As you have undoubtedly heard, classified documents from when Joe Biden was vice-president were found in an office Joe Biden used at a Washington think tank. The documents were found last fall and a Justice Department investigation is underway. The documents concern Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. But many are raising questions about the Chinese connection to the growing scandal.
The documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. The University of Pennsylvania, which created the Center, received $54.6 million in donations from China from 2014 to 2019. This includes $30 million dollars in anonymous donations from China since it named the Center for Biden. The University paid Joe Biden $1 million to be an honorary professor and some are asking whether the money came directly from China.
That’s not all they’re asking. They’re asking whether China gave money to a university connected to Biden in order to facilitate business deals China was making with the Biden family. Donald Trump and others are even asking whether China saw the classified documents in question and whether Joe Biden found another way to sell his office by selling access to classified documents.
These are all naturally occurring, legitimate questions given the extent of the Biden family’s business dealings with Chinese entities. Those dealings were copiously documented a year ago in Peter Schweizer’s book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win and need not be recounted here.
However, people are also asking questions about three new commercial situations involving China and Joe Biden that have recently come to light.
Senate Republicans are investigating a $200 million Biden Energy Department grant to Microvast Holdings, a battery company that operates primarily in China. The senators say the company may nominally be American but is controlled by China. It gets subsidies from China and serves primarily Chinese customers. The senators are asking whether the grant endangers U.S. national security and technological superiority over China.
The Energy Department also gave over $10 million in grants to LanzaTech, another green energy company tied to China. LanzaTech is in a partnership with the investment arm of the Chinese state-owned oil giant Sinopec. LanzaTech acknowledged in SEC filings “the Chinese government may intervene or influence our operations at any time.” A Sinopec executive sits on LanzaTech’s board.
The third situation involves the Biden administration allowing Chinese-owned TikTok to get away with not disclosing its far-flung lobbying and public relations activities to the American public. TikTok’s parent company is in negotiations with the Biden administration aimed at allowing TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. The parent’s lobbyists registered under the domestic Lobbying Disclosure Act on the pretext they are not lobbying for a foreign government. The Act only requires barebones disclosure, not the more extensive reporting required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The Justice Department has required lobbyists for other Chinese companies to register as foreign agents, but not the lobbyists for TikTok’s parent company.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is starting an investigation of the Biden family’s business dealings. James Comer, the new chairman, has made it clear, “We’re investigating Joe Biden.” I will be following the proceedings of the committee closely. We deserve to know whether we have the most corrupt president in American history on our hands.
More on the China swamp tomorrow.
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