Joe Biden met with Hunter and his foreign business partners at a dinner in Washington, DC, while he was serving as vice president, records from Hunter Biden’s laptop show.
Hunter told guests before the dinner that his father would be attending. Guests included Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina and her husband, former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had a history of corruption.
Baturina had previously given $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thorton LLC, an investment firm that was co-founded by Hunter. The transaction was flagged as “suspicious” by reports provided to a Senate Republican inquiry into Hunter.
The dinner, which was hosted on April 16th, 2015, was hosted in the exclusive “Garden Room” at Café Milano. The restaurant describes itself as “Where the world’s most powerful people go.”
After the dinner, Hunter received an email from Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive of the Ukrainian-based energy company Burisma, thanking him for the dinner with his father,
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together,” said the email. “It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure.”
Burisma was paying Hunter $83,333 a month to sit on its board during the time period the email was sent.
“Ok – the reason for the dinner is ostensibly to discuss food security,” said Hunter on March 26th, 2015 to Michael Karloutsos, son of the former head of the Greek Orthodox Church. “Dad will be there but keep that between us for now. Thanks.”
Karloutsos replied with: “Everything is between us. All good! … I know you mentioned your dad would probably join the dinner as well.”
Three officials from Kazakhstan were also invited to the dinner, including Marc Holtzman, who at the time served as the chairman for the country’s largest bank, Kazkommertsbank. A Mexican ambassador and representatives from the World Food Program USA were also listed as attendees.
Kazakhstan banker Holtzman replied with: “Deer [sic] Hunter, Thank you for an amazing evening, wonderful company and great conversation. I look forward to seeing you soon and to many opportunities to work closely together.”
Hunter does not name the two other Kazakhstan representatives who were on the guest list, but the morning of the dinner, Hunter’s business partner with his investment firm, Devon Archer, was invited to a “small private breakfast” with Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Massimov at his suite at the Willard Hotel.
“There are several matters the Prime Minister is eager to discuss with you and he will be grateful for the opportunity to spend quality time together.” A year later, Hunter would describe Massimov as a “close friend.”
Hunter also had business dealings with an associate of the Prime Minister, Kenes Rakishev.
Rakishev’s company used a Latvian bank to send $142,300 to Hunter and Archer’s investment firm. The wire included a note saying the money was “for a car.”
Both Joe and Hunter Biden, Massimov, and Rakishev appeared in an unverified group photo on a Kazakhstani anti-corruption website in 2019.
The dinner raises questions about Joe Biden’s claim to not know about his son’s activities.
The emails come from a laptop Hunter Biden brought to a MacBook repair shop in Delaware in April 2019. Biden allegedly forgot about the laptop. Biden admitted last month that the laptop “certainly” could have belonged to him, but “I really don’t know.”
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