dismissed Trump’s Thursday remarks as without merit.
“Donald Trump is flailing and melting down on national television, desperately clutching for conspiracy theories that have been debunked and dismissed by independent, credible news organizations,” Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
Origin of Allegations
Trump’s allegations about Hunter Biden have their origins in “Secret Empires,” a 2018 book by Peter Schweizer, the president of the Government Accountability Institute, a self-styled corruption watchdog group chaired and funded by conservative mega-donor Rebekah Mercer.
The Government Accountability Institute was co-founded by Steve Bannon, who led Trump’s 2016 campaign and later became a top White House adviser.
Schweizer’s 2015 book, “Clinton Cash,” formed the basis of Trump attacks on Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation’s donations from foreign governments.
“Secret Empires” recounts Hunter Biden’s role at a fledgling Chinese private-equity firm and a vice presidential visit to the nation that took place at around the same time it was created. The book declares the deal “lucrative for the Bidens,” without explaining exactly what either of them earned from it.
Joe Biden took his son on a diplomatic trip to China aboard Air Force Two in December 2013. By then, Hunter Biden, some American business partners, and a group of Chinese companies were already working in a plan to form an investment venture known as Bohai Harvest RST.
According to the New Yorker, Hunter Biden met with one of his Chinese partners, Jonathan Li, at the American delegation’s hotel. Hunter Biden introduced Li to the vice president, and they shook hands. But Hunter Biden insisted the visit was solely a social call. “How do I go to Beijing, halfway around the world, and not see them for a cup of coffee?” he told the New Yorker.
Although the founders had signed a memorandum of understanding to create the fund in June 2013, the company wasn’t registered with authorities until Dec. 16, less than two weeks after the vice president’s visit.
The Chinese backers included an arm of state-owned Bank of China, one of the nation’s largest banks. Li became chief executive officer of the venture, and Hunter Biden joined the board. His lawyer, George Mesires, told Politifact that the position was unpaid. Mesires didn’t respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The company originally sought to raise $1 billion, but later upped the target to $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 2014. That appears to be the amount of money the firm planned to invest on behalf of clients, not the value of the firm itself.
Hunter Biden obtained a stake in BHR in October 2017, after his father had left office, Mesires told Politifact. His capital commitment in the venture is $420,000 and he has not received any earnings from the investment, Mesires said.
Corporate records retrieved in China in May showed BHR had paid-in capital of about $4 million.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.net;Zachary R. Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John Harney
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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