Last month, Townhall offered a preview of testimony that Hunter Biden's former business associate, Rob Walker, provided to the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees. Walker's name was also mentioned in a memo sent out last May by the House Oversight Committee majority staff. On Tuesday, the transcript was released, and it includes quite the findings about Hunter and the Biden family.
Hunter and Walker met during the Clinton administration and began working together in 2008. Walker also knew Joe Biden separately from Hunter, having met him at a fundraiser when Biden was still a senator. And, Walker had met with both Joe and Hunter Biden when they golfed. The two had a falling out, in 2017, as Hunter has still yet to repay a loan, and Walker was pulling out of a Sinohawk deal, though Walker still considers them to be friends.
Walker, along with Hunter and James Gilliar, were pursuing business with CEFC, a Chinese government-linked energy company, in 2015. Biden was still vice president at the time, though Hunter and his associates were not paid until after he left office.
During the interview, Walker explained how Hunter played a role:
Q. But why use Hunter Biden to send the letter instead of Rob Walker or James Gilliar, especially if James Gilliar had the original relationship?
A. Hunter in our relationship was -- everybody had different roles. He was the one that I imagine Zang would expect it to come from.
Q. Is it because he was the son of the Vice President at the time?
A. Well, I think in Zang's eyes -- that I worked for Hunter and that James worked for us or for Hunter, and so that would be -- he was viewed as the principal of this organization by Zang.
Q. And that's because of his last name?
A. I don't -- I can't answer for Zang, but, sure, he had an interesting last name that would probably get people in the door.
Later, Walker also described to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) that Hunter "is the kind of principal of the three of us."
Later still, the nature of Hunter Biden being the son of the once vice president came up again:
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Q. So why did the letter come from Hunter Biden? And you said earlier this morning that you thought the Chinese would expect the letter to come from Hunter Biden. Why was that the case?
A. Right. It had just seemed -- if a U.S. entity was going to have a foreign national represent them, it would probably make more sense to come from Hunter versus me.
Q. Because he's the son of the Vice President at the time, correct.
A. He is the son of a Vice President at the time, yes.
Q. So it made more sense to get this business deal to put him as the front-facing person, right?
A. Yes.
Walker also discussed a meeting that Joe Biden attended with CEFC executives at the Four Seasons in Washington, DC, which he believes took place in 2017. This was around the time Hunter and associates received $3 million in payment from a CEFC entity.
Such a meeting came a short time after Walker, Hunter, and Gilliar met with the CEFC executives in Miami. During that meeting, they discussed a potential plan for a deal with CEFC subsidiary State Energy HK, owned by the Chinese government. No payment decisions were made during that decision. "I don't remember the exact specifics of how we had it structured in our heads, but I don't believe anything was on paper," Walker shared about that Miami trip.
Chairman Ye Jianming was in attendance for that Four Season meeting where Biden stopped by, as were other CEFC officials. Particularly telling is that the Committee now knows that Joe Biden has met with nearly every foreign national who funneled money to Hunter, including but not limited to Chairman Ye.
As the transcript reveals:
Q. Did Joe Biden ever attend any location or meeting or place where CEFC officials were also there?
A. Yes.
Q. When was that?
A. That was -- I don't remember the exact time, but I remember being in Washington, D.C., and the former Vice President stopped by. We were having lunch.
Q. When was it?
A. I don't know the exact -- it was 20- probably -17 at some point, but I don't know exactly when.
Q. Can you say for certain it was in 2017?
A. I can say it was for certain he was out of office.
Q. Where did that meeting take place?
A. At the Four Seasons in a restaurant in a private room.
Q. What CEFC officials were there?
Counsel. As best you can remember.
A. I don't know if Zang was there, but I believe that Ye was there. I'm certain of it.
Q. And Ye is Chairman Ye Jianming --
...
A. I'm certain -- I'm certain Ye was there.
Q. So Ye Jianming is the chairman of CEFC, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And this was –
A. There were other people there too. I just didn't know who they were.
Q. And when you say other people, other CEFC people?
A. Yes.
...
Q. So what was the purpose of the meeting that you had with the CEFC individuals?
A. We were still discussing ways we could work together. I don't think we had structured a deal on how to work together at this point.
...
Q. Who from your -- on the American side, who else was there besides Joe Biden?
A. Hunter.
Q. Was James Gilliar there?
A. Yes.
Q. So it was James Gilliar, you, Hunter Biden, Ye Jianming, and at least his interpreter. That's what you can recall?
A. There were definitely other people there, yes, from CEFC. I don't know who they were.
...
Jordan. How long was the meeting?
A. The meeting was probably an hour and a half.
Jordan. Was the Vice President there the entire time?
A. He was not.
Counsel. The former Vice President, just for the record.
A. I'm sorry. The former Vice President was not there the entire time. He was there maybe 10 minutes.
Jordan. Did he speak? Did he give a little presentation?
A. He spoke nice, you know, normal pleasantries. I think he probably did most of the talking and then left.
Jordan. And he addressed the entire group?
A. Yes.
Jordan. And how many people total? You said four Americans and the former Vice President, four folks who were in business together, and then several people from CEFC. So about 10? 12? 15?
A. I would say nine, 10.
Counsel. Is that the total or is that CEFC?
A. CEFC
When speaking with Jordan, Walker spoke to the details of how "the meeting was likely before" they received the $3 million from the CEFC-linked company for services regarding State Energy HK. He also answered that it was the only time that Joe Biden had shown up, though they had been working on a deal with CEFC for some time.
Walker shared that Joe Biden was not involved in his business dealings with Hunter, though Walker and his business partners seemingly used Biden when it comes to the CEFC business dealings.
Walker also discussed how he facilitated a transfer of the $3 million payment from Robinson Walker LLC to Hunter and Gilliar, with the latter receiving $1,065,000 as a lump sum payment. Hunter received a payment of a little over $1 million, but asked for it in various sums to be sent to his uncle, James Biden, and his sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, then his girlfriend. Curiously, there had never been such structured payments before between Walker and Hunter.
When asked why the payments were handled in such a way, Walker repeatedly maintained "[t]hat's what Hunter wanted," and "it's his money," though he admitted "[a]t one point, I did get frustrated." Walker also shared how he would clear it with Hunter to send funds to James Biden.
The interview also discussed another business associate, Tony Bobulinski, who Walker wasn't exactly a fan of, especially as he found him to be "[i]ntolerable and aggressive towards the end of our relationship."
Walker described Bobulinski as "[p]anicked" and said he was "constantly calling" him during his fall vacation over the Hunter laptop story in October 2020. Walker also shared that he did not know Bobulinski was recording the call, but he allegedly said "Tony, you’re going to bury us all," which he said he believed to be because Bobulinski "was going to say something and that made no sense and was stupid and was just going to embarrass everybody" with regards to the CEFC dealings and because he was "concerned about scrutiny from the media and the press[.]"
It wasn't just Bobulinski who Walker had concerns with, but also James Biden. "I didn't think he needed to be a part of our group," Walker said about James Biden being part of the Sinohawk deal. He also referred to him as "a snake."
In 2017, Walker, Hunter, Gilliar, Bobulinski, and James Biden were contemplating a joint venture with Hudson West III LC, another firm that Hunter did business with CEFC. They would form a joint entity known as Oneida Holdings LLC, referred to as Sinohawk.
We also know from the transcript that Hunter Biden, in a series of texts from these partners, brought up his dad quite a bit and referred to him as "my chairman," who had "vetoed the deal" with regards to a proposed Sinogawk deal structure. Walker tried to focus on how "I don't think that Hunter was healthy at the time."
"I think if you apply some context here, that Hunter is not clearly well at this moment. I know what it looks like he is saying, but at no point was Joe Biden a part of anything we were doing, ever," Walker tried to offer.
Other messages were discussed, including from Gilliar, who Walker acknowledged "was sober minded." As the counsel asking the questions for the majority staff put it, "[s]o here James Gilliar is specifically putting together the family is the reason Chairman Ye wants the relations."
WhatsApp messages from Hunter ranting about his "family's brand" also came up though Walker still maintained Joe Biden was not involved in their business dealings.
An email, which Walker referred to at one point as "a bulls**t email," also showed a payment structure for Sinohawk, which fell apart. It included 10 percent for James Biden, 20 percent for each of the other business partners, Walker included, and 10 percent "for the big guy."
Walker would not speak to who "the big guy" was, though. He instead emphasized Gilliar's role in the email and said he was "very cavalier."
With the WhatsApp messages where Hunter mentioned "my father," Walker tried to explain it away as "unhealthy." It would seem that Walker tried to excuse or justify evidence with the characteristics of others, including but certainly not only Hunter Biden.
Finally, Walker was also asked about and discussed a contract that he, Hunter, and Gilliar had a contract with Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu, who was under investigation by the Romanian government. This took place when Joe Biden was vice president. Beginning in November 2015, Popoviciu started sending Robinson Walker LLC $180,000 per month from Popoviciu's Bladon Enterprises Limited, though Walker could not say for what services other than "I was trying to shine some light on what was happening."
Those payments also ceased when Biden became a private citizen, which Walker also could not speak to. Walker vaguely discussed helping look into why Popoviciu was under investigation. This all took place as then Vice President Biden was leading anti-corruption efforts.
Hunter Biden himself is set to testify in a few weeks, on February 28. So far, though, Walker's testimony may just be one of the most curious.
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