President Biden, before the presidential election, reportedly told his family to “watch yourself” about their business dealings, Politico reported, as their various financial entanglements came under scrutiny.
“For Christ’s sake, watch yourself,” the then-candidate told his brother Frank Biden about his potential business activity, according to Politico. “Don’t get sucked into something that would, first of all, hurt you.”
Biden had pledged in October 2019 that if elected to be the president, “No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a Cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,” according to USA Today.
But the activities of his son Hunter Biden became a major issue in the closing days of the presidential campaign. And even after the election, as of late December, Hunter Biden owned a 10% stake in a Chinese private equity firm.
Hunter Biden introduces his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, during the World Food Program USA’s 2016 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony at the Organization of American States on April 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Kris Connor/WireImage)
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And Biden brother Jim Biden was allegedly in the know on Hunter Biden’s business dealings, according to former business associate Tony Bobulinski.
Bobulinski told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson he raised concerns in 2017 to Jim Biden about Joe Biden’s alleged ties to a possible joint venture with a Chinese energy firm.
Bobulinski, a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was the CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was the partnership between the CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming and the two Biden family members.
“I remember saying, ‘How are you guys getting away with this?’ ‘Aren’t you concerned?’” he told Carlson.
He claims that Jim Biden chuckled. “‘Plausible deniability.’ He said it directly to me in a cabana at the Peninsula Hotel,” Bobulinski said.
Jim Biden refused to answer questions from Fox News during late October on the Biden family’s business dealings.
Tony Bobulinski, a former associate of Hunter Biden, talks with reporters before the presidential debate, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Now that President Biden is in office, a Biden-connected law firm is under scrutiny for an ad that it ran on Inauguration Day.
Frank Biden is a senior adviser to the Florida-based Berman Law Group. And according to CNBC, he appeared in an ad in the Daily Business Review, a Florida publication, promoting a lawsuit against sugar cane companies. According to CNBC, the ad included quotes referencing Frank Biden’s relationship with President Biden.
During the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic, Berman Law Group also often referenced Frank Biden’s role as a senior adviser while discussing a class-action lawsuit against China for starting the coronavirus pandemic.
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Frank Biden told CNBC that he “never used my brother to obtain clients for my firm… Social justice is something I have been involved in for years.”
Next up on the Biden family controversies may be the confirmation hearing for Biden attorney general nominee Merrick Garland.
In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, speaks during an event at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Garland is a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with an excellent reputation and was previously former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. He’s likely to be eventually confirmed.
But first, he’ll likely face a slew of questions from Republican senators during his confirmation hearing asking whether he’ll stay out of the way of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
“Americans deserve to know that this investigation will not be hampered in any way by the change in administrations, and the attorney general nominee should make this point clear,” a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News. “So yes, you can expect that Sen. Grassley will be asking about his role in this investigation.”
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“It is very likely the topic is raised,” a spokesperson for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also on the Judiciary Committee, told Fox News.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is also on the Judiciary Committee. He expressed confidence that Garland would run an aboveboard Justice Department.
“Judge Garland’s extensive legal experience makes him well-suited to lead the Department of Justice, and I appreciated his commitment to keep politics out of the Justice Department. That is my number one criterion for who should be the next Head of the Department of Justice as Attorney General,” Cornyn said. “I think both sides should support a depoliticized Justice Department, and that’s what I hope Judge Garland, once confirmed, will deliver.”
Fox News’ Alex Pappas, Ronn Blitzer, Yael Halon, Peter Hasson and Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.