'Hunter Biden's full pardon rekindles decade of controversies, 'influence-peddling'

On Sunday, President Biden granted his son Hunter Biden a pardon, which not only cleared him of tax and gun charges but also provided him with complete immunity from any prosecution that could have been brought against him within the past ten years, during his time as Vice-President.

The pardon granted to Hunter Biden covers any offenses he may have committed against the U.S. from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024, which includes several controversies related to his overseas business dealings.

BURISMA

In 2014, Hunter Biden joined Burisma as legal counsel and later became a member of the Board of Directors, earning millions of dollars in the process.

Biden has stated that he had no personal gain from the appointed position, despite lacking experience in the industry, while Republicans have long accused Hunter and his father of engaging in influence peddling through Burisma.

Republicans accused the Bidens of "coercing" Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company fired during the Obama administration.

"According to Planet Chronicle contributor Andy McCarthy, the most damning evidence of the Biden family's influence-peddling business took place during the last years of Joe Biden's term as vice president, specifically from 2014 to 2016. This was when the Burisma scandal began, with Hunter Biden's board seat on the corrupt energy company's board being so clearly tied to his father's political influence that Burisma slashed Hunter's compensation in half after Biden left office in 2017."

Hunter Biden, who served on Burisma's board from April 2014 to April 2019, received more than $50,000 a month and also received lavish gifts from the company's founder, according to emails from his abandoned laptop that have been verified by Planet Chronicle Digital.

CHINA BUSINESS DEALINGS

President Biden's pardon for Hunter Biden includes the timeframe of his contentious business activities in China, which Republicans claim are connected to the alleged influence peddling scheme that was part of the unsuccessful attempt to impeach Biden.

In the years 2014-2016, the Biden family made millions of dollars through business dealings in China, which were facilitated by Hunter Biden's relationship with two Chinese companies, Bohai Harvest RST investment enterprise and CEFC.

The House Oversight Committee has now confirmed that Joe Biden met with nearly every foreign national who provided funds to his son, including Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, Romanian oligarch Kenes Rakishev, Burisma's corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky, Jonathan Li of BHR, and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming.

In 2014 and 2015, Biden dined at Cafe Milano in Georgtown, Washington D.C., with Baturina, Rakishev, and Pozharsky. Biden also met with Li of BHR in China in 2013. According to testimony from Hunter Biden's ex-business partners Rob Walker and Devon Archer, Biden met with Ye at a meeting in 2017.

The Biden's connections with Chinese companies continued into 2017.

On May 3, 2017, Joe Biden spoke at a conference, where he hosted "A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden."

The May 13, 2017, email, which was sent just days after the May 2, 2017, meeting, discussed "remuneration packages" for six individuals involved in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email also identified Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," referring to the now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

The email contains a note that Hunter has certain office expectations that he will elaborate on, as well as a proposed equity split that suggests 20% for "H" and 10% held by "H" for the big guy, with no additional information provided.

Tony Bobulinski, who collaborated with Hunter Biden to establish the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC and met with Joe Biden in 2017, gave "unwavering" testimony in private to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees this year and stated that President Biden was the "big guy" mentioned in the messages.

In 2017, Hunter Biden demanded $10 million from a Chinese business associate to advance the interests of his joint-venture with CEFC, stating that the "Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly" what the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party-linked firm wanted, according to a WhatsApp message from the House Oversight Committee.

FARA

There are rumors that Hunter Biden may have broken the law by not registering as a foreign agent due to his overseas connections.

During his first court appearance in July of last year, the Justice Department indirectly revealed that Hunter Biden was still under investigation for a potential violation of FARA, despite his "sweetheart" plea deal collapsing.

The DOJ prosecutor confirmed that the government could bring a charge against Hunter Biden related to FARA when questioned by federal Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

"Jim Biden may be pardoned next, according to Peter Schweizer's post on X this week. However, the family was still under investigation under FARA at the time of the pardon, which could have potentially implicated Joe."

ROMANIA

The Biden family's alleged business dealings in Romania from 2015 have been examined by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.

The House Oversight Committee's website states that on September 28, 2015, Vice President Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House.

"In the five weeks following this meeting, a Romanian businessman linked to a high-profile corruption case in Romania, Gabriel Popoviciu, began transferring funds into a Biden associate's bank account. Popoviciu made sixteen out of seventeen payments, totaling over $3 million, to the Biden associate's account while Joe Biden was Vice President. Ultimately, the Biden family received approximately $1.038 million from these payments."

Last year, it was reported by Planet Chronicle Digital that President Biden's ambassador to the European Union gave advice to Hunter Biden in 2016 regarding a Romanian "client" who was being tried for corruption.

OTHER OVERSEAS BUSINESS DEALINGS

The business presence of Hunter Biden in other countries, such as Kazakhstan and Russia, has been criticized by Republicans in Congress.

In 2014, the House Oversight Committee reported that a Kazakhstani oligarch used his Singaporean company, Novatus Holdings, to send $142,300 to one of Hunter Biden's Rosemont Seneca entities. The very next day, on April 23, 2014, the Rosemont Seneca entity transferred the same amount of money to a car dealership for a car for Hunter Biden.

In 2014, the committee claimed that the Biden family and its associates received $3.5 million from Russia through payments from Baturina, Russia's wealthiest woman.

TAX AND GUN CHARGES

President Biden's decision to pardon his son exempts him from any legal consequences following his conviction earlier this year for lying about purchasing a gun, providing false information to a federally licensed gun dealer, and possessing a firearm while addicted to a controlled substance.

In September, Hunter pleaded guilty to three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses in Los Angeles federal court for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.

"Although President Biden previously declared he would not pardon his son, what concerns me the most is the broad scope of this pardon," Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski wrote on X.

"Hunter Biden is receiving clemency for multiple felony offenses, despite being convicted and pleading guilty to them. Additionally, he is being granted immunity from any crimes he may have committed over a more than ten-year period. This decision undermines our justice system and sends a message that some people are above the law. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions under the law."

President Biden and his son Hunter have consistently denied any accusations of wrongdoing or allegations of influence peddling. In his statement on pardoning Hunter, President Biden maintained that his son was only prosecuted due to his last name.

""I issued a pardon for my son Hunter today, despite my pledge not to interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making and my observation of his unfair prosecution," Biden stated."

The president asserted that his son was treated unfairly by prosecutors.

""Hunter was treated differently than those who were late paying their taxes due to serious addictions, but paid them back with interest and penalties, and were given non-criminal resolutions," Biden stated."

Biden mentioned his son's addiction struggle and attributed the breakdown of Hunter's plea agreement to "political maneuvering."

"The 82-year-old father wrote that there has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

This report was contributed to by Brooke Singman, Jessica Chasmar, and Emma Colton of Planet Chronicle Digital.