EXCLUSIVE: All in the family: Joe Biden is named in 2017 email discussing multi-million dollar gas deal with CHINA, with Louisiana lawyer writing to brother Jim that he 'arranged a call' with the former VP and his son Hunter 'to discuss the purchase'

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Joe Biden was named in an email found on Hunter Biden's laptop discussing a 25 million-ton gas deal with China, DailyMail.com can reveal exclusively.

In October 2017, Hunter and his uncle –Joe's brother Jim Biden – were brokering a multi-million dollar deal to supply gas from Louisiana to the country on behalf of their business partners, Chinese energy giant CEFC.

At the time Joe Biden had finished his term as vice president and had yet to announce any plans to run for president in 2020. 

A Louisiana-based lawyer on the other side of the deal wrote in an October 27, 2017 email that he had arranged 'a call from Joe Biden and Hunter Biden on Monday morning to discuss the purchase of the 5 million tons of gas.'

Joe Biden was named by Louisiana-based lawyer Robert Fenet (left) in a 2017 email discussing a multi-million dollar deal to supply gas from Louisiana to the Chinese

Fenet wrote in an October 27, 2017 email that he had arranged 'a call from Joe Biden and Hunter Biden on Monday morning to discuss the purchase of the 5 million tons of gas'

Jim Biden's venture with CEFC eventually collapsed amid bribery accusations against high-ups in the Chinese company. Joe and Jim are pictured together in 2008

While it's possible the Baton Rouge lawyer, Robert Fenet, mistyped 'Joe' instead of 'Jim,' other emails and whistleblower testimony suggest Joe was involved in Hunter's business dealings with the Chinese.

The White House did not respond to DailyMail's requests for comment.

In emails with Fenet, Jim emphasized the Biden family's involvement in the project.

'We Biden's often fraught with problems, that they can can [sic] come from working with family members, are of a different mind. It's all about family, and people we choose to do business with,' he wrote to Fenet on October 19 that year.

The call Fenet was setting up for the Biden family was with Cherniere, a Texas energy company whose executives have close links to Joe Biden.

The email - like other incriminating evidence - came from Hunter's abandoned laptop hard drive, of which DailyMail.com obtained a copy

The president hired former Cherniere board member Heather Zichal as his campaign climate adviser in 2020, and former Cheniere lobbyist and vice president Ankit Desai was Joe's political director in 2005.

Fenet laid out one proposal for his liquid natural gas (LNG) deal with the Bidens and their Chinese partners in an email on October 20, 2017.

'The Ashton Fenet and Sons Construction Company, Inc. will, in a joint venture with a Louisiana company, provide a 25 year natural gas-LNG supply to your group,' he wrote.

'We can begin supplying LNG in 2018 at the rate of three, four, five, or six million metric tons of LNG on a five year basis. From year five until year twenty-five, we will have the capacity to supply 13 million metric tons per annum of LNG to the Port in China. (To Be Decided)

'If your client will purchase a twenty-five year stream of LNG, I can build the plant for $12 billion dollars.'

The following month Hunter wrote a letter addressed to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, saying that the deal would provide 'large quantities of LNG at very competitive rates while also advancing the long term goals of CEFC through a partnership or acquisition of a promising LNG terminal project in Louisiana.'

The First Son added that he was 'making inquiries regarding arranging a meeting for you with the Chairman of Cheniere.'

That month, ​​Cherniere signed a long-term deal with another Chinese energy firm, China National Petroleum Corp, to supply gas to China, during then-president Donald Trump's state visit to the country.

Hunter and Jim's venture with CEFC eventually collapsed after Ye and his right hand man Patrick Ho were arrested for bribery and corruption offenses – though not before they poured over $10million into their joint venture with the Bidens.

 

In emails with Fenet, Jim emphasized the Biden family's involvement in the Chinese  project. 'We Biden's often fraught with problems, that they can can [sic] come from working with family members, are of a different mind. It's all about family, and people we choose to do business with,' he wrote to Fenet on October 19, 2017

Fenet laid out a proposal for his liquid natural gas deal with the Bidens and their Chinese partners in an email on October 20, 2017

In November, Hunter wrote a letter addressed to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, saying that the deal would provide 'large quantities of LNG at very competitive rates while also advancing the long term goals of CEFC through a partnership or acquisition of a promising LNG terminal project in Louisiana'

The Bidens' foreign business partners are with Chinese energy giant CEFC

President Biden has repeatedly denied ever even discussing his son's foreign business dealings.

But evidence from whistleblowers and documents recovered from Hunter's abandoned laptop suggests otherwise.

CEFC's chairman Ye Jianming met with Hunter at a Miami hotel in 2017 to discuss 'a partnership to invest in American infrastructure and energy deals'

James Gilliar, Hunter's business partner in his joint venture with the Chinese, wrote a 2017 email suggesting 10% of the equity in the venture would be held 'by H for the big guy'. Other emails on the laptop refer to Joe Biden as the 'big guy'.

Another business partner, Tony Bobulinski, has claimed he even met with Joe to discuss their Chinese deal – and provided text messages as evidence.

In one group text conversation with partners Gilliar, Bobulinski and Biden family friend Rob Walker, Hunter brought up the opinion of 'my Chairman' on aspects of their deal.

Walker then texted Bobulinski on the side: 'When he said his chairman he was talking about his dad'.

In another text to the businessman Gilliar wrote: 'Don't mention Joe being involved, it's only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid.'

Joe left a voicemail on Hunter's phone in 2018 showing he did discuss Hunter's Chinese deal with his son. A backup of the phone with the voicemail was left on Hunter's abandoned laptop.

POTUS called Hunter on December 12, 2018 saying that he wanted to talk to him after reading a New York Times story about Hunter's dealings with CEFC.

The Times' 2018 story pointed out CEFC's chairman Ye had been arrested in China and his top lieutenant Ho had been convicted in the US for bribing African officials to help Iran evade oil sanctions.

It revealed that Ye had met with Hunter at a Miami hotel in 2017 to discuss 'a partnership to invest in American infrastructure and energy deals.'

Tony Bobulinski was Hunter Biden's business partner and had a front-row seat to the Biden family's deal with their Chinese government-linked associates

Texts between Tony Bobulinski and James Gilliar show them discussing the deal. In 2017, Bobulinksi texted business partner Gilliar, 'Don't mention Joe being involved, it's only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid'

The infamous 'big guy' email sent by James Gilliar suggested that the president was secretly involved in, and set to profit from, an alleged Chinese influence operation

After seeing the story online, Joe called Hunter and left a voicemail.

'Hey pal, it's Dad. It's 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you,' he said.

'I thought the article released online – it's going to be printed tomorrow in the Times – was good. I think you're clear. And anyway if you get a chance give me a call, I love you.'

Emails on Hunter's laptop show he was planning to set up a Washington DC consultancy with his father after he left the White House in 2017.

Hunter discussed the proposed firm in a November 2014 email with his business partner and Biden family friend Jeff Cooper, a lawyer and entrepreneur, DailyMail.com previously revealed.

This site also revealed that former FBI director Louis Freeh, who represented a criminal Romanian property tycoon alongside Hunter, spoke with Joe while the VP was still in office about the Biden father and son joining his consultancy firm in 2017, representing foreign clients.