Riding the Dragon (2020) - full transcript

Uncover the secret world of Joe Biden and his family's relationship to China and the sinister business deals that enriched them at America's expense.

the challenge of the

chinese communist party and the threat

that it poses to the united states and

our allies

is a critical importance to us right now

i think in the

long term in terms of american security

policy

china is going to be a much more

powerful country than russia

there's no country that presents a



broader

more comprehensive threat to america's

innovation to our economic security and

to our democratic ideas than china does

i believe we've got to live in reality

communist china

it wants to control the entire world

including americans

let's be clear the chinese communist

party is a marxist

limitless organization the party general

secretary

xi jinping sees himself as joseph

stalin's successor



china's a longer term threat and we need

to you need to be very clear-eyed about

what they are and what they are

they're not our partner here they're

never going to be our partner

under the existing leadership team under

president xi's rule the chinese

communist party

is heading even faster and further in

the wrong direction

more internal repression more predatory

economic practices

more heavy-handedness and most

concerning for me a more aggressive

military posture

for china success is a zero-sum game

china is going to eat our lunch

come on man i mean

i you know they're not bad folks folks

but guess what

they're not a they're not competition

for us

on the surface that's a really puzzling

thing to say

joe biden saying china is not really a

threat

china is america's chief rival on the

global stage

and nobody should know that better than

joe biden

i mean during the obama biden

administration

actually recalibrated foreign policy to

contain

china it was called the pivot

china has never loomed larger in our

lives

think about the economy trade

espionage now coveted 19.

china has said openly that they want to

supplant us

as the world's superpower but joe biden

talks about china differently

china is not our enemy not a problem

what are we worried about

come on man he doesn't see them as a

threat

and i believe then what i believe now

that a rising china

is a positive positive development

he welcomes the rise as a global power

why exactly perhaps it's personal

perhaps it's about his family perhaps

it's about the money

so

december 2013 vice president joe biden

is arriving in beijing

for a series of sensitive meetings with

chinese officials

the chinese give him the red carpet

treatment

literally but also along for the trip

joe biden's son hunter white

during the visit joe biden meets with

chinese vice premier lee

and with president xi

a 2013 trip to china getting new

attention this morning not for what joe

biden did

but for who he brought with him and what

was hunter biden doing

we're not sure he doesn't appear in many

pictures

of the official festivities

but what we do know is this

10 days after father and son returned to

the united states

hunter biden's small investment firm

announced a 1 billion private equity

deal

with the chinese government and where

did the capital come from for this deal

from the chinese government itself

unknown to the press back then hunter

biden was forming a chinese private

equity fund

planning to raise money including from

chinese investors

years later hunter biden acknowledged

that during the trip

he met with a chinese banker which his

spokesperson describes as a social visit

not a business one

i believe then and i'm even more

convinced now that a rising china

is an incredibly positive development

for

not only china but the united states and

the rest of the world

hunter small firm got a deal that no one

else

had in china

not morgan stanley goldman sachs

deutsche bank or ubs

and are you vulnerable on this issue at

all because of your son's business

dealings in china

no i don't believe so at all my son's

business dealings

were not anything with everybody that

he's talking about not even remotely

number

one

what's interesting is hunter biden had

no real background in china

in finance or private equity in fact

hunter had what might be called a spotty

resume

a couple of youthful jobs owing directly

to his father's influence

he was once made a director of amtrak

based on the fact that he'd ridden on

trains

he'd been addicted to crack cocaine

had an unsettled domestic life and a

brief attempt at a naval career ended

with a discharge over drug use

so why did the chinese pick him

spring 2017.

patrick hoe a chinese businessman was

arrested by the fbi

on bribery charges

he worked for a chinese energy company

with close ties to the chinese military

while in fbi custody home made two phone

calls

one of those strangely is to james biden

joe biden's brother

why did this man call the brother of the

vice president

he was looking for hunter

this is the remarkable and largely

hidden story

of the secret financial relationship

between the biden family

and the chinese government

it's a relationship that grew while joe

biden

was vice president of the united states

and shortly after he was appointed the

point person

on u.s policy towards china

our investigation is based on corporate

records

financial documents legal briefings

and court papers

it's the story of the second most

powerful man

in the world at the time and how his

family was striking deals with america's

chief rival on the global stage the

people's

republic of china

and it's a story that has been largely

never told

a rising china is a positive development

not only for the people of china but for

the united states and the world as a

whole

january 2009

joe biden is inaugurated vice president

of the united states

hi joseph robinette biden jr do solemnly

swear

it was a remarkable moment for biden who

had spent more than 35 years

in the united states senate

born to a family of modest means in

scranton pennsylvania

he would become known as lunch bucket

joe

he joined the political world early and

won election to the united states senate

at the ripe age of 29. he was sworn into

office just six weeks after reaching

the constitutionally required age of 30.

from its earliest days biden's political

career

was not just about joe but about the

larger biden family

politics was a family business when joe

did well the family did well

joe's sister valerie biden became a

political consultant

who was hired by joe's many campaigns

brothers frank and james became involved

in securing government contracts

and deals overseas with foreign

governments

joe's son hunter became a washington

lobbyist

representing clients from delaware

the state that his father represented in

the u.s

senate

when joe biden was elevated to the vice

presidency

the family's ambitions grew accordingly

now the world was a business opportunity

and the biden family was looking for

deals

including with foreign governments

just months after joe biden was

inaugurated vice president

his son hunter biden formed a company

called

rosemont seneca partners

his partners had useful connections one

was christopher hines

the stepson of senator john kerry a

powerful u.s senator

who would later become secretary of

state

the other partner was devin archer a

friend of heinz

rosemont is the name of the heinz

family's 90-acre

estate outside of fox chapel

pennsylvania

rosemont seneca the new investment firm

opened an office in georgetown

just two miles from the white house

outside of fox chapel pennsylvania

one of hunter biden's big scores was a

controversial deal he landed

in the troubled nation of ukraine in

00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,639
the ukrainian government fell

and joe biden became america's point man

for the troubled country

weeks later hunter biden was hired by a

corrupt ukrainian energy company called

verism

which paid hunter at a rate of 1 million

dollars a year this despite the fact

that he had no experience in energy

or in ukraine

if your last name wasn't biden do you

think he would have been asked to be on

the board of burisma

i don't know i don't know probably not

hunter landed on the barisma board as

did his partner

devin archer

hunter's ventures in ukraine would later

pose troubling questions of conflict of

interest

for his father joe support

rosemont was landing deals around the

world

but the big prize was china with its

booming economy

and staggering growth it's also an

economy where relationships are

key

especially with the chinese government

and i'd love now to raise our glass and

a toast

to many more generations of friendship

and peace

hunter biden began meeting with chinese

government officials

at the highest levels of power

he had no background in china little

background in finance

hunter's previous job had been as a

lobbyist

for an online gambling company located

in europe but now

doors were opening to hunter in china

often hunter's meetings coincided almost

directly

with his father's high level diplomacy

with chinese leaders

in april 2010 for example vice president

joe biden met with a chinese president

at the nuclear security summit in

washington dc

but at virtually the same time halfway

around the world

hunter biden was in china meeting with

government officials looking for

financial deals

who exactly was hunter biden meeting

with

only some of the most powerful finance

officials

in china hunter spent two days

meeting with the top executives from

china's sovereign wealth fund

social security fund and largest banks

hunter even posed with them for a series

of pictures

so how did hunter get these meetings

one chinese website's account of the

meeting touted the chinese officials

extended their warm welcome

to hunter biden quote second son

of the now vice president joe biden

in other words hunter got these meetings

because of who his father was

vice president of the united states

i don't think that there's a lot of

things that would happen in my life that

that if my last name wasn't fine

vice president joe biden with one eye

towards a possible 2016 bid

is getting the chance to flex his

international muscle power in

asia

that brings us back to 2013 when joe

biden arrived in beijing

with a full agenda among the highly

sensitive issues to press with his hosts

chinese cyber attacks the theft of

american intellectual property

trade issues national security

china's claims over the south china sea

hunter biden was also on board he joined

his father the next morning for a

meeting

with the u.s china business council and

then joe biden was

off to a meeting with vice president lee

just where hunter biden spent the rest

of his time on the trip

remains largely a mystery

but we do know this hunter later

admitted

that he introduced his father to a

chinese official

on this trip who was involved with

hunter's budding business ventures

and we know that ten days after the trip

hunter's one billion dollar deal with

the chinese government

was finalized

hunter and his chinese partners

established a private investment fund

they would call bohai harvest

the chinese government provided the

money

hunter was given a seat on the bohai

harvest board of directors

and a 10 equity stake in the new company

devin archer his business partner was

appointed vice chairman

the new firm enjoyed an unusual and

special status

in china operating through the shanghai

free trade zone

no other investment fund in the world

had a deal

like biden's firm

not ubs not goldman sachs

not morgan stanley no one

in short the son of the vice president

of the united states

with little investment experience no

experience in china

got a deal in the people's republic of

china

that no one else had and he got that

deal

shortly after his father was appointed

point person

on u.s policy towards china

but this isn't just another story about

a politician's kid

getting rich hunter's new firm

bow high harvest began making investment

deals

around the world that would serve the

strategic

interests of the chinese government

and that's what makes this deal so

troubling

that's a bold thing to say but it's true

this new firm started making investment

deals

that would serve the strategic interests

of the chinese

military

in 2015 hunter biden's bohai harvest

joined forces

with the chinese military contractor

avic

to buy american parts manufacturer

penegus

henegas's technology is considered dual

use

meaning it can be used for commercial

and

military purposes

and deals like these require approval of

the highest levels

of the federal government

hunter biden's partner in the hennegus

deal the chinese aviation giant

avik was notorious for its history of

stealing us

military technologies to build their own

fighter jets

and drones but in september 2015

avic bought 51 percent of hennigus

and hunter biden's boa harvest bought

the other

49 percent

and yes the obama administration did

indeed

approve it

hunter's firm bojai harvest also

invested in military surveillance

technology

that the chinese government would use to

monitor and control

the population in their own country

the company was called face plus

plus there are a number of american

investors that also stand to profit

from this mass surveillance that are

also invested in face plus plus

one of whom is hunter biden the son of

former vice president joe biden

bow high harvest also helped china in

its competition

with the united states over so-called

rare earth

minerals a chinese government-run firm

called china molybdenum produces rare

earth minerals around the world

competing with western firms for mining

access

and the company does not hide the fact

that its work has direct

military applications the company's 2015

annual report for example declares that

molybdenum

is used to produce sensitive military

technologies

what's fascinating is that while hunter

biden and his firm were helping

beijing in the race to acquire rare

earth minerals

his father's administration was actually

fighting them

in 2012 president obama announced that

the united states was filing a complaint

with the world trade organization

because china was trying to control

the global market

in 2014 the world trade organization

agreed

that china was trying to do so

yet two years later hunter's firm joined

with china

molybdenum and announced that together

they were buying more than half

of one of the largest copper mines in

the world

and so while the obama administration

was competing with

china in the race for rare earth

minerals

hunter biden and his firm were actually

helping beijing

win that race

but there was an even more troubling

deal

in december 2014 hunter's firm became an

anchor

investor in a company called china

general

nuclear or cgn

cgn had been wholly owned by the chinese

government

but it was now selling off a minority

state

to a favored investor hunter biden

presumably didn't realize

that when his company was investing in

cgn they were investing in a company

that was under

fbi investigation for stealing u.s

nuclear secrets

in fact less than 18 months after

hunter's chinese firm invested in china

general

a nuclear engineer named alan ho and the

company

were charged by the u.s justice

department with stealing

nuclear secrets from the united states

according to the fbi ho had been working

under the direction

of china general to steal american

nuclear secrets

since 1998.

it's not clear whether the fbi or the

obama justice department

knew that joe biden's family was

actually involved

with cgn

but what is clear is that china has been

trying to steal american nuclear secrets

for a long time

is it really that crazy to think that by

partnering with the son of the vice

president

they were trying to buy them too and

make no mistake

these firms hunter was dealing with are

directly tied to the chinese

military in june 2020 the u.s department

of defense released a list of companies

doing business in the united states

that were known to be connected to the

chinese military

on that list avik and

cgn but the bidens weren't done

cutting deals in china

joe doing diplomacy with a chinese

government and hunter kept

finding himself in the middle of more

business acquisitions

also with the chinese government

a confident china was on the march

asserting its power

and flexing its muscles

china had promised the world that it

wasn't going to militarize

the area but they went ahead and did so

anyway

the chinese aggression was aimed at

america too

china's military has attacked major u.s

companies

in a computer war that kills american

jobs more than 21 million americans had

personal information

stolen from government files in a data

breach that was six times as large as

originally disclosed

the information was hacked from the

office of personnel management

or opm which said today it is highly

likely

that anyone who went through background

checks to apply for a government

position since

2000 was affected

think about that the chinese government

had hacked an american government

website

and taken information from millions of

american government workers

highly sensitive private information it

was a crime

taken very seriously by our federal

government

and what was hunter biden doing he was

looking for more commercial deals

with the chinese another one of hunter

biden's businesses

was called rosemont realty

co-founded with devin archer who is the

chairman of the firm

just like his investment firm hunter

biden had no background

in commercial real estate but that

didn't stop him

from getting a seat at some of the

biggest tables

around the world who was rosemont realty

negotiating with

that would be a company called gemini a

former subsidiary of a chinese

state-owned company

with close ties to the chinese military

rosemont realty certainly played up the

biden connection

in the material they provided to

possible investors

in a company prospectus from rosemont

marked

confidential they noted that it was a

key consideration

that hunter biden son of vice president

biden

is on the advisory board

in august 2015 an eye-popping

multi-billion dollar deal

was announced

the chinese company gemini was buying a

00:31:40,799 --> 00:31:47,840
stake in hunter biden's company rosemont

so who exactly is this second chinese

business partner

of the biden family gemini's parent

company

sino ocean land

is actually run out of the headquarters

of the china

overseas shipping company costco

which is called the fifth arm of the

chinese navy

so you have two big deals between the

biden family

and the chinese government or chinese

government-linked firms

in the years following joe biden's

appointment

as the point person on u.s policy

towards china

but there was still more business to be

done

hunter and his business partner devin

archer began working with yet another

firm

this one called burnham asset management

out of an office in new york city they

work to line up more deals with chinese

companies many of them mysterious and

with murky ties

to the chinese government

one of the companies was called kirin

global enterprise limited

a mysterious investment vehicle run by

larry lee and guo jinfang

very little is known about kirin other

than the fact that they

invest heavily in mainland chinese

infrastructure

another chinese firm bidens wanted to

partner with is called

harvest global investments

which is linked to the chinese

government

how much money did the biden family make

from these deals

how deep do their ties to the chinese

government run

we can't know for sure but consider this

in 2017 a chinese executive was arrested

by the fbi in new york

on charges of money laundering and

violating

the foreign corrupt practices act

patrick hoe

was an assistant to a chinese oil tycoon

who ran cefc china energy

which had strong ties to the chinese

military

when hoe was arrested one of the first

calls he made

was to james biden joe's brother

when asked by the new york times about

the call

james biden says that ho was actually

calling to get hunter biden's

phone number

patrick hoe was charged and convicted

and went to jail

for those charges why exactly was he

calling hunter biden

what sort of help was he expecting

we don't know the answers to those

questions but what we do know is that

the bidens have cultivated

very close relationships with members of

the chinese elite

and some of those relationships would be

very hard

to defend

say

so what do we know we

know that the biden family has a series

of lucrative deals

with the chinese government

we know that these deals came despite

a lack of experience by the bidens in

the areas they covered

we know that they happened while joe

biden was steering

u.s foreign policy towards china

we also know that these deals didn't

just

make the biden's money they had

potentially dangerous consequences

for our national security

we know that hunter biden's firm backed

by the chinese government

invested in a company that was actively

stealing

nuclear secrets from the united states

we know that china has been consistent

in their efforts to acquire u.s

technology and that their spies have

been caught trying to steal

our military technology

we know that hunter biden's firm bought

a company that provides dual use

technologies

for the chinese military

we know that global powers have tried to

stop

china from monopolizing the world's

mineral resources

and we know that hunter biden's firm

bought a company

that actually helped china in its

competition

with the united states for mineral

resources

and we also know this that biden

investment firm that helped china gain

access to dual use technology that

invested in chinese surveillance

technology

and helped china in its quest to control

the world's strategic metals

hunter biden was forced by political

pressure to resign from that firm's

board of directors

in late 2019 but hunter quietly

maintains an ownership stake in the firm

a stake worth millions of dollars and

stands to be worth

even more as its china partnership

prospers

why did you leave the board in april

it's a five-year term

and you chose not to choose why i think

it's pretty obvious

so why does this matter because we need

to know who our leaders

are doing business with who is making

them wealthy

who might they be beholden to it's the

oldest story in politics

we need to follow the money

a rising china is a wash in money

the money trail stretches all across the

globe

and some of those trails lead straight

to one of america's most prominent

political families headed by a man

who calls himself lunch bucket joe

chyna is going to eat our lunch come on

man

do

come on man