‘I Was Drunk and Probably High’: Hunter Biden Told Oversight Committee About Origin of ‘Ridiculous Message’ to Chinese Businessman
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Hunter Biden testified under oath that a text message he supposedly sent to a Chinese businessman falsely claimed his father Joe Biden was in the room when he sent it.
The president’s son gave closed-door testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, which released the transcript on Thursday. The committee has been investigating Hunter Biden’s business enterprises and probing whether Joe Biden benefitted illicitly from those dealings. Republicans have even suggested that the elder Biden received a bribe when he was vice president, though they have offered no proof.
One piece of correspondence that Republicans have seized on is a WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao dated July 30, 2017 – six months after his father left the vice presidency. The message concerned a business commitment that Hunter Biden said had gone unfulfilled and said that Joe Biden was “sitting next” to Hunter Biden at the time.
Republicans claim the message undermines the Bidens’ claim that Joe Biden was not involved in his son’s business.
During questioning on Wednesday, Hunter Biden was asked about the exchange and said he had no recollection of sending the message, likely due to the fact that he was struggling with addiction at the time. He stated that if he did, he is “embarrassed” by it and testified that his father could not have been sitting next to him because he his father was not involved:
BIDEN: I would say two things about this message. The first thing is this. Is that the Zhao that this is sent to is not the Zhao that was connected to [Chinese energy conglomerate] CEFC.
[REDACTED]
Q: Okay
BIDEN: Which I think is the best indication of how out of my mind I was at this moment in time. Again, I don’t — my addiction is not an excuse, but I can tell you this: I am more embarrassed of this text message, if it actually did come from me, than any text message I’ve ever sent. The fact of the matter is, is that there’s no other text message that you have in which I say anything remotely to this. And I was out of my mind. I can also tell you this: My father was not sitting next to me. My father had no awareness. My father had no awareness of the business that I was doing. My father never benefited from any of the business that I was doing. And so, I take full responsibility for being an absolute ass and idiot when I sent this message, if I did send this message.
Q: Okay.
[REDACTED]:
Q: When you say it wasn’t Zhao from CEFC, who —
REP. JERRY NADLER: Would you speak up, please?
Q: Which Zhao are you referring to if it wasn’t from CEFC?
BIDEN: The number that I believe it went to was to Henry Zhao. Zhao is a very common — it’s not a surname — surname in China. I mean, obviously, very common surname. And I, like an idiot, directed it towards Henry Zhao who had no involvement, who had no understanding or even remotely knew what the hell I was even Goddamn talking about. Excuse my language.
[REDACTED]
Q: And he seems to —
BIDEN: A No, no, no, no, no, the Zhao — it’s a different — you’re conflating now.
Q: Okay.
BIDEN: And this why this report from the IRS is absolutely wrong. They’re two different messages. The Zhao that calls me is not related to the message that was sent. I speak to him the next day. They’re two completely different sets of messages. One goes a number because, I made the Goddamn — excuse my language again — because I made like an idiot, and I was drunk and probably high, sent a — this ridiculous message to a Zhao, to a Henry Zhao. But then the next day, I speak to a Raymond Zhao, who has never received the message that Henry Zhao got. And so that’s why this report is very misleading in many ways.
