WASHINGTON — Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken insisted to a Senate committee in December 2020 he had never emailed first son Hunter Biden — despite emails between the two appearing on the “laptop from hell.”
The revelations have spurred Republican allegations that America’s top diplomat committed perjury weeks before he formally joined President Biden’s cabinet.
“Did you ever talk with [Hunter Biden] on the phone?” a staff member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee asked Blinken on Dec. 22, 2020.
“Not that I recall,” Blinken responded.
“Did you have any other means of correspondence with him — emails, texts?” the staff investigator pressed.
“No,” Blinken said without equivocation, later going on to describe his relationship with Hunter as a “friendly acquaintanceship.”
However, data from the first son’s abandoned laptop shows that on May 22, 2015, Hunter had emailed Blinken’s AOL account to ask: “Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee? I know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of things. Best, Hunter.”
“Absolutely,” Blinken emailed back. “I’m just about to land in Tokyo en route back DC from Burma. I’ll be in office from Tuesday on. Copying Linda in my office to find a good time. Look forward to seeing you. Tony.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Sunday on Fox News that Blinken had “lied boldface to Congress about never emailing Hunter Biden.”
In a Monday evening appearance on John Catsimatidis’ WABC radio show, Johnson added: “We also know that [Blinken’s] wife … she also was working in the Obama State Department and acting as a conduit between Antony Blinken and Hunter Biden, using her personal email account, trying to set up, in one instance, a meeting between the Democrat lobbying firm for Burisma [and] the Obama administration.”
Johnson’s office did not immediately publish or identify that correspondence.
The Post reported last week on contact between Hunter Biden, Blinken and Blinken’s wife, Evan Ryan, while the couple worked for Joe Biden’s vice presidential office and later at the Obama-era State Department.
Lying to Congress is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, though the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, will make the final charging decision in such matters. Garland himself allegedly gave false testimony to Congress about the independence of the criminal tax fraud probe of Hunter Biden, according to an IRS whistleblower who contacted lawmakers on April 19 to allege a coverup.
Blinken has taken increasing heat from Republicans for his alleged role in helping to obscure President Biden’s role in the foreign business relationships of his son Hunter and brother James Biden.
Last month, the House Judiciary Committee published deposition testimony from ex-CIA acting director Michal Morell, who said Blinken’s outreach just before the 2020 election inspired a letter signed by 51 former spy agency leaders that cast doubt on The Post’s reporting on laptop records that linked Joe Biden to ventures in countries such as China and Ukraine.
Other documents recovered from the laptop also show Hunter, now 53, kept his business associates in the loop about his contacts with Blinken and Ryan.
Hunter Biden forwarded Blinken’s response to his May 2015 message to Devon Archer, a business associate with whom the younger Biden had joined the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma about 13 months prior — a role for which he earned up to $1 million per year despite no relevant industry experience.
“Roger,” Archer responded.
Hunter also forwarded to Archer an email in which Blinken’s assistant asked him to “advise on best times for you next week and we’ll try to accommodate.”
A meeting was booked for May 27, 2015, at the State Department’s DC headquarters — though it’s unclear if it actually occurred. Hunter’s older brother, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer three days later.
Hunter and Blinken did get together for lunch on July 22, 2015 — with Joan Mayer of Hunter’s Rosemont Seneca Partners firm emailing Hunter a reminder and cc-ing his business partner Eric Schwerin.
“12:00-1:30pm- Lunch with Tony Blinken (State Department),” Mayer wrote. “Enter at main entrance (‘Diplomatic Entrance’), 22nd & C St, NW. Proceed to receptionist area where Kenny Matthews will be waiting to escort you to Tony’s office.”
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Schwerin visited the White House and vice presidential residence more than two dozen times during the Obama-Biden administration and Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, wrote in her recently published memoir that Schwerin had “managed almost every aspect” of her family’s finances.
After their lunch in July 2015, Blinken wrote to Hunter — again from his personal AOL email — that it was great to “catch up.”
“You will love this: after you left, Marjorie, the wonderful african american [sic] woman who sits in my outer office (and used to be Colin Powell’s assistant) said to me: ‘He sure is pleasant on the eyes.’ Tell you [sic] wife,” Blinken wrote.
There are other interactions documented in Hunter’s emails, though many key details remain murky — including the specific “advice” Hunter sought in 2015.
In 2015, Hunter and Schwerin also communicated with Ryan, at the time the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, about a Haitian contact’s visa issues.
In a Feb. 18 email from that year, Hunter Biden asked Schwerin for an update on “[m]y question on Haiti visitors visa interview.”
Schwerin quickly replied: “Evan never got back to me re: Haiti but it was also just around the time Tony’s Dad had his stroke so I let it lie at the time. But I’ll shoot her a quick email and check back in. As you recall though her answer at the time was that she was sure there was nothing she could do – even to get them an interview- but she would check to be sure.”
Two days later, Schwerin wrote: “Talked to Evan and she got another woman that works for her on the phone. So, effective October 2014, Embassy Port au Prince, transitioned to an online appointment system. All US Embassies are doing so over time. It is now very easy. They go online to the site below and sign up for an interview.”
An October 2015 email from Schwerin titled “Mr. Francois” seemed to give additional context, though it does not make clear who the subject was.
“Btw, Mr. Francois wanted a visa for his sister and his cousin so they could come to Miami and go shopping. His sister came before. Now she wants to come back again,” Schwerin wrote. “What do you want us to do? Not sure how if they can afford to come to Miami and shop they can’t find a computer with Internet in Haiti somewhere.”
It’s unclear if Hunter Biden replied to that message.
Hunter’s regular correspondence with Blinken seemed to begin after Ryan provided the then-second son with Blinken’s personal email address in June 2010. At the time, both Ryan and Blinken worked for Joe Biden’s office.
“Can I get Toni’s [sic] non-govt email? I wanted to send him something. Thanks,” wrote Hunter, referring to his dad’s then-national security adviser.
After Ryan provided the email, Hunter asked in a follow-up: “[W]hat’s new with you? Do you want to get coffee some time next week?”
“Yes, sounds great – let me know what works,” Ryan replied.
The two also exchanged emails later that year to organize attendance for White House events — and Blinken, Ryan and Hunter may once have sat down together for a 2010 dinner in Washington, DC.
Email chains indicate that both Hunter Biden and Evan Ryan were invited to “cocktails” by a mutual contact, lobbyist Eve O’Toole, in both July and November 2011. Both events featured “Gavin” — an apparent reference to O’Toole’s close friend California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was then the Golden State’s Democratic lieutenant governor.
Ryan indicated she would attend both cocktail events near the White House. Hunter indicated he was “going to try” to attend the first event. It’s unclear if he replied to the second invite.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading an investigation into the first son’s overseas business interests, said last week that key Biden aides are coming into focus as the probe continues.
“[National security adviser] Jake Sullivan’s in a lot of trouble,” Comer told “Fox & Friends First” April 25. “I would make the argument that Antony Blinken’s in a lot of trouble … We have a national security crisis on our hands, and the information that I’ve seen … It’s very concerning.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
