WASHINGTON – Sens.
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Ron
Johnson (R-Wis.) Ranking Member of the HSGAC Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,
are seeking all U.S. intelligence records relating to Biden family business
associates linked to Chinese intelligence services.
The
senators’
investigative
report on the Biden family’s foreign business arrangements detailed financial
transactions and connections between and among members of the Biden family and
foreign nationals linked to the communist Chinese government, including its
military and intelligence services. The senators
issued
a supplement to their report further detailing troubling financial connections
involving the Biden family, their business associates and Chinese and Russian
governments.
One individual,
Chi Ping “Patrick” Ho, who had a close association with James and Hunter Biden,
and who reportedly paid Hunter $1 million for legal representation, was the
subject of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant, suggesting he posed
a potential counterintelligence threat to the United States. He was later
convicted of international bribery and money laundering offenses stemming from
his work with a Chinese organization with deep ties to the communist regime.
Hunter Biden was reportedly aware of those ties.
“It’s
imperative that Congress better understand the relationship Ye Jianming,
Gongwen Dong, and Patrick Ho had between and among themselves, with the
communist Chinese government, CEFC China Energy, and their activities in the
United States, including those relating to the Biden family. Accordingly, please produce all intelligence
records, including but not limited to, all FISA-derived information relating to
these three individuals no later than April 14, 2021,” the senators wrote today
in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice
Department.
March 31, 2021
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The
Honorable Avril Haines
Director
of National Intelligence
The
Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney
General
Department
of Justice
Dear
Director Haines and Attorney General Garland:
As
you know, we have been reviewing financial transactions and connections between
and among members of the Biden family and foreign nationals connected to the
communist Chinese government, including its military and intelligence services.
[1] In particular, Hunter Biden had a close and
personal relationship with Ye Jianming, who reportedly had links to the
communist regime’s People’s Liberation Army.
[2] According to an October 2017 text message, Hunter
Biden spoke to Ye on a “regular basis,” was the “first guest in his new
apartment,” “[Ye] cooked [Hunter Biden] lunch himself and [they] ate in the
kitchen together,” they had a “standing once a week call,” and he helped Ye “on
a number of his personal issues (staff visas and some more sensitive things).”
[3] In addition, Hunter Biden had a close
association with Gongwen Dong and Chi Ping “Patrick” Ho, who were also business
associates of Ye’s.
In
December 2017, Patrick Ho was charged and in December 2018 was convicted of
international bribery and money laundering offenses stemming from his work for Ye’s
China Energy Fund Committee, a subsidiary of Ye’s CEFC China Energy, a company
with extensive links to the communist regime.
[4] After his arrest, his first call was
reportedly to James Biden, President Biden’s brother.
[5] Hunter Biden reportedly represented Patrick
Ho for a period of time and received at least $1 million in payment.
[6] According to recent reporting and a federal
government filing, the federal government obtained at least one Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant relating to Patrick Ho, indicating
his potential counterintelligence threat to the United States.
[7] Indeed, Hunter Biden was well aware of
Patrick Ho’s links to the communist Chinese government, specifically its
intelligence services. According to
records reportedly released from Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hunter Biden allegedly said
the following:
I have
another New York Times reporter calling about my representation of Patrick Ho –
the f***ing spy chief of China who started the company that my partner, who is
worth $323 billion, founded and is now missing.
[8]
Moreover,
news reports made publicly available a September 21, 2017, email from Hunter
Biden to an office manager that asked for keys to be made available to then-former
Vice President Biden, James Biden, and “Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC
emissary)” and referred to them as “office mates.”
[9] Hunter Biden also requested that the office
sign reflect “The Biden Foundation” and “Hudson West (CEFC US).”
[10] If accurate, the sharing of office space with
Chinese nationals and entities linked to the communist regime and its military demands
additional explanation.
It’s
imperative that Congress better understand the relationship Ye Jianming,
Gongwen Dong, and Patrick Ho had between and among themselves, with the
communist Chinese government, CEFC China Energy, and their activities in the
United States, including those relating to the Biden family. Accordingly, please produce all intelligence records,
including but not limited to, all FISA-derived information relating to these
three individuals no later than April 14, 2021.
Please
send all unclassified material directly to the Committees. In keeping with the requirements of Executive
Order 13526, if any of the responsive documents do contain classified
information, please segregate all unclassified material within the classified
documents, provide all unclassified information directly to the Committees, and
provide a classified addendum to the Office of Senate Security. Although the Committees comply with all laws
and regulations governing the handling of classified information, they are not
bound, absent their prior agreement, by any handling restrictions.
Should
you have questions, please contact Joshua Flynn-Brown of Senator Grassley’s
Committee staff at 202-224-5225 and Brian Downey and Scott Wittmann of Senator
Johnson’s Subcommittee staff at 202-224-3721. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Charles
E. Grassley
Ranking
Member
Committee
on the Judiciary
Ron
Johnson
Ranking
Member
Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations
[1] S. Rep., Hunter
Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and
Related Concerns, S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. and Governmental Aff. and S. Comm.
on Fin. (2020).
[2]
Ye Jianming is a Chinese national, chairman of CEFC China Energy, a company
linked to the communist regime, and a frequent figure in Hunter Biden’s
financial dealings in China. Based on
public reports that were available in 2015, when his contact with Hunter Biden
began to ramp up, Ye was a founder of CEFC and chairman of the board for its
subsidiary, the China Energy Fund Committee.
Although CEFC reportedly remained a private company until state-owned
enterprises assumed control of it in 2018, reporting in 2017 indicated that it
received financing from the China Development Bank, “hired a number of former
top officials from state-owned energy companies,” and had “layers of Communist
Party committees across its subsidiaries — more than at many private Chinese
companies.” Our recent report also
showed that Ye had connections not just to the communist party in China, but
also China’s People’s Liberation Army, the armed forces of the Chinese
communist party. S. Rep., Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on
U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns, S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. and
Governmental Aff. and S. Comm. on Fin. (2020).
[4] Andrew C. McCarthy,
A Collusion Tale: China and the Bidens,
National Review (Oct. 31, 2020),
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/a-collusion-tale-the-bidens-and-china/; Press Release,
U.S. Attn’y Geoffrey S. Berman, Patrick Ho, Former Head Of Organization Backed
By Chinese Energy Conglomerate, Convicted Of International Bribery, Money
Laundering Offenses, (Dec. 5, 2018),
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/patrick-ho-former-head-organization-backed-chinese-energy-conglomerate-convicted.
[6] S. Rep., Hunter
Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and
Related Concerns, S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. and Governmental Aff. and S. Comm.
on Fin., 116
th Cong., Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The
Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns at 79 (2020).
