In right-wing media outlets, Tony Bobulinski — a former business partner of President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden — has been touted as someone who can topple the Biden presidency. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) has chosen Bobulinski as one of the witnesses who will be featured during an impeachment-related hearing on Wednesday, March 20.
But according to the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, Bobulinski lacks credibility — especially in light of his ties to Russia.
"House Republican leaders behind the sputtering impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday to iron out alleged 'inconsistencies' in witness testimony," Sollenberger explains in an article published on March 20. "But they might want to start with the witness the GOP impeachment team has cited as their 'most credible by far.' Former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski has provided testimony riddled with inconsistencies, including statements that contradict claims in the FBI's write-up of their interview with him just ahead of the 2020 election."
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Sollenberger points out that Bobulinski was still a Hunter Biden business partner in 201,7 when an "investment deal" involving the startup SinoHawk was proposed.
"In 2020," the Daily Beast journalist reports, "Bobulinski went public with claims that the finances involved not just Hunter Biden, but his father Joe Biden, who was out of office at the time of the negotiations. Republicans have pointed to Bobulinski's claims as evidence of potential wrongdoing, and his allegations have fueled unproven but widespread speculation about a bribery scandal — even though many of these claims have been debunked, and years of GOP investigations have turned up no evidence of impeachable offenses. But as the inquiry has unspooled the details surrounding the proposal, Bobulinski’s own connections to Russia have come into clearer focus."
Sollenberger continues, "In 2017, while SinoHawk pursued its deal with CEFC —securing an investment of $5 million — CEFC was simultaneously chasing an exponentially bigger deal. That deal involved purchasing a $9 billion stake in Rosneft, the Russian-controlled energy conglomerate whose founder, Viktor Vekselberg, had close ties to Bobulinski, The Daily Beast previously reported."
Text messages, according to Sollenberger, reveal that the "CEFC-Rosneft negotiations" caused "friction between Bobulinski and Hunter Biden" — who had an "aversion to dealing with" Vekselberg's "sanctioned Russian company" Rosneft.
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Sollenberger observes, "No further witness interviews have been scheduled, and Republicans, who control the House, don't have enough votes to impeach Joe Biden, CNN reported. There's no partisan consensus on an exit strategy, either, and while Comer has advocated for criminal referrals, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and House Speaker Mike Johnson are less enthusiastic, according to CNN."
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Read The Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).