With less than 3 weeks left in his presidency, photos of Biden meeting with Hunter foreign business associates released

WASHINGTON, DC- Allegations have long been made about outgoing Oval Office occupant Joe Biden and his ties to Hunter Biden’s illicit business dealings despite his repeated denials. Now, with just over three weeks in his term, the National Archives has released photos showing Biden meeting with two of Hunter Biden’s Chinese government-linked business partners, the New York Post reports. 

Joe Biden has long claimed that he “knew nothing” about his son’s business dealings with foreign entities, including people connected to China and corruption in Ukraine. The photos prove that Biden lied when he claimed “no knowledge” of Hunter Biden’s business dealings. 

The timing of the release is clearly suspect, as it is only 24 days before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. In another photo, the Bidens are seen meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in December 2013, when Joe Biden was serving as Obama’s vice president. 

The photo with Xi is fascinating because, in an email to his former business associate Devon Archer, Hunter Biden called the occasion “pretty amazing,” noting that his father and Xi were only “supposed to spend 2 hrs together [but it] stretched to 7 hrs. I think they are in love,” he wrote in the email. 

At the time, Xi was already a couple of months into the “Belt and Road” foreign influence and investment scheme, while a Chinese Communist Party company complicit in that initiative, BHR Partners, was in the process of being co-launched by Hunter Biden, only a year or so before he descended into a substance abuse issue. 

These photos would have proven useful when House Republicans launched an impeachment probe of Joe Biden, accusing him of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, in particular images showing him shaking hands with incoming BHR Partners CEO Jonathan Li and greeting the company’s managing director, Ming Xue. That effort went for naught when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to bring it to the Senate floor, an unprecedented (and likely unconstitutional) maneuver. 

The Post reported that Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for both of Li’s children, whom he never met. According to Archer, he also greeted Li during a subsequent speaker-phone conversation when Hunter Biden returned to Beijing. 

BHR Partners was officially registered as a company only 12 days after the Biden’s arrived on Air Force two on “official business,” the Wall Street Journal reported. 

BHR Partners played a vital role in China's foreign acquisitions, including the purchase of a cobalt mine in the Republic of Congo from US and Canadian companies in 2016. Cobalt is an important component of electric car batteries. 

Hunter Biden held a 10% stake in BHR Partners, including for a period during the Biden administration. Hunter said he gave up control to Kevin Morris, referred to as his “sugar brother,” who has given Hunter a sum believed to be over $6.5 million since meeting him at a 2019 fundraiser for his father. 

America First Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit to get copies of the photos under FOIA. 

“AFL obtained the photos through our lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which was filed on September 8, 2022,” group head Stephen Miller wrote on X. Miller has been selected by President-elect Trump to serve as one of his key advisers. 

“NARA had planned to release these photographs on October 23, 2024–thirteen days before Election Day. Lawyers and representatives for President Biden and President Obama delayed NARA’s release of these photos–as they did with other critical records–until after Election Day.

 As Dana Carvey’s church lady on Saturday Night Live used to say, “Well, isn’t that special.” 

The photo releases do not memorialize Joe Biden’s interactions with Hunter and brother James Biden’s associates from a second company linked to the Chinese communist government. 

According to Rob Walker, a former Biden family associate, in congressional testimony, Joe Biden is believed to have attended a luncheon in early 2017 with CEFC China Energy’s chairman, Ye Jianming, just before an initial $3 million was transferred to a group of Biden family associates. 

Walker claims the cash dump served as a “thank you” for work done while Joe Biden served as vice president. 

Under questioning during the House impeachment inquiry, Hunter Biden said he couldn’t remember his father’s appearance at the lunch with Ye, who has since mysteriously disappeared and is presumed dead amid an anti-corruption campaign by Xi. 

In May 2017, James Gillar wrote an email noting a 10% cut for the big guy, who is believed to be Joe Biden. Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden associate, told Tucker Carlson in an interview that Biden was the “big guy.” Bobulinski also said he spoke directly with Biden about the CEFC venture. 

In July 2017, another $5.1 million went to entities linked to Hunter and James Biden after Hunter wrote an email to a CEFC associate saying that he was “sitting here with my father” expecting payment. CEFC was focused on Chinese attempts to purchase US natural gas. 

Despite Joe Biden’s frequent denials about knowing Hunter Biden’s business dealings, witness testimony, including that from Hunter Biden, established that Joe Biden met with Hunter and James Biden’s business associates. 

“I do not interact with their partners,” Biden told a Post reporter as recently as this past March, as he was seeking the Democratic Party nomination for reelection. After a disastrous debate performance against President-elect Trump in July, Biden was forced out of the race, and the impeachment inquiry was sunsetted. 

“You didn’t have dinner or lunch or coffee?” the Post reporter asked Biden, using witness testimony from the Biden family’s former business associates. 

“No,” Joe Biden said. 

In December 2023, Joe Biden also denied interacting with Hunter’s business partners. 

“I did not. And it’s just a bunch of lies. They’re lies. I did not. They’re lies,” when asked about an AP poll showing 70% of Americans, including 40% Democrats, believed he acted either illegally or unethically in his family’s business shenanigans. 

While Hunter Biden acknowledged his father had several interactions with his business associates, including the handshake with Li, he told the House impeachment inquiry the were brief. 

Republicans, including Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), have accused Biden of deceiving the public about his role in Hunter’s business dealings, and both also said Biden took a soft approach with China on matters such as fentanyl exports, espionage, and the origins of COVID-19, alleging that was due to his family’s financial ties to the communist regime and its business partners. 

Aside from Chinese business interests, Hunter Biden also organized dinners at a swanky Washington DC restaurant, Cafe Milano, in 2014 and 2015, including his father and his business associates from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. 

The Biden’s were photographed at one of those dinners with a group from Kazakhstan, including Kenes Rakishev, who bought Hunter a $142,000 Fisker sports car. 

Yet another guest was Vadym Pozharskyi, board adviser of Burisma Holdings, the corrupt Ukrainian energy company that paid Hunter a tidy $1 million to serve on its board of directors, despite him having zero experience in the field. That appointment came only months after Joe Biden took over control of the Obama administration’s policy toward Ukraine. 

The thank you note from Pozharskyi was included as part of the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by The Post in October 2020; the Biden campaign denied the report at the time, claiming “official calendars” showed no such meeting. 

The laptop, which Democrat Party-connected” former intelligence officials “called a “Russian information” operation,” cast doubt on Joe Biden’s claims that he “never” discussed business with Hunter or James Biden. Joe Biden also latched onto the “Russian information” story. 

The laptop also contained photos of Joe Biden at a 2015 breakfast at his official vice president’s residence with a group of Mexican businessmen being courted by family members. Biden also took the group on a tour of the White House. 

On Dec. 1, 2024, Joe Biden pardoned Hunter of all crimes going back to 2014, which was before the crimes he was convicted of that involved tax evasion and gun charges. Some believe the reason for the sweeping and unprecedented party is to protect Hunter from criminal charges dating back to his time at Burisma. It could also protect him from any charges of being an unregistered foreign agent, which some Republicans have alleged. 

The Post contacted the White House, Hunter Biden’s legal team, BHR Partners, and the Chinese embassy in DC for comment; however, no response was immediately received.