Hunter Biden confirmed in congressional testimony Wednesday a key aspect of the impeachment inquiry into his father, saying President Joe Biden, while vice president in 2014 and 2015, met his business associates from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine at a Washington, D.C., restaurant.
Hunter Biden was deposed behind closed doors for nearly seven hours in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The transcript of his testimony was released Thursday.
The testimony confirms a report in October 2020 that documents found on Hunter Biden's laptop included a thank you note from Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive at Ukrainian energy giant Burisma Holdings Ltd., on whose board Hunter Biden served.
The note was sent following an April 16, 2015, get-together at Cafe Milano for a U.N. World Food Program dinner attended by Joe Biden, whose presidential campaign in 2020 disputed the report by saying no such encounter was on his official schedule.
"My dad came to that and stopped by to say hello to people that were there that he had a longstanding relationship with," Hunter Biden testified. "Vadym was one of the people sitting at the table, and he said hello to them.
"They did not have a meeting; they met, which is a very, very important distinction with a difference."
Hunter Biden said his father "probably had a Coca-Cola and a bowl of spaghetti" and then left, shaking hands and hugging a couple of people at the table before walking out.
According to the transcript, Pozharskyi's email to Hunter Biden read, "Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving [me] an opportunity to meet your father and [spend] some time together."
Hunter Biden also confirmed that his father was at dinners that included multimillionaire businessman Kenes Rakishev of Kazakhstan and Yelena Baturina, the billionaire widow of the mayor of Moscow.
The Oversight Committee claims that in February 2014, Baturina transferred $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a firm founded by Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. In his congressional testimony last summer, Archer said Joe Biden had dinner with Baturina in the spring of 2014.
"I don't know the timing of it, but I do know that she was at a dinner, and I do believe that ... stopped over at the dinner that was there," Hunter Biden said. "I think it was my birthday, and my dad stopped [by]."
The Oversight Committee also claims that in April 2014, Rakishev wired $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a subsidiary of Archer's firm, and the next day, the same amount was wired to a New Jersey car dealership for a Porsche for Hunter Biden. Archer testified Rakishev was at the same dinner with Baturina that Joe Biden attended in the spring of 2014.
"I don't know whether it happened before that or after that," Hunter Biden said. "I have no knowledge of that. ... Kenes Rakishev was a guest at the dinner that I had for the presentation about the World Food Program. My dad stopped by. I never did anything on behalf of Kenes Rakishev or asked anyone to do anything on behalf of Kenes Rakishev."
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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