Hunter Biden revelations roil 2020 race hours before Trump, Biden take debate stage

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Hunter Biden's former business partner releases emails about 2017 Chinese energy company deal

Tony Bobulinski tells Fox News the Biden family 'aggressively leveraged' its name in foreign business dealings; Mike Emanuel reports from Washington.

President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are set to take the debate stage to discuss issues including the coronavirus pandemic, national security, and climate change, but one subject looming over the final showdown between the candidates is the latest details regarding Hunter Biden's business dealings and whether or not his father was involved.

The New York Post first reported earlier this month on emails said to have been recovered from Hunter's laptop that included messages regarding the former vice president allegedly meeting an executive from the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, and the division of equity of a partnership with a Chinese company that has been said to include a reference to Joe Biden.

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"Wow. Today’s @nypost  story on Joe Biden’s corruption is a monster," Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon. "Many witnesses to a crime against our Country. This isn’t going away. Even the Lamestream Media is starting to say it must be covered!"

Since the initial Post report came out, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has claimed that it is the result of a Russian disinformation campaign, but Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said there was no intelligence to support that.

The emails refer to the "Big Guy" and "Chairman." Tony Bobulinski, who was listed as the recipient of one email, told Fox News that those are names Hunter Biden used to refer to his father, the former vice president. He also said the email was "genuine."

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Bobulinski said he was the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings, which he explained "was a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye and the Biden family."

Fox News has learned that a list of “key domestic contacts” for a joint venture involving Joe Biden's brother Jim, Hunter Biden, and CEFC included the former vice president's current running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., among other prominent Democrats.

That list was part of an email that was sent to recipients including Hunter Biden and Bobulinski. The email is unrelated to the laptop or hard drive containing the other emails.

The laptop that was the basis for the initial reports was connected to a money laundering investigation in late 2019, according to documents obtained by Fox News.

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Fox News has also obtained text messages believed to be sent between Hunter Biden and various associates. In the communications, Hunter refers again to his "Chairman," and business associate Rob Walker tells Bobulinski, "When he said his chairman, he was talking about his dad."

It remains to be seen whether any of this will come up during Thursday night's debate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to address the issue during her weekly news conference.

"I’m not answering those questions. We’re talking about the coronavirus," Pelosi told a reporter.

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Former Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile had a different take.

"Bring it up!" the Fox News contributor said about the possibility of President Trump raising the issue at the debate.

She added: "President Trump likes to divert from his own problems, his own issues of having a Chinese bank account, his own issues of having his son, this month, go before the New York attorney general about fraud, so look, if they want to divert attention back to Hunter Biden and whatever the computer alleged story is, fine."

Fox News' John Roberts, Brooke Singman, Mike Emanuel, and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.