As a freak phenomenon that went viral, Tony Bobulinski's story deserves more than a footnote in the written history of the Biden Administration. His bogus claims implicate an army of conservative “journalists,” who plucked out a singular five-word email fragment to invent a popular meme. It became a rightwing mantra used to push Bobulinski's primary calumny, which was that Joe Biden was involved in his son's business affairs. Anyone with basic reading skills, who spent two minutes on Google, would uncover the falsity of that claim.
The Lies Are Very Obvious
The person who sent the email, who hoped to entice Joe Biden to take a stake in a planned venture, merely posed a question, which was promptly answered in writing with a definitive NO. Which is why we know with mathematical certainty that the multitudes who invoke the phrase, "10[%] for the big guy,” to impugn Joe Biden are indefensibly trafficking in lies.
We also know with mathematical certainty that Bobulinski never "discussed business" with Joe Biden in 2017, because there was never any business to discuss, only his hopes and dreams, which went nowhere. Bobulinski's planned venture was never launched because the deep pocket that was supposed to fund everything, a multibillion dollar conglomerate called CEFC China Energy, proved to be a house of cards that collapsed in early 2018. So we know with mathematical certainty that it was physically impossible for the Bidens to peddle influence on behalf of CEFC during and after the Trump Administration. For details on the entire saga, see this.
And we know with mathematical certainty that Bobulinski never observed the Bidens doing business with anyone, which is why we know that Fox traffics in lies when it reports, "Joe Biden 'enabled' family to sell access to 'dangerous adversaries,' Tony Bobulinski testifies."
Bobulinski’s incessant lying, and his difficulty in distinguishing fantasy from reality, became painfully apparent during his interview with the House Oversight Committee. But for three years he proved to be the useful idiot for Trump allies who opened a Firehose of Falsehoods to fabricate a nonexistent Biden scandal, first by alleging that Joe Biden's denial of involvement was false, second by claiming that anyone who refuted or ignored Bobulinski's transparent lies was engaged in a coverup, and third by providing fodder for other dishonest "whistleblowers" like Gary Shapley and Gal Luft, who peddled other bogus accusations that crumble under basic fact checking.
From the date of his first “no questions” press event, arranged by the Trump Campaign on October 22, 2020, up until now, Bobulinski's handlers have limited his public availability, for obvious reasons. He's clearly in over his head. He first presented himself as an "institutional investor," which is obviously untrue. He also struggled with basic concepts, like the distinction between consulting on business acquisitions and investing in new businesses. The moniker useful idiot is no exaggeration in this instance.
And for a guy who claims to be an astute and seasoned businessman, Bobulinski showed an inability to focus and remain levelheaded during an episode-long interview on Tucker Carlson on October 27, 2020. He kept dwelling on superfluous details like an overexcited teenager, going on and on about being escorted to the VIP table at the Milken Conference where Joe Biden spoke on cancer research, while recounting nothing substantive about his discussion with the former Vice President. But members of the House Oversight Committee, who questioned him for six hours recently, missed an opportunity to ask him to fill in the huge gaps in his background, which you can drive a truck through.
One Partner's Unmet Hopes Turned Into Bobulinski's Fantasy
As terms of the venture were being negotiated in May 2017, it seems that one prospective partner, an Englishman named James Gilliar, whose background reads like a character out of a LeCarre novel, hoped to entice the former Vice President to sign on as an investor. But two other partners, Hunter Biden and Joe's brother, Jim Biden, were hypersensitive about even broaching the subject, which is why Gilliar told Bobulinski to never mention Joe in any email. It's uncertain if the other Bidens ever entertained Gilliar's idea, or if Joe Biden ever heard about it. But Gilliar's hopes were aborted quickly, which is why Joe Biden's name is absent from any legal documentation. No one, aside from Bobulinski, ever imagined that Joe Biden was involved in the transaction.
But in 2020 Bobulinski fantasized that Gilliar's hopes had somehow morphed into reality. He learned that Hunter and Jim Biden had signed a side deal to start a CEFC venture without him, and seemed bent on revenge. But no one else would care about Bobulinski’s story unless he pulled in the father. So he perversely cites inconsequential communications--Gilliar's messages advising him to not mention Joe Biden, Gilliar's email question ("10 for the big guy?"), and Hunter's admonition to not mention business when he met Joe Biden--as proof that Joe was involved in their never-started enterprise.
Bizarre and Nonsensical Testimony
He seems to have a childlike view of how the business world operates, imagining that reality occurs through some kind of secret code, instead of legal documentation. Which is why we should wonder about Bobulinski's murky background, and how he became a business colleague of Gilliar. Here's one fantasy-laden passage of his House testimony:
The [Democratic] minority seems to want to, like, bifurcate it and differentiate between relationship development and actual business. The relationship development is business. Joe Biden walking into a room and shaking Chairman Ye's hand is business, in the world I live in. You don't have to take my word. Call, you know, Jamie Dimon, you know, the chairman of J.P. Morgan. He doesn't sit down at meetings and say, okay, I'm going to sit for this 2-hour meeting. He comes in and shakes three hands and walks out of the room. And that handshake is business. That's why he's the chairman of J.P. Morgan and has, you know, made himself a billionaire.
Actually, in the world Jamie Dimon lives in, nobody rises to the top because they're good at handshakes, and J.P. Morgan doesn't execute any deals based on a handshake, even Jamie Dimon's. Every transaction, large and small, is based on heavily negotiated legal documentation, and the commercial deals require detailed memoranda prepared by analysts and overseen by executives.
Bobulinski's lawyer should have prepared him for moments when his fantasy might be punctured by the text of a three-year-old article in The Wall Street Journal, which triggered one of his many unhinged rants:
[Rep. Dan] Goldman. The next paragraph in the Wall Street Journal article, it says, "Mr. Gilliar told the Journal: I would like to clear up any speculation that former Vice President Biden was involved with the 2017 discussions about our potential business structure. I am unaware of any involvement at anytime of the former Vice President. The activity in question never delivered any project revenue.'"
Do you --
Mr. Bobulinski. It's a lie. It's a lie.
Mr. Goldman. So what is --
Mr. Bobulinski. The Wall Street Journal printed a lie --
Mr. Goldman. Okay.
Mr. Bobulinski. -- a blatant lie.
Mr. Goldman. What is the lie? What is the lie?
Mr. Bobulinski. They had documents that proved otherwise. The exhibits that you reference where James Gilliar says to me, "Don't mention Joe being involved," I know The Wall Street Journal had that screenshot.
Mr. Goldman. Yup.
Mr. Bobulinski. They knew Joe was involved. And this is James Gilliar lying to The Wall Street Journal however many days this is before the election, because his opinion --
Mr. Goldman. Well, let me just ask you about that, because --
Mr. Bobulinski.- because his opinion was he --
Mr. Goldman. Sir, let me ask you --
Mr. Bobulinski. - did not want us to come out to the public and correct the record and educate the American people.
Mr. Goldman. Do you agree -
Mr. Bobulinski. He is not an American.
Mr. Goldman. Sir, do you agree with me -
Mr. Bobulinski. And I have recordings --
Mr. Goldman. Sir --
Mr. Bobulinski. - where he was --
Mr. Goldman. You have recordings?
Mr. Bobulinski.- arguing with me, trying to keep me from going public and talking about the facts to the American people.
Mr. Goldman. You have recordings? Did you turn those over?
Mr. Bobulinski. I have not.
Mr. Goldman. Hm. Let's just be very clear here that the text messages that you are referring to are conversations between James Gilliar and you about whether or not Joe Biden was involved or what his involvement was. They do not - do not - dispute his statement that he is unaware of any involvement at any time of the former Vice President.I want to move on, just because that took longer than I expected.
Later when an unnamed lawyer tried to reconcile the names on the legal documents with Bobulinski's fantasy, he became unhinged again, so Goldman attempted to tally up the dozen people he accused of lying:
Mr. . The Biden family -- the Biden family -- exhibit 6, your partners are -- called Bidens -- are James Biden and Hunter Biden, right?
Mr. Bobulinski. Why did I meet with Joe Biden? You are obfuscating the fact of what transpired by talking --
Mr. Goldman. Sir, he's asking you a simple question.
Mr. Bobulinski. It isn't a simple question, Congressman Goldman.
Mr. Goldman. It's not a simple question?
Mr. Bobulinski. No, it's not a simple question.
Mr. Goldman. Who are the partners from the LLC?
Mr. Bobulinski. You continue to lie and obfuscate the facts to the American people. That's why my voice is raised --
Mr. Goldman. Good. So now we're back --
Mr. Bobulinski. -- because he's about to do it.
Mr. Goldman. So the FBI, The Wall Street Journal, Cassidy Hutchinson, all of us -- there was another one. Who else lied? Yeah, the FBI agents. We've got that.
Mr. . Rob Walker.
Mr. Goldman. Rob Walker.
Mr. . James Gilliar.
Mr. Goldman. James Gilliar.
That’s six FBI agents who interviewed him on October 23, 2020, the four other partners in the stillborn joint venture, reporters at The Wall Street Journal, Cassidy Hutchinson, and anyone else who doesn't indulge his wild fantasies.
Bobulinski's Enablers
But the bigger story, which deserves deeper coverage, is not that Bobulinski is a delusional crackpot. There were obvious signs of that on Tucker Carlson back on October 27, 2020. It's that the credibility rightwing enablers who turned him into a meme is punctured as well. Which is why Bobulinski’s counsel Stefan Passantino, who pimps out his law license for Trump, flooded the zone with more lies on Fox. "Mr. Bobulinski has the facts and the receipts, and no amount of character assassination will change that,” he wrote, plus, "it is categorically false to assert that Mr. Bobulinski failed to “provide any evidence at all that
President Biden was involved in his family’s business dealings” or that he did not testify that 'Joe Biden was not part of [the Biden family’s] business structure’”. Passantino couldn’t substantiate those claims if threatened with a firing squad.
Which is why the New York Post's Miranda Devine, who devoted her career to parroting and amplifying Bobulinski's nonsense, doubled down and let loose, tweeting that Dan Goldman was "trying recover his manhood after Bobulinski destroyed him yesterday."