If the cache of files recovered from Hunter Biden‘s abandoned laptop were not evidence enough of the Biden family’s corruption, conservative watchdogs including Just the News reporter John Solomon are continuing to produce new documents showing the extent of their abuse.
A newly released e-mail from 2014 detailed how Hunter used his family name to land a million-dollar-a-year “consulting” gig at Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma shortly after a US-backed coup had increased political instability in the region.
“This could be the break we have been waiting for if they really are smart enough to understand our long term value,” Hunter wrote in an April 13, 2014 message to business partner Devon Archer.
The message, laying out 22 points in a sort of to-do list, made explicit the links between foreign policy and Burisma’s business interests as a leading Eastern European energy producer.
Hunter detailed what he saw as a chain-reaction to the election of Petro Poroshenko following the country’s revolution two months earlier, which had ousted its Kremlin-friendly leader.
Russia responded to the pro-Western coup by moving in its military to annex parts of the Crimean peninsula that it saw as historically and culturally Russian.
“Some sort of decentralization will likely occur in the East,” Hunter wrote.
“If it doesn’t the Russians will continue to escalate there [sic] destabilization campaign, which could lead to a full scale take over of the eastern region most critically Donetsk,” he continued. “The strategic value is to create a land bridge for RU to Crimea.”
While the land grab would not have an immediate impact on Burisma’s natural gas exploration, he feared it would allow Russia to corner the market and initiate price gouging.
Ignoring the corruption investigations that had consumed Burisma and its CEO, Hunter said he saw the business potential in having the company sweep in to lower its own prices “for the national good,” he wrote.
“Burisma has an opportunity here to play the hero if it ignores the artificial market value of their product and plays to the national interest.”
Meanwhile, he said a private law firm he was affiliated with—Boies, Schiller, Flexner—would be able to play a major role in the policy debate.
“BSF can actually have direct discussions at state, energy and NSC,” Hunter wrote.
“They can devise a media plan and arrange for legal protections and mitigate US domestic negative press regarding the current leadership if need be.”
While acknowledging his ability to leverage his family name, he also downplayed his ability to sway his father’s policy-making to some extent.
“The announcement of my guys upcoming travels should be characterized as part of our advice and thinking—but what he will say and do is out of our hands,” Hunter wrote.
“In other words it could be a really good thing or it could end up creating too great an expectation,” he continued. “We need to temper expectations regarding that visit.”
But he suggested that was all the more reason that he should personally be on the company payroll—and that the crucial role he would play merited extra compensation.
“The contract should begin now—not after the upcoming visit of my guy,” he wrote.
“That should include a retainer in the range of 25k p/m w/ additional fees where appropriate for more in depth work to go to BSF for our protection,” he continued. “Complete separate from our respective deals re board participation.”
Hunter also indicated an awareness in the potential conflict of interest and other legal and ethical gray areas that could pose potential pitfalls.
Among them was how to avoid the need to register as foreign agents.
“[T]hey need to know in no uncertain terms that we will not and cannot intervene directly with domestic policy makers, and that we need to abide by FARA and any other US laws in the strictest sense across the board,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Finance Committee and a longtime crusader for enforcing FARA policies, said in November that Hunter and several other family members should be investigated for failing to register in related business deals involving China.
It is known that he and his uncle James are currently part of an FBI investigation that touches on tax-fraud.
Conservatives have called for the appointment of a special counsel to take charge of the probe should Joe Biden assume the presidency next month.
Hunter’s final point in the message seemed particularly sinister in retrospect, as he advises Archer—who has since been convicted of fraud in an unrelated business deal—to buy a burner phone.
“Buy a cell phone from a 7/11 or CVS tmrw and ill do the same,” he wrote.
