While President Joe Biden has long denied having any knowledge of his son's questionable business practices, damning new information indicates the president knew far more than he let on.
Fox News reported this week that it has reviewed emails and White House visitor logs suggesting that Hunter Biden arranged for meetings in 2011 between his then-vice president father and business associates, at least one of whom was a foreign citizen.
The meetings stemmed from talks Hunter Biden and his business partner Devon Archer had with Sean Conlon, an investor who later went on to host CNBC's "The Deed: Chicago."
Conlon argued that the pair could secure a potentially lucrative opportunity if Hunter Biden were able to introduce his father to Andre Lasserre and Xi Wang, both of whom were associates of Conlon.
That came after energy executive David Gamperl forwarded Conlon an email from Nagi Ghawi about the "substantial profit" of a particular business proposal. Ghawi served as chairman of the since dissolved Mercantile Investment Group in the West Indies.
Conlon in turn forwarded Ghawi's email to Hunter Biden and Archer, saying the three "need to put our heads together on this."
Ghawi again emailed Conlon later in the day asking for a meeting between his associates and either the vice president or his chief of staff "ASAP" in exchange for access to billions of dollars worth of bonds through his "Andre Lasserre connection."
Additional emails show Gamperl first met with Hunter Biden before going on to meet with his father's chief of staff Alan Hoffman at an undisclosed location. Lasserre also appears to have been present at the meeting.
White House visitor logs show that another meeting occurred between Hoffman, Gamperl, Wang and Lasserre at the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) on July 27, 2011.
On July 30, 2012, an email was sent to Hoffman from his then-special assistant Conor McKay saying he received a call from Ghawi seeking a follow-up after the previous year's meeting.
"This guy just called back – his name is Nagi Ghawi, and he is the assistant for Mr. Andre Lasserre and a Mr. Wang," McKay wrote. "You and the VP met with them at the White House last year? He said he has a message for you as a follow-up (sic) to that meeting, and would like to talk to you about it."
Those records undercut the president's frequent claims that he never had any involvement with his son's business ventures.
One example of that came in 2019 when a visibly agitated Joe Biden told Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings."
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