WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) joined U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on the Senate floor for the third time to discuss their investigation into the vast web of financial entanglements of the Biden family. The senators found that the Bidens not only have ties with the Chinese regime, but Russian oligarchs as well. The senators will continue their investigation until the truth about these corrupt business dealings is uncovered and the American people have answers.
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Sen. Johnson’s remarks as prepared, below.
Thank you, Senator Grassley.
What Senator Grassley and I have shown over the course of six speeches are the actual bank records of financial transactions tying President Biden’s son, Hunter, and his brother, James, to businesses that are essentially arms of the communist Chinese regime. But the Biden business ventures include activities in many more countries than just China.
In our September and November 2020 reports we showed a vast web of the Biden family’s foreign financial entanglements that were largely ignored by the media, and falsely labeled Russian disinformation by our Democrat colleagues. As outrageous as the suppression of our reports and the false attacks were, perhaps the most egregious behavior came from 51 former Intelligence Agency officials who lent their names and reputations to an effort designed to convince the American public that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Without any evidence backing their assertion, they engaged in their own “information operation” by signing a public letter right before the election. Their letter was actual disinformation, coming from what are supposed to be trusted former members of our U.S. intelligence agencies.
They should all be ashamed and held accountable for spreading this disinformation. By signing that disinformation letter, they reinforced false claims that the records on the laptop were not legitimate.
By casting doubt on evidence of the Bidens’ corrupt practices, these former intelligence officials interfered in the 2020 election to a far greater extent than Russia could have ever hoped to achieve. Their willing accomplices in the press amplified this disinformation letter and by doing so were equally guilty of egregious election interference.
In August 2020, I wrote a public letter detailing the history, purpose and goals of my oversight and investigations. In that letter, I laid out the timeline of Joe and Hunter Biden’s involvement in Ukraine. The timeline is very revealing.
· February 2014 – The Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine.
· April 16, 2014 – then-Vice President Joe Biden met with his son’s business partner, Devon Archer, at the White House.
· April 21 (Five days later) – Joe Biden visited Ukraine, and the media described him as the “public face of the administration’s handling of Ukraine.”
· April 22 (the very next day) – Archer joined the board of Burisma.
· April 28 (Six days later) – British officials seized $23 million from the London bank accounts of Burisma’s owner, Mykoloa Zlochevsky.
· May 13, 2014 (three weeks later) – Hunter Biden joined the board of Bursima.
Because of the findings in our reports and the excellent investigative journalism on the part of John Solomon, we also now know that Hunter was involved with Elena Baturina, the corrupt and now-sanctioned wife of the former Mayor of Moscow during the very same time period.
On February 14, 2014 Baturina wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden.
Between April 4 and April 5, 2014, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer sent emails about meeting with Baturina potentially relating to a business deal in Chelsea, New York.
On April 13, 2014, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer discuss the potential business deal involving Baturina. Archer wrote that Baturina “confirmed green light to fund deposit.” Archer continued, “Just spent two hours on the phone with Kiev. I am confident at this point this is a good, if not life changing, deal if the Uk[raine] doesn’t collapse in the meantime.”
It is quite interesting to see how much significant activity involving the Bidens and corrupt actors in Russia and Ukraine occurred within a six-week period only two months after the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. It sure looks like they intended to cash in on the turmoil in Ukraine.
In my August 2020 letter, I listed a number of questions about then-Vice President Biden’s interaction with Hunter Biden’s business partner and other family members’ foreign financial dealings. In making this letter public, my hope was that the press would begin to ask then-presidential candidate Joe Biden these important questions.
It should come to no surprise that the corporate media was completely uninterested and failed to conduct any investigative journalism.
Nearly two years after I wrote this public letter, the mainstream media has still not adequately pressed President Biden for answers to these very legitimate questions:
1. Why did Joe Biden meet with Devon Archer at the White House on April 16, 2014? What was discussed? Did they discuss anything related to Ukraine, Hunter Biden, or Burisma?
2. Was Joe Biden aware that Devon Archer joined the board of Burisma six days later?
3. Does Joe Biden believe Burisma and its owner are corrupt?
4. When did Joe Biden first become aware that Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma?
5. When did Joe Biden first become aware of how much money Hunter Biden was being compensated by Burisma?
6. What does Joe Biden know about Hunter or James Biden’s business dealings in China?
7. What does Joe Biden know about financial benefits his brothers and sister-in-law have obtained because of their relationship to him?
Investigative reporter John Solomon has added more questions to this list, including:
1. What, if anything, did Joe Biden know about his son’s dealings with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina?
2. A 2017 series of memos referred to a Chinese business deal that involved Hunter Biden and included a 10% equity for the “big guy.” What did Joe Biden know about this specific deal and who was the “big guy”?
3. Emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop, now in the possession of the FBI, refer to shared accounts or bills between Joe Biden and Hunter. Did Hunter ever give Joe Biden any money, gift or financial benefit from Hunter’s business dealings?
After a long-overdue analysis, the New York Times and Washington Post have finally admitted that records from Hunter’s laptop are authentic, which means – although they will NEVER admit this – that Senator Grassley and I were right and they were wrong.
It is interesting to read how limited and muted their mea culpas are. My guess is that they learned a lot from their coverage of Nixon’s Watergate scandal cover-up. They learned that when you’ve been caught in a cover-up – and that is what has happened here – you try to limit the damage by telling a little bit of the truth. In the Intelligence world, this strategy is called a “limited hang out.” The Watergate conspirators called it a “modified limited hang out.”
Regardless of what it’s called, what the New York Times and Washington Post are doing is not telling the whole truth. I doubt they ever will. But just in case they decide to pursue the truth with a bit more rigor, they can use this list of relevant questions as a good starting point for what they should be asking President Biden.
For our part, Senator Grassley and I will continue to ask tough questions, review more information and records and transparently provide that information to the American public.
We intend to pursue and uncover the truth.
I will turn the floor over to Senator Grassley for his closing remarks.
