Hunter Biden was so awash in cash from China that he didn't notice that some person nicknamed "the big guy" was about to walk away with a 10% equity stake in a new business venture, according to deposition transcripts obtained by Newsmax on Thursday.
House Republicans, in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, have asserted that references to "the big guy" that kept showing up in their investigation had to be the president himself.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., came the closest to outing what Republicans suspected when he questioned Hunter Biden about an email from a family associate regarding the equity structure of the Oneida Holdings joint venture with CEFC.
Gaetz thought it odd that the associate, James Gilliar, would set aside 10% for "the big guy," yet Hunter Biden never questioned who it was for if not his father, given it was worth millions of dollars.
"If I had seen it, I'm certain that what I would have done is I would have picked up the phone and said, 'You're out of your mind,'" Hunter Biden said.
"I don't remember if I picked up the phone or what I said, but I know that I would absolutely have objected to it if I saw it, which is evidenced by the fact that my father was never an equity holder in any business in which I was involved with Tony Bobulinski," he added, referencing a former business partner.
"I'm not even sure whether I ever fully read this. All I know is that my response has nothing to do with my father. It has absolutely zero — my response doesn't mention any additional determination of percentages that would go to my father or anything," he said.
Some reports Thursday indicated that Hunter Biden admitted at one point during Wednesday's seven-hour testimony that the "big guy" was, in fact, a reference to his father. However, in the 14 times that "big guy" came up during his deposition, the transcript could not verify that to be the case.
Hunter Biden specifically addressed the term only when asked by Democrats if Joe Biden went by "big guy" or if he ever called his father that, and Hunter Biden said no.
CEFC and the President
House Republicans boxed Hunter Biden into a corner early and often during his Wednesday appearance on Capitol Hill, exposing a faulty memory about his father and links to China and the machinations of how he and his family came into tens of millions of dollars from China.
Further, Hunter Biden testified he received $3 million from Chinese state-linked CEFC China Energy in 2017 for doing nothing.
"It was a retainer agreement with CEFC while we worked out a way in which to become partners through a different entity," he testified.
The hearing was a central element in House Republicans' impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
When it came to admitting whether his father, Joe Biden, then the vice president of the United States, ever met CEFC Chair Ye Jianming, Hunter Biden said he could not remember – but only after a combative back-and-forth with panel Republicans.
The first time he was asked if Joe Biden met Ye, Hunter Biden responded: "My father never benefited from my business. My father never made any decisions as it related to my business to benefit me. My father was never financially, nor any other way, of benefit from my business. And the business that you're talking about now wasn't even when he was in office."
The second time he was asked if Joe Biden met Ye, Hunter Biden responded: "I'm not being argumentative. Then what's the purpose? If you want to question my business, if you want to question the business that I do, then we can talk about my business. But what does this have to do with an impeachment inquiry?"
Hunter Biden finally acquiesced that if his former business partner Rob Walker said Joe Biden met Ye at a Washington, D.C., restaurant, then it must have happened.
"I do not contest or would question if Rob has a memory. I do not have a memory of the date of that," he said.
House Republicans allege Biden and his family improperly profited from policy decisions Biden participated in as vice president during President Barack Obama's administration in 2009-17.
Money Ended up in Joe Biden's Account
Things got really heated when the discussion of $5 million from a company called Northern International Capital was sent to Hudson West, another Hunter Biden shell company he owned with CEFC agent Gongwen Dong.
From that $5 million, Biden testified, he sent money to a company called Lion Hall Group, an entity associated with his uncle James Biden. Republicans asked Hunter Biden if he was aware that money he sent to his uncle ended up in Joe Biden's account.
"This is the most ridiculous thing that — I mean, so far. Are you saying to me, do I understand the fungibility of dollars? Do I understand that there is a — I mean, what is it? Post hoc ergo propter hoc? It's all based upon a fallacy?" Hunter Biden asked.
"You're saying that, because I paid my uncle from a Delaware corporation that was fully transparent as to the purpose of that corporation, that had a business partner that happened to be from China, and then that money moved over into my Owasco PC account, which didn't just have that money but had other money in it, you're acting as if —"
Q: "It had Burisma money, right?"
A: "— you're acting as if there's, like, a dollar here that somehow was traced all the way down to here to repay a loan that you guys say that my father made to him."
For more than a year, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has been making the case that through around 20 "shell companies" tied to Hunter Biden, the first family enriched itself off foreign business clients due to the former vice president's political influence.
Hunter's Retainer
Hunter Biden also got defensive about how he disbursed $3 million of his "retainer" to his Uncle James, Joe Biden's brother, and other family members. Republicans wanted to know why Hunter Biden asked his business partner Walker to send wires to his uncle James Biden ("adviser") and Hallie Biden ("American Express card payoff").
"Because, despite the fact that I certainly didn't look like it, is that I sometimes can be oxymoronically cheap. It's to save on two wire transfers," he said. "Instead of saying, 'Send it to my account and then I'll figure out how to send it from my Owasco account, business account, another wire transfer to my Uncle Jim or another wire transfer to Hallie,' I just said to Rob ... 'Please just wire it directly to Hallie; please just wire it directly to Uncle Jim.'"