Hunter Biden’s Chinese-American ex-secretary JiaQi “Jackie” Bao may have posed a “national security threat” and her links to the US president’s family should be further investigated by the FBI, a top Republican investigator has warned.
“Committee Republicans are concerned Hunter Biden may have been compromised by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and foreign intelligence services,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY), a ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray in a letter cited by US media outlets.
The first son’s then 29-year-old assistant, hired by him in 2017, when he went into business with the secretary general of Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC, Patrick Ho, provided Hunter Biden with “insight into purchasing [liquefied] natural gas reserves in the United States to sell to China, had access to the Biden family’s financial information, and liaised with CCP-affiliated agents on the Bidens’ behalf,” the Republican warned.
“After infiltrating the Biden family, Bao urged Hunter to encourage Joe Biden to run for president months before he announced and then supplied the Biden family campaign advice related to China,” the letter added.
Prior to being employed by the Biden family, the lawmaker added, Bao purportedly worked for "the [Chinese government’s] National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)." The latter, Comer said, oversees China’s macroeconomic planning and, therefore, “was linked to the Communist Party of China (CCP).”
Bao, who “attended negotiations with US energy companies, and helped execute financial transactions,” ostensibly told Hunter Biden, Jim Biden and CEFC associates in an email pertaining to a potential US liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase by China that “my job is to make sure our interest is protected.”
Referencing documents obtained by Committee Republicans, Comer said that Hunter Biden had referred to the founders and chairman of CEFC (Ye Jianming) as his "partner" and the vice-chairman of CEFC, Patrick Ho, since convicted of bribery, as his client. He also purportedly called Ho the "f***ing spy chief of China" in an audio recording dated May 2018 and retrieved from a copy of his laptop hard drive.
The contents of the computer allegedly abandoned by Hunter at a repair shop in Delaware first made headlines in 2020 after the media made public several emails from the device, along with other data, including naked photos of the first son and graphic videos. They were originally dismissed by most US news outlets and social media companies as part of a “Russian disinformation operation.” However, a couple of mainstream media outlets confirmed that the laptop was authentic earlier this year, and that the damning information contained on the device was genuine amid an ongoing Justice Department investigations into Hunter Biden’s taxes and dubious foreign consulting work.
In the conclusion of his recent letter, James Comer asked Christopher Wray to share with the GOP documents and communications regarding JiaQi Bao, including “all documents and communications regarding CEFC’s efforts to purchase American energy and infiltrate the Biden family.” He added that the GOP found the FBI’s apparent lack of interest in the Biden family's dealings "troubling."
Hunter Biden is currently under federal investigation, with a probe led by US Attorney David Weiss in Delaware said to have gathered “sufficient evidence” to charge 52-year-old Hunter with tax crimes and lying about his drug abuse in order to buy a gun.
With the Republicans widely expected to retake the House of Representatives and, possibly, the Senate in the aftermath of the forthcoming November midterms, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly signaled that the party will intensify investigations into Hunter Biden, his uncle Jim, and his father, President Joe Biden. Some members of Congress have also pledged to initiate an impeachment procedure against the incumbent president if the GOP takes the Senate.