Trump ties Hunter Biden texts to reported Chinese bases in Cuba
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday linked new revelations about Hunter Biden’s business dealings to what he described as President Biden’s inaction on China’s efforts to build a spy base in Cuba.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday linked new revelations about Hunter Biden’s business dealings to what he described as President Biden’s inaction over China’s efforts to build a spy base in Cuba.
Trump spoke at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority gala in Washington D.C. and reacted to recent claims by an IRS whistleblower that the agency obtained a WhatsApp message in 2017 from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.
"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" Biden wrote.
"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," Biden allegedly said.
It was also revealed that an account linked to Hunter Biden received more than $5 million just days later.
President Biden has snapped at reporters who have asked him about alleged corruption involving him and his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Trump took a swipe at Biden's son Saturday after recalling the text messages: "I didn’t know he was that tough!"
He then tied the revelations to what he said was a lack of action by Biden over reports that the Chinese regime is moving to build a spy base in Cuba.
"Within ten days, the Bidens got $5.1 million from China for absolutely no reason. They got $5.1 million. In fact, they've taken tens of millions of dollars from China. And that's probably why, maybe he's not complaining about the fact that they're building military bases in Cuba. Maybe that's the reason," he claimed.
Trump later went on to describe Biden as a "compromised president" and suggested that Biden’s policies were being influenced by past business dealings.
"This is truly 100 times bigger than Watergate. This is a much bigger story than Watergate. That's why Biden doesn't mind that China has opened up these military installations," he said. "He's basically said, it's okay. He's not doing anything, even saying anything. He's not talking about it."
The Biden administration has downplayed the report that China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for an eavesdropping facility to allow the Chinese to scoop up electronic communications, saying it is an ongoing issue that predates the administration.
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"This is an ongoing issue, and not a new development, and the arrangement as characterized in the reporting does not comport with our understanding," an administration official said.
The official said that the administration had been briefed on a "number of sensitive PRC efforts around the world to expand its overseas logistics, basing, and collection infrastructure globally to allow the PLA to project and sustain military power at greater distance" in January 2021.
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China is said to have considered a number of sites spanning the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.
"This effort included the presence of PRC intelligence collection facilities in Cuba," the official said. "In fact, the PRC conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record."
Separately, Hunter Biden's attorney attacked the IRS whistleblower revelations in a statement.
"Biased and politically-motivated, selective leaks have plagued this matter for years. They are not only irresponsible, they are illegal. A close examination of the document released publicly yesterday by a very biased individual raises serious questions over whether it is what he claims it to be. It is dangerously misleading to make any conclusions or inferences based on this document," Clark said. "The DOJ investigation covered a period which was a time of turmoil and addiction for my client."
His lawyer also said that "[a]ny verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family."
Biden this week got into hot water with China when he referred to President Xi Jinping as a "dictator" when arguing that the leader was upset when a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over the U.S. earlier this year.
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"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there," the president said. "That’s a great embarrassment for dictators when they didn’t know what happened."
Trump, in his speech on Saturday, said he would "drop the hammer" on China if they refused to scrap the proposed base.
"There will be tariffs unlike anything that China's ever seen before," he said.
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