Feds sued for details of Hunter Biden's profits

Hunter Biden

Government watchdog Judicial Watch is asking the federal government what it knows about Hunter Biden's financial dealings in Ukraine and China.

The issue arose when a CIA whistleblower charged that during a phone call, President Trump used the threat of withholding aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden's acquisition of a lucrative position with a corrupt Ukrainian gas company while his father was President Obama's point man for Ukraine policy.

The White House argues a transcript of the July 25 phone call shows there was no quid pro quo, the Justice Department concluded the president did nothing illegal, and Zelensky has insisted he was not pressured.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is on video boasting he threatened to withhold U.S. aid if Ukraine didn't fire its top prosecutor, who was investigating the firm that put Hunter Biden on its board despite having no experience in the industry.

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Judicial Watch is now investigating the Ukraine deal as well as a deal Hunter Biden made with the Bank of China on a 2013 trip to Beijing in which he accompanied his father on Air Force Two.

"Our government doesn’t assume that every business investment opportunity is good for our country, and so there are checks in place, including something called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States," the watchdog said Friday.

"CFIUS is commissioned to review 'transactions involving foreign investment in the U.S. to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States.'"

Judicial Watch asked: "What does CFIUS know about Hunter Biden’s questionable overseas ventures? The agency is playing its cards close to the vest. So we are suing the State and Treasury Departments for information on CFIUS’ handling of investments in the U.S. by two companies tied to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The companies are Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings and China’s Bohai Harvest RST (BHR)."

The watchdog previously submitted FOIA requests for information.

Judicial Watch noted Hunter Biden is one of nine directors of BHR Partners, which was registered 12 days after he flew to Beijing with his father.

Hunter Biden, then-chairman of the private equity firm Rosemont Seneca, signed a deal with the Chinese government-owned Bank of China to set up the BHR $1 billion joint venture investment fund.

In 2015, Judicial Watch said, BHR Partners participated in a $600 million buyout of Michigan automotive-suspension-systems maker Henniges Automotive. Henniges produces anti-vibration technologies that have important military uses, particularly in military aircraft.

In April 2014, Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, one of the Ukraine’s largest natural gas companies. He was paid at least $50,000 a month to, according to Burisma, "provide support for the Company among international organizations."

Biden has denied that was his role.

In 2015, Viktor Shokin, Ukraine's prosecutor general, launched an investigation into allegedly corrupt practices by Burisma. In a widely distributed 2018 video, Joe Biden boasted of successfully pressuring the Ukrainian government to fire Shokin with the threat of withholding $1 billion in U.S. government aid.

The watchdog said: "Have no doubt: We will continue to press for information to get to the bottom of this influence-peddling scandal involving Joe Biden and his son. As Congress is obsessed with attacking President Trump, it is again up to us to do the basic investigative work on this growing scandal."