Work headshot/Getty Rob Walker and Tony Bobulinski
Rob Walker is the subject of new claims relating to the alleged Hunter Biden laptop controversy, former Naval officer Tony Bobulinski, and the Joe Biden family.
Bobulinski, who used to be Hunter Biden’s business partner, claimed on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News that Walker warned him not to go public with his comments against Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. Bobulinski has claimed that Hunter “consulted” with Joe Biden about a planned venture with Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy Co., according to The Wall Street Journal.
Carlson alleged that Walker is the “Biden family representative,” including Joe Biden. The laptop has provoked intense controversy ever since it surfaced in the New York Post via Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani, who got it from a Delaware computer repair shop owner who says Hunter Biden brought it in for repairs and then never picked it back up. The alleged laptop contains sexually-explicit photos containing drug activity, a purported Hunter Biden sex tape, and emails about the Biden son’s business dealings. Critics have claimed that the laptop is part of a Russian disinformation campaign, although that’s not proven; they have also stressed the claims and even the laptop itself are unverified. They say it raises questions that the leak is coming so close to the presidential election. The computer store owner is a Trump supporter.
Joe Biden’s campaign has denied any wrongdoing. “Joe Biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever. He has never held stock in any such business arrangements nor has any family member or any other person ever held stock for him,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, according to Fox Baltimore.
Bobulinski told The New York Post that Joe Biden “was a willing and eager participant in a family scheme to make millions of dollars by partnering with a shady Chinese Communist firm.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Bobulinski Claims Rob Walker Said, ‘You’re Just Going to Bury All of Us’
“You’re just going to bury all of us, man.”
That’s what Bobulinski told Carlson that Walker allegedly told him, and he produced audio to back it up. He said Walker, when he learned that Bobulinski was planning on going public with his account, was trying to “coach me. Trying to sort of say hey we don’t want to do that. We don’t want press trucks in front of our house. I’m going to have to move. I could lose my job. And all of that. I’m not trying to cause any harm to anyone in this situation, let alone Rob Walker and his family. But basically Rob’s position was if you go on record with all these facts, you’ll bury all of us.”
Bobulinski said he wanted Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff to take back a claim that the laptop controversy was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Bobulinski produced an audio recording he said was part of his telephone conversation with Walker.
“If he doesn’t come out, on record, I am providing the facts,” Bobulinski said.
“Ah, Tony, you’re just going to bury all of us, man,” Walker allegedly responded.
Bobulinski has said that one of the emails in the laptop, which was given to Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani by a Delaware computer store owner, was authentic because he received it. It claimed that 10 percent of their company was “held by H for the big guy?” Bobulinski says Joe Biden was “the big guy” and H was Hunter Biden but that’s unproven. The business deals involved a Chinese effort.
2. Walker’s Wife Worked for Jill Biden, Reports Say
According to Sean Davis, co-founder of the conservative Federalist publication, Rob Walker is the “the husband of Betsy Massey Walker, the long-time White House personal assistant of Jill Biden, Joe Biden’s wife.”
A Twitter page in the name of Betsy Massey has a couple tweets about Dr. Jill Biden.
In her book, Jill Biden included Betsy Massey on a list of people she was thanking who were part of “Team Jill, as my staff call themselves. The many women and men who worked around the clock at the White House.”
3. Walker Wanted Bobulinski to Meet Joe Biden, Bobulinski Says
Carlson asked: “I want to fast forward to 2017, early May, 2017, and at this point you’ve agreed to become part of this deal. Hunter Biden, Jim Biden, the vice president’s brother, James Gilliar, and they’re asking you to meet with the former vice president in Los Angeles.”
Bobulinski responded, “I met with Hunter Biden multiple times at the Chateau Marmont and Rob Walker, and the discussion was they wanted me to sit down with their father, just to meet him and, at a high level, discuss the Biden family and how they approach things.”
You can read a transcript of Bobulinski’s Tucker Carlson appearance here.
4. Bobulinski Accuses Walker of Acting as a ‘Proxy’ for the Biden Family Around the World
GettyFormer vice president and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
SinoHawk Holdings, which Bobulinski was involved in, “was half held by Hunter and James Biden, alongside former Clinton administration official Rob Walker and British national James Gilliar,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Bobulinski told Carlson, “Rob Walker was a partner in Rosemont Seneca and had a very close relationship with the Biden family and had developed and been working with James Gilliar throughout 2015 and 2016 to develop this deal with the Chinese and CEFC.”
He added, “So my understanding is Rob had worked in prior administrations and had a very, very close relationship. In fact in Rob Walker’s own words in an email to me he states that you know everyone was contributing or telling me how they wanted to participate in Sinohawk, and in an email he basically states in his own words to me, I want to continue acting as a proxy for Hunter Biden, Jim Biden and the Bidens around the world.”
According to Wispolitics.com, “U.S. Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, will convene an informal interview Friday with Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden business associate. In response to an October 21, 2020, request from the Chairmen, today Mr. Bobulinski provided the Committees with documents regarding his business arrangements with Hunter Biden and others. The Chairmen also sent similar requests for information to Hunter Biden, James Biden, James Gilliar and Rob Walker.”
The Wall Street Journal received a comment from Gilliar saying: “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.”
Walker was copied on another email that surfaced.
5. Walker Worked in Clinton & Bush Administrations
According to The New York Post, Rob Walker is a “former official in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.”
A Bobulinski email describes Waalker as a co-founder of J2CR, a “strategic advisory firm.”
The email said that Walker is “partners w a good friend of mine James Gilliar. James advises some of the large global families, including SBK Holdings…They are thinking about how they may $25-50 MM available to buildout cities around the world. James knows that I am closing allocations next week on NYC $21 MM round. Let’s bring our A game!”
A biography online for Walker says that he serves “as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Pilot Growth Equity and a leader of its Business Development Services team. Rob has played a key role in the firm’s investments in CB Insights, Counsyl, Metabiota, ZENEDGE, and C-Legal (acquired by Ernst & Young).”
Rob has extensive private and public sector experience in international affairs, politics, and government. After an influential role in both of President Clinton’s successful campaigns, Rob worked at the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration – working directly for Secretary Rodney Slater and then Administrator Jane Garvey. Rob represented and furthered these officials’ interests to other federal agencies, on Capitol Hill, and with foreign governments. After leaving government, Rob created a robust international consulting practice aimed at assisting U.S. companies to establish their operations internationally. In addition to his international consulting practice, Rob handled government relations for aerospace clients, helping to secure federal Transportation and Defense funding. Rob graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas.
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