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President Biden’s senior energy adviser, who met with the then-vice president Biden two days after his infamous Ukraine trip for a one-on-one meeting, was in communication with Hunter Biden multiple times and appeared to be in contact with associates at Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings when Hunter was serving on the board, emails reveal.
Amos Hochstein, who served as special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs under the Obama-Biden administration, was tapped as Biden’s special coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security in August 2021. While he testified in September 2020 about his conversation with Hunter and a few meetings with then-Vice President Biden, he met with Biden several times between 2015 and 2016.
The revelations of the meetings and when they took place will likely fuel further questions about whether, and if so to what extent, President Biden, and those in his orbit, knew about Hunter's business dealings.
In the summer of 2014, shortly after joining the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, Hunter and his associates at Burisma and his now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners discussed speaking with Hochstein for contacts who could help navigate a new tax in Ukraine on private energy companies.
Amos Hochstein, senior energy security adviser for the US Department of State, listens as US President Joe Biden, left, speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Special Envoy & Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, U.S. Department of State Amos Hochstein speaks during an interview Aug. 15, 2016, in Houston. (James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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On July 31, 2014, top Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi expressed frustration in an email to the group that the Ukrainian parliament had "voted in favor of the package of laws, among which is a draft law on raising the tax for private gas producers."
Minutes later, Heather King, who did crisis communications for Burisma at the time and was in frequent communication with Hunter, said she was concerned by the news.
"This news is very concerning," she wrote. "I assume you will be sending an email to the State Dept today about this? We will also get you connected with the US Embassy contact so you can hopefully meet with the guy Hochstein recommended as soon as possible."
Heather King, who did crisis communications for Burisma at the time, said she was concerned by the news. (Fox News)
Nearly two months later, on Sept. 24, 2014, Pozharskyi emailed another communications consultant, Georgette Spanjich, and copied King, Burisma lobbyist David Leiter and Burisma board member Devon Archer, writing that "Ukrainian authorities are still pushing for further legislative initiatives which are going to cause even more damage to the gas industry."
"I am genuinely looking forward to your ideas on how we could influence this process," Pozharskyi wrote. "Please, note that I am going to share this information with the US embassy here in Kyiv, as well as the office of Mr Amos Hochstein in the States."
On Nov. 13, 2014, seven weeks after Pozharskyi said he would forward Burisma’s response to the Ukrainian tax hike to Hochstein’s office, Hochstein attended a meeting at Biden’s Naval Observatory residence, according to White House visitor logs.
The next day, Eric Schwerin, the former president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, sent Hunter a link, without comment, to Hochstein’s biography on the State Department’s website.
Eric Schwerin sent Hunter a link to Hochstein’s biography on the State Department’s website. (Fox News)
Three days later, on Nov. 17, 2014, Hochstein met with Kathy Chung, according to the White House visitor logs. Chung was Biden’s executive assistant at the time and now serves as the Pentagon's deputy director of protocol.
A few days later, Hunter asked Schwerin to send Hochstein’s contact information to Archer, Hunter’s fellow Burisma board member and a co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Hunter asked Schwerin to send Hochstein’s contact information to Archer. (Fox News)
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Archer was a long-time friend and business partner of Hunter, who also played golf with Biden and Hunter in the Hamptons in August 2014, four months after he and Hunter joined Burisma, photos show.
On Dec. 11, 2014, Hochstein met with Biden and Chung in two separate meetings and later attended a holiday party at Biden's residence that same day. Four days later, Hochstein attended a "meeting" at the vice president’s residence, according to White House visitor logs.
Four months after those meetings, on April 16, 2015, Hochstein met with Biden in the West Wing of the White House, the visitor logs show.
That meeting took place the same day that Hunter introduced his father to Burisma executive Pozharskyi and other business associates from Kazakhstan and Russia during a dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C., Fox News Digital previously reported. It is unclear whether Burisma or Pozharskyi's visit to D.C. was mentioned during that meeting.
The day after the dinner, Hunter received an email from Pozharskyi that read, "Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together."
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Two months later, on June 17, 2015, Hochstein met with Biden twice, according to the visitor logs. He met with Biden again the next month in the West Wing on July 13, 2015, and with Chung again months later on Nov. 2, 2015.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on energy as (L-R) Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein listen during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House October 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
According to a Senate Republican report on Hunter’s business dealings released in December 2020, Hochstein in October 2015 raised concerns with both Biden and Hunter that Hunter's position on Burisma’s board enabled Russian disinformation efforts and risked undermining U.S. policy in Ukraine. He also had another conversation with Biden on the plane ride during the infamous December 2015 Ukraine trip.
During Hochstein’s testimony, he recounted that he spoke with Biden about Burisma in the West Wing of the White House in October 2015. According to visitor logs, he visited the White House three times in October 2015, with two of the visits occurring in the West Wing and the other on the second floor of West Wing.
"We were starting to think about a trip to Ukraine, and I wanted to make sure that he [Vice President Biden] was aware that there was an increase in chatter on media outlets close to Russians and corrupt oligarchs-owned media outlets about undermining his message—to try to undermine his [Vice President Biden’s] message and including Hunter Biden being part of the board of Burisma," Hochstein told Congress, according to the report.
According to Hochstein, Biden told Hunter about the meeting, prompting Hunter to request a meeting with Hochstein, according to the 2020 Senate Republican report.
"You are all set to meet with Amos on Friday at 4pm for coffee," Joan Mayer emailed Hunter on Nov. 3, 2015. She later emailed Hunter to let him know the Nov. 6 meeting with Hochstein at a Starbucks in Georgetown had been moved to 3PM. Hochstein met with Biden in the White House Situation Room on Nov. 5, 2015, the visitor logs say.
Joan Mayer emailed Hunter to let him know the Nov. 6 meeting with Hochstein at a Starbucks in Georgetown had been moved to 3PM. (Fox News)
"Well, he [Hunter Biden] asked me for a meeting," Hochstein said in his testimony. "I think he wanted to know my views on Burisma and Zlochevsky. And so I shared with him that the Russians were using his name in order to sow disinformation—attempt to sow disinformation among Ukrainians."
The report said Hochstein "did not go so far as to recommend that Hunter leave the board," citing the New Yorker.
About a week later on Nov. 12, 2016, Mayer let Hunter know that he missed a call from Hochstein, adding, "Please call back today if possible." Hochstein met with Biden again in the White House Situation Room less than two weeks later, on Nov. 23, 2015.
On Nov. 12, 2016, Mayer let Hunter know that he missed a call from Hochstein, adding, "Please call back today if possible." (Fox News)
On Dec. 11, 2015, Hochstein met with Biden in the West Wing, just two days after the vice president returned from his infamous Ukraine trip, where he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if Ukrainian leaders did not fire their top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. The Republican Senate report cited testimony that Hochstein also had a conversation with Biden on the flight over to Ukraine in December 2015.
Shokin was investigating Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder and then-president of Burisma Holdings, where Hunter served as a board member from April 2014 to April 2019. Biden's defenders have said that Shokin was fired not because he was pursuing corruption too aggressively but rather because he was too lax.
Biden visited Ukraine from Dec. 7-9, 2015. Three months after the visit, Shokin was fired, and Biden would later use it to boast about his foreign policy skills.
US Vice President Joseph R. Biden (L) and Amos J. Hochstein, US State Department Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, talk before the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative Luncheon during the Caribbean Energy Security Summit at the US Department of States January 26, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
On Dec. 17, 2015, less than a week after his meeting with Biden, Hochstein attended a holiday party at the vice president's Naval Observatory residence, where Hunter was also in attendance.
In an email of Hunter’s schedule, Mayer said the vice president’s party would be "Local (all the cool people will be there)."
It was one of many parties hosted by the vice president at the time. Fox News Digital previously reported that on Dec. 12, 2015, Biden’s party guests at his residence included Hunter and other Burisma-linked associates, including Archer and Sebastian Momtazi.
(L to R) Amos Hochstein, the US Senior Advisor for Energy Security, and Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud speak together after signing bilateral agreements during an investment agreement signing ceremony between the US and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 15, 2022. (Photo by AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)
Hochstein visited Biden at least another six times in 2016, including the day after prosecutor Shokin’s firing in Ukraine.
After Hunter’s 46th birthday, and less than two months before Shokin was fired, Hunter sent an email to Pozharskyi asking him to thank then-Burisma President Zlochevsky for the "extravagant" birthday gifts.
"Finally- thank NZ for the beautiful birthday gifts it was far too extravagant but much appreciated," Hunter wrote on Feb. 4, 2016.
Hunter Biden thanked a top Burisma Holdings executive for birthday gifts he described as "far too extravagant." (Fox News)
On Feb. 12, 2016, Hochstein met with Biden again at the vice president’s residence. About six weeks later, on March 29, 2016, Shokin was fired.
The next day, on March 30, 2016, Schwerin forwarded Hunter an article with the headline, "Ukraine's parliament sacks corruption-tainted prosecutor," referring to Shokin.
Eric Schwerin emailed Hunter Biden an AFP article about the firing of Viktor Shokin. (Fox News)
Hochstein also met with Biden that same day in the West Wing, according to visitor logs.
After that, Hochstein met with Biden in the West Wing twice in April and twice in May, the visitor logs say.
The Obama administration had pushed for Shokin’s firing, and Biden boasted on camera in 2018 that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin.
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"I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money," Biden said in 2018, according to a transcript of his remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Well, son of a b----. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."
Less than two weeks after Hunter expressed gratitude for the birthday gifts from Zlochevsky, the Obama White House released a readout of then-Vice President Biden's call with Ukraine's president at the time, saying Biden "commended President Poroshenko’s decision to replace Prosecutor General Shokin, which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service."
The White House, Hunter Biden's lawyer, the State Department, and Hochstein didn't respond to Fox News Digital inquiries on the nature of these meetings and what was discussed.
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