Hunter Biden lobbied Obama’s State Department for a corrupt foreign oligarch, raising concerns about unregistered foreign lobbying.
Emails and documents on Biden’s laptop reveal his involvement in a meeting with the US ambassador to Romania regarding the Gabriel Popoviciu corruption case. Popoviciu paid Biden more than $1 million while facing corruption charges in Romania. Biden, along with lawyers from the firm Boies Schiller Flexner, worked to intervene in the case. Biden and his associates did not register as foreign agents.
Critics, particularly Republicans, have expressed frustration at the apparent lack of attention paid to Biden’s foreign business dealings, which may include unregistered lobbying activities. The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires disclosure of lobbying activity to Congress, while the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires disclosure of lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign nationals, such as Popoviciu, to the Department of Justice
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed concern about the Justice Department’s apparent lack of interest in investigating Hunter Biden’s lobbying activities, saying it highlights a double standard: a one set of rules for the president’s family and another for everyone else. Issa conveyed his skepticism about the Biden administration’s ability to impartially investigate allegations of corruption within his own family.
This is not the first instance in which Hunter Biden, along with Boies Schiller, led by Democratic megadonor David Boies, engaged with the State Department on behalf of foreign clients without registering as foreign lobbyists.
In 2014, Biden and Boies Schiller lawyers hatched a plan to hold meetings with State Department officials defending Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company whose owner was facing bribery allegations. A partner at Boies Schiller informed Biden that he would host these meetings and conduct activities that bordered on requiring lobbyist registration.
Following a Justice Department investigation into foreign lobbying, Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm involved with Biden in the Burisma case, registered its work under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. This move came after his interactions with the State Department on behalf of the Ukrainian company.
In addition, Biden also participated in an effort to lobby the State Department on behalf of Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners. Biden’s business partners sought a meeting with the State Department to get public approval of an initiative aimed at securing contracts in China. During this process, Biden offered his assistance, stating that he would provide “everything you need” in terms of contacts within the State Department.
Email correspondence reveals that Biden’s business partner, Eric Schwerin, met with State Department official Evan Ryan to discuss the initiative. Notably, Ryan is the wife of Secretary of State Tony Blinken and currently holds a position in the White House Cabinet.
In October 2017, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller, while former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lie to the FBI Flynn’s guilty plea included findings by Mueller’s team that he made false statements in his Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) documents about his work for Turkey.
Before Manafort and Flynn’s misconduct came to light, there had been only three indictments for alleged FARA violations since the 1966 amendment to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, none of which resulted in convictions.
Numerous U.S. companies have engaged in business with foreign governments over the past decade, often running advertising campaigns to address humanitarian crises or hosting events to introduce foreign leaders to U.S. officials. Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election came up empty, but exposed the foreign lobbying industry.
One lobbyist, who spoke to NBC News anonymously after filing with FARA, likened these companies to “little state departments,” which conduct diplomatic work on behalf of foreign governments in the United States. The lobbyist explained that the reluctance to file under FARA often stemmed from foreign clients’ desire to keep their lobbying expenses undisclosed.
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