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During the summer of 2012, President Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain contacted Hunter Biden for help in raising money ($20K) for the Vice President’s Residence Foundation (VPRF). He advised him to “keep this low low key” to prevent “bad PR,” according to emails reviewed by reporters.
After leaving his position as chief of staff in Vice President Biden’s office a year earlier, Klain, while chairman of the foundation at the time of the emails, asked Hunter for assistance with “a piece of unpleasant business.”
As a nonprofit organization, the Vice President’s Residence Foundation helps to preserve and furnish the vice president’s official residence, which is on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory.
“The tax lawyers for the VP Residence Foundation have concluded that since the Cheney folks last raised money in 2007 and not 2008, we actually have to have some incoming funds before the end of this fiscal year (i.e., before 9/30/12 – next week) to remain eligible to be a ‘public charity,’” Klain informed Hunter by email.
“It’s not much – we need to raise a total of $20,000 – so I’m hitting up a few very close friends on a very confidential basis to write checks of $2,000 each,” Klain added. “We need to keep this low low key, because raising money for the Residence now is bad PR – but it has to be done, so I’m trying to just collect the 10 checks of $2,000, get it done in a week, and then, we can do an event for the Residence Foundation after the election.”
After a few hours, Hunter forwarded the email to Eric Schwerin, who managed most of Hunter’s finances. In response, Schwerin said they could “discuss this and some other bills on Monday” and asked Hunter whether they would accept a corporate check from Owasco, which seemed to be a reference to Hunter’s law firm, Owasco PC.
Schwerin emailed Hunter three days after Klain’s initial email, explaining that he had spoken to Klain and would check on the foundation’s willingness to accept a check from Owasco.
It is unclear if Hunter ultimately used Owasco to donate or if he assisted Klain in raising money from other sources. On the other hand, a 990 tax form from the fiscal year 2012 indicates the foundation received $20,500 in contributions.
Klain was president of Case Holdings for some time when he corresponded with Hunter. Case Holdings, according to a press release, is a holding company for the philanthropic and for-profit ventures of Steve Case and his wife Jean, including investments in Hawaii, the Case Foundation, and Revolution LLC, the venture firm for which Klain also worked. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors of the Center For American Progress Action Fund.
The VPRF’s tax returns indicate that the organization’s operations involve “stable costs,” like insurance premiums, and “cyclical costs,” such as decorating, refurbishing, and storing pieces.
“The VPRF is organized and operated in a manner designed to attract public support and maintains a continuous and bona fide program for soliciting funds from the general public,” according to its 2012 tax form.
“The VPRF resumed fundraising at the end of its 2012 Fiscal Year and continues fundraising into the 2013 Fiscal Year,” the tax documents note. “Funds raised in both of these years have been exclusively through public sources.”
The foundation’s fiscal year 2012 ran from October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2012 – the same month that Klain had emailed Hunter Biden about soliciting donations and when it “resumed fundraising.”
According to Klain, which he told ABC News on Sunday, President Biden is “confident that his son didn’t break the law” because of his past business connections abroad. Hunter Biden is currently under federal investigation for alleged tax, money laundering, and foreign lobbying violations.
Hunter Biden’s work behind-the-scenes began shortly after Joe Biden entered the vice president’s office, according to earlier reports.
According to previous reports, a registered Serbian foreign agent and Serbia’s Ambassador to the U.S. held discussions with Hunter Biden at the start of his father’s first term as vice president to arrange to schedule an investment meeting with Serbia’s president and Serbia’s “high net worth individuals.”
In addition, past emails have shown that Hunter Biden stated that his relationship with a Chinese tycoon, named “Super Chairman” by Hunter Biden and his partners, who was arrested on money laundering charges in China, had something to do with “my last name.”
Additionally, emails show that Hunter Biden tried to assist a Chinese oil executive to buy an African oil field after he was warned the company had ties to countries sanctioned by the United States, the Free Beacon reported.
As a result of a New York Post publication of his son’s emails, then-candidate Biden referred to the laptop story as “garbage” and part of a “Russian plot” during a debate with then-President Donald Trump in October 2020. He was alluding to the Politico article about the letter with the screaming headline “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
Now we’re finding out why Biden wanted the story buried.
Source: The Republic Brief