Earlier this week, NBC News shed light on the president's son’s questionable dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian firm “accused of bribery," and with Chinese businessman Ye Jianming, who was accused of fraud and economic crimes by Chinese prosecutors in 2018.
According to the outlet, which largely ignored the New York Post's Hunter Biden "laptop from hell" story when it broke in October 2020, these facts raise questions about the US' "national security, business ethics and potential legal exposure." Most of the alleged financial dealings were made during Joe Biden's tenure as Barack Obama's vice president between 2009 and 2017.
"In the United States, persons who work for foreign-controlled entities must make complete, truthful and timely disclosures under provisions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)," says Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel. "Moreover, elected officials are barred from working for foreign powers. In theory, US intelligence has a robust ability to monitor suspicious activities involving money and close relations of top US government officials. Here, we need to understand whether these intelligence organisations knew that Hunter Biden and his associates were acting to further foreign interests and the basis for their compensation."
Meanwhile, Garrett Ziegler, a former White House staffer who worked under Peter Navarro in Trump's Office of Trade and Manufacturing, released 128,775 emails from Hunter Biden's laptop to a searchable database through his organisation Marco Polo this week. Among the thousands of emails the infamous "10 for the big guy" message can be found.
The phrase first appeared in public on 15 October 2020, when The New York Post cited an email exchange between businessmen James Gilliar and Hunter associate Tony Bobulinski. In the exchange, the two discussed an unspecified business venture with a Chinese firm which included allocating "20 [percent] for H[unter]" and "10 percent" for "the big guy". Speaking to Tucker Carlson on 27 October 2020, Bobulinski claimed that the "big guy" was the then-Vice President Joe Biden. In April 2022, the Daily Mail also revealed that a search of Hunter’s emails for the term "big guy" returned 41 hits.
The White House has vehemently denied that the "big guy" from the "laptop from hell" had anything to do with the president. However, the Daily Mail noted that the incumbent has previously been referred to as "the big guy" by a trade union lobbyist who emailed Hunter asking for a meeting with his father in 2014. Furthermore, "an executive at a wealth management firm used the moniker for Joe when he wrote to Hunter about the vice president's appearance at a 2013 private club dinner in Delaware," the newspaper added.
"If it is true that 'the big guy' is Joe Biden himself and that sums sent to Hunter really were meant for Joe, then Joe Biden and many other people ultimately will pay heavy prices, particularly should law and order Republicans prevail in November 2022 [midterms]," says Ortel. "Joe Biden was given two major foreign policy briefs by President Obama: Ukraine and China. Before we dig any further, as will happen now that mainstream media is finally reengaged, we already know that Joe Biden's credibility is low and his vulnerabilities are high and rising."
A Republican victory in November may also lead to the appointment of a special counsel in the federal investigation into Hunter Biden's tax affairs, according to the analyst.
"If it is true that the Bidens earned off-market compensation trading off of Joe Biden's influence, he will eventually be impeached and should be convicted," Ortel concludes.