The Trumps, the Bidens and China The upside of Washington’s influence scandal. By James Freeman *****
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trumps-the-bidens-and-china-11570210513
With apologies to Captain Obvious, the plain fact is that the Trumps had a big real estate business long before the 2016 election. Is there any Biden history in Ukrainian natural gas or Chinese finance prior to Joe Biden’s vice presidency?
Even Hunter Biden doesn’t deserve the Chinese judicial system. But there is a silver lining to Donald Trump’s suggestion that foreign governments scrutinize unusual financial arrangements involving relatives of people at the center of American political power. There is value in a U.S. President telling the world that the Clinton Foundation will not be the model for how this country conducts its foreign affairs.
“China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,” the President told reporters on Thursday at the White House.
Was it really that bad? The Journal’s James Areddy reports:
Hunter Biden, a 49-year-old lawyer and the second son of the former vice president, owns 10% of a private-equity firm called Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co.
Over the past roughly six years, it has channeled $2.5 billion or more on behalf of its financial backers into automotive, energy, mining and technology deals, according to interviews with people familiar with the private-equity firm and a review by The Wall Street Journal of financial filings and other official business records.
Hunter Biden is one of nine directors of the firm, known as BHR Partners, which is controlled and funded primarily by large Chinese government-owned shareholders.
In 2014, the Journal’s Chao Deng reported from Shanghai that this esteemed group was raising a fund to invest outside China, “with the yuan-denominated portion of the fund to be converted to U.S. dollars through Shanghai’s free-trade zone.” Mr. Deng noted:
The Bohai-Harvest fund is likely one of the biggest Sino-foreign collaborations in private equity to take advantage of the free-trade zone’s benefits in converting yuan to dollars that can then be invested in foreign companies. The funds are raising a combination of yuan and U.S. dollars. The effort is the latest example private equity pushing boundaries in an area that China hopes will help drive the country’s economic transformation. Normally, China restricts free conversion of its currency.
And which experts in private equity did the Chinese government want involved in this important international venture? Did Beijing seek out Blackstone co-founder Steve Schwarzman, who leads the American buyout giant—or perhaps John Doerr, the legendary venture capitalist who helped build Amazon and Google?
No offense to those guys, but Chinese officials obviously saw something very special in Hunter Biden, the former lobbyist. And given the management fees typically collected by private equity managers, it’s possible the China venture could ultimately make his $50,000-a-month Ukraine gig look small.
Once again this column should emphasize that to this point the Biden family operations do not appear to be on a Clintonian scale, but the possibilities are intriguing, especially if Joe Biden becomes President.
Some readers may be tempted to dismiss the Biden questions because they suspect the Trumps may also be profiting from politics. By all means voters and journalists and others should examine the activities of the Trump family. But a new report in Forbes suggests that while some particular transactions may raise questions, overall the presidency has coincided with a significant reduction in the Trump family fortune, not a windfall.
Dan Alexander and Chase Peterson-Withorn write in Forbes that when Donald Trump took office and handed over the family business to sons Eric and Don Jr., they wanted to expand within the U.S. “But their plan—storm into America’s heartland with two new licensed hotel brands—died earlier this year after failing to gain traction. That forced the kids, hamstrung by their father’s pledge not to expand internationally while in office, to pursue a very un-Trumpian strategy.” The company has been retrenching. The Forbes authors add:
In some ways, the Trump fortune could use a risky bet or two: The president is worth $3.1 billion (good for No. 275 on The Forbes 400), the same as a year ago and down $400 million from when he took office. But Don Jr. and Eric are playing things conservatively, tending to their properties, paying down debt and stockpiling a hoard of cash. Since their father’s inauguration, they have sold off $110 million of the president’s real estate holdings—through more than 100 tiny transactions that have mostly flown under the radar.
As the value of Trump assets has declined, the Trump presidency has also coincided with a rise in the value of U.S. businesses generally. Whatever one thinks of the President, it’s not easy to make the case that he’s benefiting financially from his foray into politics.
With apologies to Captain Obvious, the plain fact is that the Trumps had a big real estate business long before the 2016 election. Is there any Biden history in Ukrainian natural gas or Chinese finance prior to Joe Biden’s vice presidency?
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