One of President Biden\u2019s top former advisers, who has been a business partner of a wealthy Chinese businessman with multiple CCP ties for nearly a decade, appeared in the Delaware courtroom with Hunter Biden\u2019s friends and family on Monday to support him during the jury selection process for his gun trial, Fox News Digital confirmed.<\/p>\n
Francis \u2018Fran\u2019 Person, who served in the Obama administration as an adviser to the elder Biden and a special assistant to President Obama between 2009 and 2014, was spotted sitting with Hunter Biden\u2019s family and friends, which included First lady Jill Biden, his sister, Ashley Biden, his wife, Melissa, among others.<\/p>\n
Person, who was described in a 2014 Politico profile piece as the elder Biden\u2019s \u2018confidante\u2019 and \u2018like a son to Joe and me,\u2019 according to Jill Biden, has been close friends with Hunter for over a decade and was often his point of contact in the VP office when Hunter was trying to reach his dad. The elder Biden also praised Person in the profile piece highlighting his departure from the White House to South Carolina, saying, \u2018People know that he has my ear whenever he wants it.\u2019<\/p>\n
Less than six months after Person\u2019s White House departure in the summer of 2014 Person helped launch Harves Global Entertainment, a Washington, D.C.-based affiliate of the China-based Harves Century Group, a\u00a0multi-billion dollar real estate development firm.<\/p>\n
Person, whose sister worked for Hunter Biden\u2019s now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners firm before joining Biden\u2019s VP office in 2014, frequently emailed with Hunter and his longtime business partner, Eric Schwerin, then-president Rosemont Seneca, about business dealings associated with Harves Entertainment and other D.C.-based Harves affiliates in 2015 and 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also made multiple visits to the White House during that time, including attending a White House holiday reception in December 2015 with Bo Zhang, his Chinese business partner, according to visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital. Person previously told Fox News Digital the White House visits were \u2018personal in nature\u2019 and that he was \u2018visiting with old colleagues and friends.\u2019<\/p>\n
Person first introduced Hunter to the Harves brand in a\u00a0detailed July 2015 email\u00a0inviting him to China to meet Zhang and his family, saying, \u2018They are a great family with great respect and relationships in China.\u2019 Zhang is the son of \u2018Chinese billionaires,\u2019 according to court records pertaining to an ongoing legal dispute between Zhang and a New York City designer, which alleges Zhang has failed to pay the designer over $4 million.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019d like for you to get to know Bo. He\u2019s a brilliant guy \u2013 he\u2019s been groomed to take over his family\u2019s dynasty, but he\u2019s very humble. He will do great things one day, but he needs good people around him,\u2019 Person said in the 2015 email. \u2018They are very private, and wouldn\u2019t tell anyone about you coming. Bo\u2019s father-in-law is actually the Governor of Hainan (Chinese Hawaii), which he doesn\u2019t advertise at all.\u2019<\/p>\n
Liu Cigui, a decades-long member of the CCP who has held several leadership positions over the last 15 or more years, appears to be the father-in-law Person was referring to in the email based on the timeline of the email and his leadership position. According to a recent article from the state-run China Daily media outlet, he is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),\u00a0which has been described as\u00a0the \u2018central part\u2019 of China\u2019s United Front system, which works to \u2018co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).\u2019<\/p>\n
Another one of Zhang\u2019s CCP ties was revealed in a December 2013 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)\u00a0filing with the Justice Department, which listed Zhang as the \u2018foreign principal.\u2019 The filing noted his relationship with Chinese government official Liu Guoqiang, who was the vice chairman of the Liaoning Committee of the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).<\/p>\n
\u2018This isn\u2019t about a partnership, or selling you on anything,\u2019 Person continued in his email to Hunter. \u2018We just want to grow that relationship, and there will be plenty of big things that come down the road that we can work on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
While it does not appear Hunter was able to visit China during the time frame Person mentioned, Hunter and Eric Schwerin met with Zhang several times over the next few years, including at their office. Fox News Digital previously reported on Hunter and Schwerin working with Zhang during Person\u2019s failed House race in South Carolina in 2016.<\/p>\n
While Person was running for Congress, Hunter and Zhang stayed in communication. On May 6, 2016, Hunter referred to Zhang as his \u2018good friend and business colleague\u2019 in an email, which was previously verified by Fox News Digital, to Henry Zhao, a Chinese Communist Party official and CEO of Harvest Fund Management, according to the New York Post. The Post reported that Zhao\u2019s fund participated in a Chinese investment fund called Bohai Harvest RST, where Hunter served as a founding board member until October 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The following year, an email from Schwerin to Hunter revealed that Rosemont Seneca Advisors, which Hunter\u2019s LLC, Owasco, has 75% ownership in, held financial interests in multiple Harves affiliates, including a 5% stake with Harves Amusement Parks and ownership in Harves Sports and Entertainment, both of which fall under Harves Group, according to 2017 emails on Hunter\u2019s abandoned laptop.<\/p>\n
Fran has repeatedly claimed that neither Hunter nor any of his associates ever owned equity in any Harves entity or affiliate when Fox News Digital previously pressed him on the multiple emails from Schwerin to Hunter contradicting this claim. A Washington Post fact check previously confirmed that Rosemont Seneca Advisors had \u2018a 5 percent stake in Harves Amusement Parks and ownership in Harves Sports and Entertainment, both in China.\u2019<\/p>\n
In 2017, as Hunter was going through a rocky divorce, Person told Hunter in a\u00a0WhatsApp message which was released by the House Ways and Means Committee, that he and Zhang \u2018want to help\u2019 him with expenses,\u00a0Fox News Digital previously reported.<\/p>\n
\u2018100K at least gets me until next month,\u2019 Hunter said. \u2018I am appreciative of whatever [Bo] was comfortable with but I\u2019m very uncomfortable starting a war revised partnership this way.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I talked to Bo previously about the 37K \u2013 he didn\u2019t flinch. I will talk to him about 56K and possibly 100K,\u2019 Person said, according to messages previously reviewed\u00a0by Fox News Digital. \u2018It really depends on his liquid assets in the US\u2026I will ask. His only problem is getting large sums out of China (especially right now).\u2019<\/p>\n
The next day, Hunter asked Person if he knew whether anything was wired or if they were in a \u2018holding pattern,\u2019 prompting Person to respond, \u2018No holding pattern\u2026he was on his way to the bank this morning. He will be in touch when it\u2019s confirmed.\u2019 Fox News Digital could not confirm how much money Zhang wired Hunter or if the wire went through at all.<\/p>\n
\u2018He will help you with what you need. He also mentioned that you should take a trip to China some time this month to just get away for a week or so\u2026just decompress,\u2019 Person added. An email in late August 2017 shows that Hunter was scheduled to fly first class to Hong Kong, but it is unclear whether that was related to visiting with Bo.<\/p>\n
Another WhatsApp message from Person to Hunter alleged that Zhang offered his home for Hunter to stay in, referring to the multimillion-dollar McLean, Virginia, mansion, according to online records. Person called the six-bedroom house \u2018unreal\u2019 and revealed that Zhang \u2018won\u2019t be there much at least for another couple years.\u2019 He added that Hunter Biden should \u2018f\u2019n stay at his house\u2019 and that it was furnished. Fox News Digital could not confirm whether Biden took Zhang up on the offer.<\/p>\n
In one of the earlier text exchanges, Person told Hunter Biden he \u2018selfishly want[s] to work\u2019 with him \u2018because I know what the hell your capable of, AND I want to learn from you. I\u2019m putting myself out there right now, and I\u2019m learning quickly.\u2019 He continued, \u2018But I\u2019d love to be there with you doing some of this stuff. I mention the 500K on 10M raise be I\u2019m about to get started on that, and I could really use your help. We could knock it out together. I\u2019d think that\u2019d help take some bite out, and you wouldn\u2019t feel like your \u2018resorting\u2019 to anything.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve got one loyalty brother. That\u2019s to my family. Your family,\u2019 Person added.<\/p>\n
Person did not respond to Fox News Digital\u2019s request for comment on why he was in attendance at the trial. It is unclear whether he plans on attending multiple days of the trial or has been in attendance on Tuesday or Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n
One of President Biden\u2019s top former advisers, who has been a business partner of a wealthy Chinese businessman with multiple CCP ties for nearly a decade, appeared in the Delaware courtroom with Hunter Biden\u2019s friends and family on Monday to support him during the jury selection process for his gun trial, Fox News Digital confirmed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}