Email chains can read like epistolary novellas, in which the correspondents' business chatter reveals their grandiosity and self delusion. Such were the back-and-forth messages sent in 2017 between Tony Bobulinski and James Gilliar, who both hoped to piggyback off the Biden name as a way of breaking into the lucrative world of private equity. It's easy to see how Hunter and James Biden, along with the deep pocket that was supposed to fund everything, a multibillion dollar conglomerate called CEFC China Energy, felt that those other guys were simply in over their heads. (For a deep dive into their stillborn venture, see "Tony Bobulinski's Hunter Biden Story Adds Up to Nothing: But Let's Drill Down Into the Details.”)
And it's easy to see how Wall Street Journal opinion columnist Kimberley Strassel would accentuate and amplify their fantasies.
As time wore on, Bobulinski had a sense of foreboding that he was being ghosted. And years later, when he learned that Hunter and James Biden had tried, unsuccessfully, to do deals with CEFC behind his back, Bobulinski became enraged and consumed with a desire for vengeance.
Falsifying Emails To Invent Scandals
So Bobulinski weaponized Gilliar's emails, by distorting the context and meaning of his words, to invent phony evidence of corruption he could use to malign the Bidens. Like most crackpots, he seemed unaware of how transparently bogus his accusations were. Three reporters at The Wall Street Journalreviewed the messages and documentation and found nothing, zilch, to support his claim that Joe Biden was involved in his son's business affairs. Back in October 2020, it took me five minutes on Google to figure out what happened.
This point cannot be underscored strongly enough. No one touting Bobulinski's claims ever had any plausible excuse; they either knew they were trafficking in lies, or showed a depraved indifference to the truth. He never came close to the deserving the moniker, "whistleblower.”
And the obviousness of his lies explains why his messaging, then and now, was so tightly coordinated by those promoting his story. Now in February 2024 before the House Oversight Committee, Bobulinski doubled down in the face of hard facts, by accusing everyone else of lying. His defenders have also doubled down in a bottomless pit of lies.
Putting it in a business context. With any dispute, it's best to start by focusing on the bottom line. Wall Street's favorite rhyme—money talks, BS walks—means that endless negotiations add up to nothing until cash changes hands. In 2017 the prospective partners knew CEFC was on a furious growth binge, signing up strategic acquisitions that included a piece of the U.S. investment bank Cowan & Co., and Glencore's stake in the Russian oil giant, Rosneft. In that context, SinoHawk—the proposed CEFC-funded venture that would pay Bobulinski, Gilliar, Hunter and James Biden and Rob Walker to find non-Chinese assets for CEFC to purchase—was a $10 million drop in the bucket. But by 2020 everyone knew that the sum total of all those negotiations and contracts—be they with Cowan & Co., Glencore, Rosneft or SinoHawk—added up to nothing, because CEFC turned out to be a Chinese Enron, a house of cards that began to implode in late 2017. Everyone was fooled, including the Chinese government.
But it didn't matter; the Trump campaign and the rest of Murdoch media were eager to indulge Bobulinski’s fantasies about never-done deals and use him as their useful idiot. They found enough isolated and meaningless factoids to juggle in order to give the illusion of some kind of corruption. They worked furiously to bury the Journal's news reporting, and anything else that might disrupt their carefully coordinated October Surprise campaign, which carefully mimics Putin's Firehose of Falsehood disinformation model. Others call it flooding the zone with shit.
Murdoch media has been abusing emails since at least December 2009, when it invented "Climategate," their imaginary scandal based on distortions from stolen emails, which were used to challenge the rock solid scientific evidence of global warming.
It all adheres to a template as predictable as an episode of Wheel of Fortune. First falsify the context and meaning of private emails. Second, allege a huge scandal based on nothing. Third, impugn the fact checking media for not amplifying their phony story. Fourth, double down on everything.
The New York Post followed the same template one week before Bobulinski's story broke. Back in 2015 a consultant to the board of Burisma sent an email thanking Hunter Biden for introducing him to his father at a charity fundraising dinner. So on October 14, 2020, the paper touted an unverified email, from a laptop of dubious provenance, while purposefully concealing the what, where, and why elements of the story to insinuate Joe's "involvement" with Burisma by way of this deceitful headline, "Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad." At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the email was neither a smoking gun nor did it reveal how the introduction was made. But Murdoch media proceeded to assail reputable news outlets, which had no access to the notorious laptop, for failing to mimic their contemptuous disregard for fact checking. The New York Post has never stopped replicating and amplifying this bullshit.
The conceit of the first New York Post story overlaps with the conceit of the Bobuliski story. In both instances, a business associate of Hunter Biden briefly meets Joe Biden in a social setting, and then the Murdoch-sponsored accusers imagine that Joe is “involved” in the business.
Coordinating the Bobulinski Launch
For a simplified roadmap of how the Bobulinski disinformation campaign was carefully coordinated, a good place to start is with a word search for "Strassel" and "Bobulinski" during the two weeks that preceded the 2020 election.
Kimberley Strassel was never interested in connecting the dots, only in highlighting dots she could use as a pretext for insinuating falsehoods. She knew what "big guys" at Murdoch media wanted. Over time she would become more blatant, telling flat out lies when appearing on Fox. Here's how the rollout was scheduled:
October 22, 2020:
5:00 p.m. Eastern time, Tony Bobulinski gives his press conference in Nashville. After being introduced by Trump's campaign manager, Bobulinski gives his scripted no-questions speech. (He would later testify that he had no idea how the media event was arranged, or who arranged it.)
7:23 p.m. Strassel's column goes live, with "The Biden ‘Family Legacy’ What we learned from the text messages of Hunter’s partner Tony Bobulinski," touting Bobulinski's wild ruminations about Joe Biden. The release allowed sufficient time for wide distribution prior to the debate.
9:00 p.m. Presidential Debate. During which Trump echoed similar wild claims of corruption. Bobulinski sat in the audience at Trump's special guest.
10:30 p.m. Post-debate programming on Fox News. On which Sean Hannity touted Bobulinski's press event and Strassel's column.
October 23, 2020
9 a.m. On The Wall Street Journal’s news page: "Hunter Biden’s Ex-Business Partner Alleges Father Knew About Venture.”Though the subhead was, "Former vice president says he had no involvement; corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden."
1:00 p.m. Bobulinski walks into the D.C. FBI office with Trump lawyer Stefan Passantino.
During Fox's after-debate coverage on October 22, Hannity said:
Elise Stefanik just tweeted out, every single witness during the impeachment hearings testified Hunter serving on the board of Burisma was a conflict of interest, or at least the appearance I know because I asked each and every one. Now, President Trump's special guest tonight at the debate was a retired Navy Lieutenant, and his name is Tony Bobulinski. Mr. Bobulinski was a former associate of Hunter Biden, now, blowing the whistle on the entire Biden cabal. Now, pay attention to this, because a lot of news organizations didn't want to cover this.
This passage exemplifies the shell game played by everyone touting the nonexistent Hunter Biden scandal. The aborted CEFC venture had different moving parts; Hunter Biden's Burisma stint had different moving parts. Bobulinski had zero connection or actual knowledge about anything related to Burisma, which is why no reputable news outlet would ever connect them. And reputable news outlets would spend time to fact check Bobulinski's convoluted claims, which is why on the evening of October 22, 2020, they weren't reported. Which points to another secret weapon of Hannity and other professional liars on Murdoch media; it's called Brandolini's Law or the bullshit asymmetry principle: the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.
Hannity's followup:
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LT. TONY BOBULINSKI (RET.), U.S. NAVY: Biden say that he's never discussed business with Hunter. That is false. I have firsthand knowledge about this because I directly dealt with theBiden family, including Joe Biden.
Bobulinski's "firsthand knowledge" was a social introduction to the former Vice President, which was prefaced by Hunter’s admonishment not to talk about business (see his deposition). Bobulinski's discussions were with Hunter and James Biden about starting a prospective business, which was never funded.
And then to drive the message home, Hannity said:
Now, get this, according to the Wall Street Journal, great piece out tonight by Kimberley Strassel. Hunter's Chinese counterparts were closely entwined with the Chinese government, Chinese military until their entity went bankrupt following U.S. charges of money laundering. And Strassel goes on to report, there is no question that this Chinese entity was buying Hunter for influence, a monumental scandal with only 12 days to go as of midnight is not going to go away just because Joe Biden says I didn't get a penny.
Let's count Hannity's lies:
- “No question that this Chinese entity was buying Hunter for influence." Neither Strassel, nor Bobulinski, nor anyone else had any knowledge of why CEFC was doing business with Hunter, whose credentials on paper made him a reasonable candidate for the planned venture.
- Neither Bobulinski nor any other partner had any direct knowledge of how CEFC interacted with the Chinese government, which was duped along with everyone else.
- In 2017 Joe Biden and everyone else believed his political career was over, so the opportunity to buy influence under the Trump Administration was nonexistent.
- The documents confirm that Joe Biden didn't get a penny from the Chinese.
See how the bullshit asymmetry principle works?
Amplifying Strassel’s Falsehoods on Fox
Friday October 23, 2020: The Washington Post notices that Strassel's column is debunked. It published, "A Wall Street Journal columnist said Joe Biden was part of Hunter's business deal. Hours later, its news reporters said the opposite."
Sunday October 25, 2020:So the Journal's editorial board doubles down with word games in, “The Press of Conformity: A case study in how the media stigmatize opposing views.” True to form, they dissembled to the point of fraud, claiming:
Our Kimberley Strassel wrote a detailed analysis in her Friday column about the emails and text messages of former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski. Journal reporters wrote later that day about Mr. Bobulinski's claims, and media partisans jumped to assert that the news story contradicted Ms. Strassel's. No, it didn't, as more careful analysts like Mark Hemingway have noted...[Strassel] reported that Mr. Bobulinski provided documents supporting his claim that a stake was envisioned for Joe Biden, but that Mr. Biden ought to respond to clear the record if this wasn't true.
The editorial board’s lie was that the record had not been cleared, when it was cleared by Joe Biden, and by Journal’s news reporters, who quoted Gilliar, who said that “his claim that a stake was envisioned [by Gilliar] for Joe Biden,” was no longer applicable, as confirmed by legal documentation that Strassel chose to ignore. (Biden didn't comment on somebody else's email that went nowhere.) This shellgame goes to the heart of the entire Hunter Biden “scandal.” It's not that the accusers have no evidence; it's that the accusers, every single one of them, are such obvious liars.
Monday October 26, 2020: Strassel amplified the lies on Tucker Carlson
Tuesday October 27, 2020: Strassel amplified the lies on Sean Hannity
Wednesday October 28, 2020: Strassel amplified the lies on Lou Dobbs
Thursday October 29, 2020: Strassel amplified the lies on Laura Ingraham
Here's a sampling, beginning on October 26, 2020:
CARLSON: This meeting, and this is going to be the topic -- one of the topics of our conversation with Tony Bobulinski tomorrow, but this meeting that he says he had with Joe Biden from what we can tell took place. It's real. He met with Joe Biden. Can you think of any reason that Joe Biden would meet with an investment guy called Tony Bobulinski if it wasn't about business?
STRASSEL: Look, this is all real. Can I just say that the smear argument, a smear is when you make something up? Okay.
CARLSON: Yes.
STRASSEL: This is now beyond a shadow of a doubt. "The Wall Street Journal,"both its news side and its editorial page have made clear this deal happened. Okay, these e-mails are out there and Joe was involved with this. The question is to what degree? Now, Tony Bobulinski and the e-mails and texts suggests that there was indeed a meeting. We also have this piece of paper that laid out what was supposed to be the equity holdings in this coming company. It says 20 percent to Hunter and then it says, you know, maybe Hunter is going to hold 10 percent in addition for the big guy. Tony Bobulinski says that that is Joe Biden. Now, the Biden campaign has not denied any of this. It hasn't answered any questions on this.
CARLSON: Right.
Again, the Journal’s reporters confirmed that the deal was never funded or operational, and the Joe Biden did deny those claims. By defaming reporters at her paper, Strassel removes any doubt that she is an avowed disciple of Goebbels.
Tuesday October 27, 2020: After Carlson's episode, described in depth here, Strassel appeared on Hannity to lie again.
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yeah. So, he is very credible, by the way. And, look, I think it's important, Sean, we don't even have to guess there are some things we don't know because what just came out tonight is bad enough. You know, first of all, as you just said, we know that Joe Biden has claimed over and over he didn't get engaged with his son's business, didn't know. That's not true, OK? You don't meet two times with your son's business partner and still make that statement. We also know he hasn't been truthful just within the last few days when he claimed this was a Russian disinformation and that was a powerful part of the Bobulinski interview when he said, look, I called the Biden family representative and I said all I'm asking is that you've explained this is not Russian disinformation and explain it how you want and I won't go public. They wouldn't do that. They continue to say it.And finally, we know that whether through Joe's active participation or simply Hunter using him that he abetted in some way with Hunter's business deals across the globe and with some pretty sleazy characters. And that's a lot that the Biden campaign needs to account for and answer for.
Next time: Murdoch media’s coordinated effort to double down on Bobulinski's lies before and after his testimony with the House Oversight Committee.