Steve Bannon boasted 'I have Hunter's hard drive' two weeks before its secrets were revealed - and allies of billionaire Chinese fugitive who pays Bannon and partied with Rudy Giuliani hinted at 'sex and money scandal' late in September too
Associates of a dissident Chinese billionaire made cryptic posts about 'three hard disks' about Hunter Biden which would cause 'a big money and sex scandal' almost two weeks before their release, it emerged Friday.
An online post – which mentioned 'videos and dossiers' – appeared to anticipate the release of the cache of potentially damaging information about Joe Biden's son that first appeared in the New York Post this week.
And on Friday a Dutch journalist revealed that Steve Bannon had boasted on September 28: 'I have the hard drive of Hunter Biden.'
In an outtake from Nieuwsuur posted by journalist, Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal, Bannon was asked 'what's on it?' and replied. 'You'll see. Stand by. Stand by. stand by.'
Both developments were reported by the Daily Beast.
The posts raise new questions about the origins of the information about Joe Biden's son that has rocked the presidential election with details of Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine; demands for more than $30 million in China; selfies including one with an apparent crack pipe; and a claim that the laptop contains a 'sex and drugs' video of the 50-year-old father of five.
The FBI has already launched a counter-intelligence investigation into the laptop.
The initial posting of the rumor came from a Chinese-language YouTube channel, Ding Gang, which is linked to fugitive Chinese dissident billionaire Guo Wengui, who is advised by former chief White House strategist Bannon. Guo is a vocal public opponent of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The post shows a man on the YouTube channel making the cryptic prediction on September 25, the Daily Beast reported - long before the first publication of the material on October 14.
The Chinese-language stream was picked up by a Twitter account called Himalaya Global, which tweeted: 'Bombshell… 3 hard disk drives of videos and dossier of Hunter Biden’s connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been sent to Nancy Pelosi and DOJ. Big money and sex scandal! may come out soon.'
In the video, the man spoke about 'three disks' which he claimed had been sent by the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party to the U.S. Department of Justice and to Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker.
Both Ding and Himalaya Global are linked to Wengui and to Bannon.
'I have the hard drive of Hunter Biden.' What Steve Bannon told Dutch television on September 28 is now revealed
Is this proof that Hunter's emails were known to a Chinese billionaire in September? The post on a YouTube channel linked to Guo Wengui has close parallels to the release of his laptop's emails and photographs.
Celebration: This was Guo Wengui and Rudy Giuliani in a tweet posted on the day the New York Post said the president's attorney passed the newspaper a copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive
Steve Bannon was with fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui when Bannon was arrested in August. Now a Chinese-language channel linked to Guo is said to have offered a cryptic prediction which linked Hunter Biden 'disks' to a scandal about sex and money
In hot water: Hunter Biden's laptop contained emails about his business dealings, sexually explicit pictures and footage of him apparently smoking crack
Bannon was identified by the Post as the person to first alert the newspaper to the existence of a cache of information about Hunter, which the paper said was then given to them by Rudy Giuliani last Sunday. On that day Giuliani was pictured smoking cigars with Guo, who has two New York apartments.
Bannon was aboard Wengui's mega-yacht when he was arrested in August and the two men joined forces this summer in New York to declare the New Federal State of China, planning to overthrow the Communist Party.
The two have appeared together in public repeatedly, and Bannon's podcast has frequently featured on Himalaya Global's social media accounts.
But it is the tweet about Hunter Biden, disks and scandal on September 28 which is certain to raise eyebrows.
The tweet on Himalaya Global's account included an English translation for the clip about the dissemination of the hard drives.
It suggested that as well as compromising material, it included information about the coronavirus 'and biochemical weapons' and claimed that sending it to both the the DOJ and Pelosi was a hedge by members of the ruling Communist party in Beijing on who would win the election.
'They are betting on both sides,' the broadcaster is translated as saying.
The DOJ and the Speaker's Office have not commented on the claims.
It is the first time that Chinese government interests have been suggested to have Hunter's material, in contrast to persistent reports that intelligence agencies were concerned about Russian links to Giuliani.
The Washington Post reported that in December national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned President Trump that U.S. intelligence had flagged Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine, where he was seeking to obtain information to prove his theories of Biden 'corruption.'
Intercepted communications showed Giuliani was dealing with people tied to Russian intelligence, according to the report.
There is no direct evidence in the stream that would prove that Guo had any sort of knowledge of the Hunter laptop - but there have also been disclosures that a poster on an online forum dedicated to Donald Trump similarly claimed that material about Biden would be released this week.
And on October 11, the day the Post says Giuliani handed over a copy of Hunter's hard drive to the New York Post, a pro-Guo Twitter account posted images of the fugitive billionaire smiling and smoking cigars with Giuliani.
The new detail came as Giuliani promised there was more to come from the hard drive in a new interview with the Daily Caller, where he revealed his attorney has been in possession of the information for months.
'By the time 10 days is out, you'll have the whole thing,' he said.
'We're going to be in control of putting it out and we're going to catch them in lies,' the former New York Mayor said.
However he raised more questions over how the laptop came into the public domain.
Hunter - or a man who said he was Hunter - is said to have left the laptop, and two others, at an independent Mac shop in Wilmington, DE, on April 11 2019.
The computer shop owner, John Paul MacIsaac said this week that a man came into his store who said he was Hunter, but after 90 days failed to pick up the laptops.
The disclaimer he signed when he dropped them off said that at that point they would be considered 'abandoned.'
There appears to be no clear law on whether MacIsaac was then free to look at the data on the laptop, experts told Slate.
MacIsaac said he made copies of the hard drive and provided it to the FBI and to a lawyer for Giuliani, MacIsaac said. MacIsaac was adamant that he had made only one copy, which he had kept for himself before giving it to the FBI.
He says he gave it to the FBI in December – a subpoena provided by Giuliani is dated December 19.
But on Friday Giuliani offered a marginally different version of events, saying that MacIsaac, 44, in fact made four copies and tried to give them to other Republicans as well as to Robert Costello, Giuliani's attorney.
'He gave it to the FBI first,' Giuliani said of the computer store owner. 'And he waited four or five months. He held on to forged copies of it. He gave two to friends of his in case he was killed.
'He waited about four months, five months, I'm not sure because my lawyer's the one who talked to him about this.'
Giuliani says it was also offered to other Republican operatives and said that that either the turned it down, or that his attorney responded first.
He said it contained 'horrible, disgusting' photos that proved it was Hunter's information.
Handed over: This is the receipt showing when a man who called himself Hunter Biden left the laptop and how if he failed to pick it up it would be treated as 'abandoned'
John Paul MacIsaac, 44, a former Genius Bar worker who runs his own Mac store in Wilmington, DE, revealed that he had passed the laptop to both the FBI and Rudy Giuliani John Paul Mac Isaac on his facebook page - identified as the owner of the Mac shop in DE where Hunter Biden's laptop was allegedly taken for repair and subsequently turned over to FBI
Giuliani says the information on the hard drive proves Joe Biden is 'corrupt.' The former mob prosecutor described Hunter Biden as his father's 'bag-man,' based on information on the hard drive.
Giuliani told NewsMax Thursday the president did not know about the information.
'Because they covered it up. The president didn't know this. I didn't know this, this part, until now, until a few weeks ago, approximately when I found out about it,' he said.
He also told Bannon's podcast Thursday the hard drive contained 1,000 photos and said it contained 40,000 emails.
On Giuliani's new account, he and his own attorney have had the hard disk since around May.
No Republican has come forward to say they had been offered the hard drive before or at the same time as Giuliani.
One part of the Chinese connection to the laptop emerged Thursday with its emails disclosing that Hunter pursued deals with a major Chinese energy company including one that would be 'interesting for me and my family.'
He also struck a deal for $30 million plus bonuses 'based on introductions alone' over three years after his father left office, then was offered a 'much more lasting and lucrative arrangement.'
The son of the Democratic presidential nominee communicated with China's largest private energy company, CEFC.The trove of emails have set of a series of political shockwaves including:
The emails focus on Hunter's dealings with Ye Jianming, the former chairman of CEFC in 2017, after his father had left office and when it was thought he would not run in 2020.
Ye has not been seen since he was taken into custody by Chinese authorities in 2018 amid rumored links to the Chinese military and intelligence services.
It was previously known that he gave Hunter a diamond as they discussed putting together a deal.
CEFC went bankrupt earlier this year after it was unable to repay its huge debts after warnings over its lack of transparency and dealings with sanctioned Russian firms.
It is unknown if Ye was a Communist Party member, although being successful in China is difficult if you are not.
In one email sent to Hunter in May 2017 titled 'Expectations', details of 'remuneration packages' for six people in a business venture were discussed.
He was identified as the 'chair/vice chair depending on agreement with CEFC', an apparent reference to the now bankrupt Shanghai conglomerate China Energy Co.
Hunter's pay was '850' and the correspondence also noted how he 'has some office expectations he will elaborate'.
Another email outlines a 'provisional agreement' where 80 per cent of the 'equity' would be shared equally among four people whose initials appear to relate to Hunter and three other recipients.
The sender of the email, James Gilliar, from consulting firm J2cR, said: 'I am happy to raise any detail with Zang if there is shortfalls?'
The email divides the equity into '20 H' - meaning 20 per cent equity to Hunter; 20 per cent to RW, meaning Rob Walker, also of the jc2r consultancy; 20 per cent to another man called Tony Bubulinski.
The remaining 20 per cent was split with 10 per cent going to 'Jim' who is otherwise unnamed, and then '10 held by H for the big guy?'
The big guy is unnamed.
Zang appears to be a reference to Zang Jian Jun who was the former executive director of CEFC.
In another 2017 email, Hunted reportedly discussed a deal with Ye. According to the leaked emails, Biden wrote that Ye had been influential in improving a three-year consulting contract with CEFC that would pay him $10million annually just for introductions.
He was given half ownership of a holding company to sweeten the deal, with Ye owning the other half.
According to the leaked emails, Biden wrote: 'Consulting fees is one piece of our income stream but the reason this proposal by the chairman was so much more interesting to me and my family is that we would also be partners inn the equity and profits of the JV's [joint venture's] investments.'
His email was sent to Gongwen Dong who has been linked to the purchase of two luxury Manhattan apartments for a total of $83million, which were bought by companies linked to Ye, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A photo from August 2017 appears to show a flowchart of the ownership of Hudson West which is split equally between Hunter Biden and 'Chairman'.
A report on Biden's business dealings released last month found Hudson West III opened a line of credit in September 2017.
Credit cards issued against the account were used by Hunter, his uncle James and James's wife Sara.
They purchased more than $100,000 worth of items including airline tickets, Apple products, hotel and restaurant bookings, according to the report released by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Hudson West has since been dissolved and Hunter's law firm Owaco PC was one of its two owners the report said.
Also seen in the emails was an agreement from one of Ye's associates to pay Biden a retainer of $1million for counsel on US law.
The offer was made by former Hong Kong government official Chi Ping Patrick Ho, who has been convicted in Manhattan for two schemes to pay $3million in bribes to African government officials for oil rights.
Hunter is said to have struck deals with Ye Jianming, the former chairman of CEFC, who has not been seen since his arrest in 2018
Extracts from one email published Thursday by the New York Post show how Hunter Biden was to be paid $850,000 in part of his arrangement with the Chinese firm
He served a prison sentence of three years and was deported to Hong Kong in June.
The revelations come after emails come from Hunter's laptop appeared to show him making an introduction between his powerful father and a Ukrainian energy firm on Wednesday.
Gas company Burisma' adviser Vadym Pozharskyi thanked Hunter for 'an opportunity to meet your father' in an email sent in 2015, according to the stash of data given to the New York Post by Rudy Giuliani.
Biden dismissed the findings, and his spokesman Andrew Bates said the paper ' never asked the Biden campaign about the critical elements of this story...moreover, we have reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.'
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