Sources confirm that ‘the big guy’ is a reference to the former vice president.
One of the people on an explosive email thread allegedly involving Hunter Biden has corroborated the veracity of the messages, which appear to outline a payout for former Vice President Joe Biden as part of a deal with a Chinese energy firm.
One email, dated May 13, 2017, and obtained by Fox News, includes a discussion of “remuneration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Hunter Biden as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.
The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details. Fox News spoke to one of the people who was copied on the email, who confirmed its authenticity.
Sources told Fox News that “the big guy” is a reference to the former vice president. The New York Post initially published the emails and other controversial messages that Fox News has also obtained.
The Bidens’ relationship with Ukraine came under special attention last year as House Democrats pursued an impeachment inquiry surrounding President Trump’s now-infamous July 25 call with Ukraine’s president. In it, Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president, who was suspected of abusing his authority to pressure the government into firing its top prosecutor.
Another email from May of 2014 shows Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to Burisma’s board, allegedly shows him asking for the younger Biden’s advice on how to stop “politically motivated actions.”
“We urgently need your advice on how you could use your influence to convey a message / signal, etc. to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions,” it reads. And less than a year later, a purported email from Pozharskyi shows him thanking Hunter Biden for an invitation to meet his father.
Biden’s campaign has denied wrongdoing and claimed that the former vice president’s schedule showed no meeting taking place, though Politico later clarified that the campaign wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the former vice president had an informal interaction with Pozharskyi. The campaign also said it has released the former vice president’s tax documents and returns, which do not reflect any involvement with Chinese investments.
Politico later clarified that the campaign wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the former vice president had an informal interaction with Pozharskyi.
Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates also said: “Investigations by the press, during impeachment, and even by two Republican-led Senate committees whose work was decried as ‘not legitimate’ and political by a GOP colleague have all reached the same conclusion: that Joe Biden carried out official U.S. policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing. Trump administration officials have attested to these facts under oath.”
Brooke Singman and Thomas Barrabi contributed to this report. Sam Dorman is a reporter with Fox News.
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