(CBrief) – A time-stamped photograph from 2017 featuring Hunter Biden is causing new headaches for his father, Joe Biden, as Republicans continue to pursue allegations of corruption and “bribery” against the president.
The photo features Hunter Biden driving his dad’s vintage Corvette and is dated July 30, 2017, as noted in a Jan. 18, 2023 tweet by RNC Research.
“Photos unearthed by the Free Beacon show Hunter Biden driving his dad’s Corvette in 2017. That means Hunter — who has extensive business ties to communist China — likely had access to the garage where his dad hid classified documents,” the Republican Party entity noted.
But more than that, the date also coincides with a threatening WhatsApp message Hunter Biden sent to a Chinese official, Henry Zhao of the now-defunct energy company CEFC, invoking his father as the two of them were working on a business deal:
I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.
And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.
Check it out below:
BREAKING: Photos unearthed by the @FreeBeacon show Hunter Biden driving his dad’s Corvette in 2017.
That means Hunter — who has extensive business ties to communist China — likely had access to the garage where his dad hid classified documents. pic.twitter.com/KrlXCC6bxv
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 19, 2023
The message was made public by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) after he was told about it by an IRS whistleblower who had been investigating Hunter Biden over various federal tax violations.
One of the IRS agents, special agent and investigator Gary Shapley, told Smith’s committee that in August 2020, agency investigators found messages from an iCloud search warrant, but prosecutors “denied investigators’ requests to develop a strategy to look into the messages and denied investigators’ suggestion to obtain location information to see where the texts were sent from.”
After the disclosure, President Biden angrily denied he was in the room at the time, shouting back “No!” to a reporter after being asked about the message.
Also, the White House made a subtle yet noticeable change in its narrative regarding prior statements from the president regarding his son’s business dealings.
On the campaign trail in 2019 and 2020, whenever he was asked about his son’s shady deals, Joe Biden would respond forcefully: “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses. Period.”
But after the release of the WhatsApp message, the White House changed its tune, claiming now that Joe Biden was “not in business” with Hunter.
“As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son. As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, & in this case, the White House has not been involved,” said a White House spokesperson, as quoted by NBC News’ Monica Alba.
The subtle yet noticeable difference was picked up by Washington Examiner columnist Byron York, who described the turn of phrase as being “very lawyerly.”
“Joe Biden was ‘not in business’ with Hunter? That’s a new formulation from the White House. Very lawyerly,” he tweeted last month as the new scandal swirled.
conservativebrief.com/damning-photo-75307/
