Hunter Biden’s ex-associate Tony Bobulinski heads to Capitol Hill this week to testify in impeachment inquiry
Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill Tuesday as the latest witness in the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. A source familiar with the planning first told Fox News Digital that Bobulinski will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 10 a.m. for a transcribed interview before both the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. The testimony could last eight hours, according to the source. Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017. Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden “stop lying” about that meeting and called on him to “correct the record.” “Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?” Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!” FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE’S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN He added: “I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record.” Bobulinski said he is a “former decorated Naval Officer who was willing to die for this great country and held the highest security clearance issued by the Department of Energy.” Bobulinski worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC. Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president’s office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020. “Mrng plse let me knw if we will do early dinner w your Uncle & dad and where, also for document translation do you want it simple Chinese or traditional?” Bobulinski texted Hunter Biden on May 2, 2017. “Not sure on dinner yet and whatever is the most common for a Chinese legal DOC,” Hunter Biden replied. “Chinese legal docs can be both, i’ll make it traditional,” Bobulinski said. Hunter replied: “Dad not in now until 11 – let’s me I and Jim meet at 10 at Beverly Hilton where he’s staying.” BOBULINSKI OFFERED TO TESTIFY AT HUNTER BIDEN GRAND JURY BUT ‘NEVER HEARD BACK’: SOURCE Later, Bobulinski sent a text to Jim Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, on the same day, May 2, 2017, saying: “Great to meet u and spend some time together, please thank Joe for his time, was great to talk thx Tony b.” The following day, May 3, 2017, Bobulinski sent another text to Jim Biden, saying: “Morning, please let me know all set for things this mrng. I don’t have credentials to get into Milken so just want to make sure not an issue to get me in, where should we meet this mrng?” “Milken” was in reference to the 2017 Global Conference, which, in part, was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the program directory. Joe Biden, on May 3, 2017, spoke at the conference, hosting “A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden.” The meeting on May 2, 2017, would have taken place just 11 days before the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of “remuneration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” in a reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co. HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘DAD,’ ‘BIG GUY’ DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details. Bobulinski has repeatedly said “the big guy” was Joe Biden. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden, also said “the big guy” was known to be Joe Biden. The president, in December, was asked whether he had communicated with his son’s business partners. The question came after Fox News Digital first reported that IRS whistleblowers turned over metadata to the House Ways & Means Committee revealing that he had used an email alias to communicate hundreds of times with Hunter Biden and his business associate Eric Schwerin during his time as vice president. “I did not, they’re lies. It’s a bunch of lies,” Biden said Wednesday at the White House. Bobulinski last year suggested that he and President Biden, Hunter Biden and James Biden “appear together” before Congress for a public hearing. His suggestion came after Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, claiming that Bobulinski lied to the FBI during an interview Oct. 23, 2020, about his business dealings with the president’s son. James Biden is set to appear for his deposition on Capitol Hill on Feb. 21. Hunter Biden is set to appear on Feb. 28. Both Bidens were subpoenaed and will testify behind closed doors.
WATCH: Super Bowl ad features Marine drill instructor running members of Congress through boot camp
FIRST ON FOX: A local advertisement that aired during last night’s Super Bowl LVIII features a former Marine drill instructor whipping fictional members of Congress into shape by running them through a “congressional boot camp.” The ad was launched by former Staff Sgt. Tim O’Hara, a Marine Corps veteran who is a Republican running for Congress in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District on an anti-career politician platform, as part of a six-figure buy within the district that stretches across southern Ohio. The ad includes O’Hara in a drill instructor uniform getting in the faces of fictional members of Congress in typical boot camp style. TOP REPUBLICAN TO BOOST KARI LAKE IN ARIZONA AS FLIPPING STATE SEEN AS CRUCIAL TO GOP SENATE MAJORITY “I’ve never seen anything more useless than a career politician!” O’Hara yells, as the fictional politicians undergo obstacle courses and other military training. “I’ve seen Biden move faster!” he says in another part of the video. “In Congress, I’ll whip the swamp into shape. Understand me!?” he yells at one of the fictional politicians. “Yes, drill instructor O’Hara, sir!” they respond. In a statement to Fox News Digital, O’Hara said Ohioans “have had enough,” and that career politicians have “become useless.” HISPANIC BUSINESS OWNER, GOP CANDIDATE RIPS DEM CRIME POLICIES AFTER DRUG ADDICTS TORCH HIS LAS VEGAS PROPERTY “They look out for themselves, and working families pay the price. I was a Marine drill instructor. I know what it takes to break down a group of people and build them back up into leaders,” he said. “In Congress, I’ll lead the fight to actually address the problems we face. Our southern border is wide open, inflation is out of control, and our president is asleep at the wheel. When I’m in Congress, the career politicians won’t know what hit them,” he added. O’Hara, a native Ohioan, joined the Marine Corps directly out of high school and served for more than seven years. He completed several deployments as an infantryman. After leaving the Marines, he opened a number of business franchises, employing thousands. HOUSE DEM ACCUSED OF ACCEPTING ‘ILLEGAL’ CAMPAIGN DONATIONS FROM CONTROVERSIAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY CHAIN O’Hara launched his congressional campaign in December after Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup announced he would not seek re-election. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Marine veteran joins a crowded Republican primary field that includes state Sen. Niraj Antani, as well as businessmen Larry Kidd and David Taylor. Elections analysts view the race as “solid” Republican. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Army-backed Nawaz Sharif fails to win Pakistan election. What went wrong?
Islamabad, Pakistan — When Nawaz Sharif, the three-time former prime minister, emerged on the balcony of his party’s headquarters in Lahore on Friday night, fireworks went off as he was given a rousing welcome by the crowd of nearly 1,500 people. Sharif started out with what has now become the staple of his public addresses, asking the crowd of his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supporters, “Do you love me?”. The response, “We love you!”, echoed among his adoring audience. Yet, more than three days after Pakistan voted in general elections, there is little evidence that the sentiment of Sharif’s core supporters is shared by the wider public in the nation of 241 million people that stunned analysts in their voting patterns on February 8. For weeks before the elections, the PMLN was viewed by experts as the favourite to secure a clear victory that would give the 74-year-old political veteran another chance to rule Pakistan. Once targeted by Pakistan’s military establishment, Sharif appeared to have won the favour of the generals for the 2024 vote. So confident were Sharif and the PMLN of their win that they had scheduled a victory speech from their leader for Thursday night, barely hours after polls closed. Then, the results started coming in, and the bubble was burst. “As the voting patterns emerged, it shocked and surprised the party, forcing a rethink which is why they were in complete silent mode for nearly 12 hours,” said Majid Nizami, a political analyst, and a specialist on elections. When Sharif finally addressed supporters on Friday, he claimed victory, but acknowledged that his party had failed to secure a simple majority and so would need coalition partners to form a government. “This was not the result the party was expecting. They thought they would achieve more than 85 percent of seats from Punjab province, but initial trends showed they were barely getting 50 percent of seats,” Lahore-based Nizami told Al Jazeera. Almost all of the remaining seats in Punjab, the bastion of Sharif’s PMLN, went to candidates backed by former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) — a party that experts believed had been decimated by targeted political and legal attacks in recent months. What went wrong? As the dust settles on the election results, the PMLN has emerged with 75 seats in the national assembly, trailing PTI-backed independent candidates by 20 seats. The PTI alleges widespread manipulation and tampering, insisting that it has been denied a far larger majority and that their mandate has been “stolen” to benefit Sharif and his PMLN. So, what happened to the PMLN, a party that, as late as early 2022, was leading opinion polls in popularity over PTI and was considered the strongest party in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and electorally important province? For Lahore-based political analyst and editor Badar Alam, the roots of PMLN’s disappointing performance in the polls can be traced back to April 2022 when Imran Khan, the PTI chief, and then-prime minister were ousted through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. At the time, Sharif was in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, after a series of corruption-related convictions. His party allied with the country’s other traditional political force, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and others under what was called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), to topple Khan’s government. They succeeded. But, said Alam, “once Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s younger brother, took over as prime minister, his attention went towards removing all the cases and convictions against his elder brother.” These are cases that have haunted the Sharif brothers for three decades. The elder Sharif, who ruled the country twice in the 1990s, has been dogged by corruption allegations since then. In 1999, he was ousted in a military coup. His third term in power, after the PMLN won the 2013 elections, was marked by intensifying rivalry with Khan, who eventually won the 2018 election, backed at the time by Pakistan’s powerful military establishment that has ruled the country directly for more than three decades and has influenced politics from behind the scenes for much of the rest of the country’s existence. Yet, since relations between Khan and the military soured, and he was ousted in 2022 — with the military now seemingly backing the PDM government — Pakistan has been through torrid political, economic and security crises. Salman Ghani, a political analyst who has been covering the PMLN for a long time, said that as the leading party of the PDM, the decisions of that government hung heavy around the Sharif brothers’ necks. “The 16-month rule of PDM caused almost irreversible damage to the PMLN. The tenure saw massive inflation, hitting the public everywhere, including their own vote bank,” Ghani told Al Jazeera. “Theirs is a party of development and the economy; people support them for delivery, not for ideology. That perception was destroyed in that time.” Pakistan was on the verge of defaulting on loans last year, with its foreign reserves depleting to less than $4 billion dollars, and its rupee depreciating rapidly against the US dollar. A $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund helped stave off a default temporarily. PMLN supporters dance at the party’s Lahore headquarters on Friday. [Rahat Dar/EPA] Sharif returned home from his exile three months before the elections. Many analysts believe that Sharif’s return and the subsequent change in his legal fortunes — with convictions against him dropped and restrictions against contesting elections removed — were made possible only because the military had decided to back him in the 2024 vote. Meanwhile, Khan has been charged in more than 100 cases; was jailed in August and barred from contesting in the elections; and was sentenced in three separate cases just the week before the February 8 polls. His party faced a crackdown — senior party officials were arrested, many were apparently coerced to leave his movement, and the PTI was barred from even using its election symbol, the cricket bat, in the elections. Its candidates were forced to contest as independents.
Could new vaccines end malaria in Africa?
After decades of research and trials, a groundbreaking malaria vaccine is being rolled out across West Africa in a major attempt to eliminate the disease which is the second-biggest cause of death of children on the continent. On January 22, health workers in Cameroon began gathering babies and children below five years of age for the first doses of the RTS,S vaccine, which has been developed by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and PATH, a non-profit health organisation. The vaccine’s designation – RTS,S – refers to the genes of the parasite it was produced from. Children in Burkina Faso will be next to receive the jab, starting this month. A second vaccine, R21, was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December and is likely to be rolled out in a matter of months. This vaccine is already being used in some African countries, Ghana being the first to approve it last year. These vaccines have been developed as part of a global push to stamp out malaria, a disease which can be deadly for children and pregnant women. Nearly all of the more than 200 million annual cases in the world occur in African countries. Here’s all you need to know about the new malaria vaccines: How do the vaccines work? Although research for a malaria vaccine has been ongoing since the 1980s and trials started as far back as 2004, the RTS,S vaccine was recommended by the WHO in 2021 as part of a process towards certification. In July 2022, WHO officially approved the vaccine for use. It has a 75 percent efficacy rate. Named Mosquirix, the vaccine is formulated to activate antibodies and target the infectious stage of Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria-causing parasite. This parasite is spread by the female anopheles mosquito when it bites. In trials carried out between 2009 and 2011 across seven African countries, the RTS,S vaccine prevented infants from developing malaria for at least three years after the first vaccination. Over the four years, malaria cases among children immunised with the vaccine when they were aged between five and 17 months dropped by 39 percent. Among those immunised between six and 12 weeks after birth, malaria cases dropped by 27 percent. In a pilot programme launched in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya in 2019, the WHO reported that the use of the vaccine had resulted in a 13 percent decline in the number of deaths from malaria among more than two million children monitored. R21, or Matrix-M, is a second malaria vaccine that was approved by the WHO in December 2023. It was developed by Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India. In test trials, R21 showed an efficacy rate of 75 percent over 12 months. There are plans to roll out this jab in Africa alongside the RTS,S vaccine in mid-2024. Wendy Prudhomme O’Meara, a professor at Duke University, told Al Jazeera the main drawback of the Oxford vaccine is that frequent boosters are required. “Efficacy wanes within a year [and] this makes it very effective for seasonal protection but we hope that as we continue to build the R&D [research and development] pipeline for malaria, we can improve on this,” O’Meara said. “I think the malaria community understands that this is an important first step, but it is not the end of the road.” Two vials of the Mosquirix vaccine inside a cold chamber in Nairobi, Kenya, October 2021 [Patrick Meinhardt/Getty Images] How dangerous is malaria? Severe malaria can cause complications such as organ failure and can result in death. It is the number two cause of toddler deaths in Africa after respiratory illnesses – nearly half a million children die from malaria in African countries every year. The disease is especially deadly for children because they are less likely to have built up any immunity to it. Pregnant women in their second and third trimesters are also particularly vulnerable to becoming infected with malaria because their immunity levels are reduced. People visiting high transmission areas from malaria-free zones are vulnerable too because they lack any built-up immunity that comes from living in endemic areas. Millions of malaria cases are recorded every year around the world. In 2022 alone, some 249 million cases were recorded, with a death toll of 608,000 across 85 countries. Nearly all – 94 percent – of these were in African countries. Why are African countries so vulnerable to malaria? A host of factors including weather patterns, poor sanitation and weak public healthcare systems contribute to the continent carrying nearly all of the world’s malaria burden. In 2022, nearly all deaths from malaria worldwide were recorded on the continent. Four countries – Nigeria (27 percent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12 percent), Uganda (5 percent) and Mozambique (4 percent) – accounted for almost half of all cases. Malaria thrives in the tropics, where climatic conditions allow the anopheles mosquito to successfully produce malaria parasites in its saliva, which it transmits to humans when it bites them. Waterlogged, damp places are the insect’s favourite breeding ground. During the rainy season, therefore, malaria transmission rates tend to be higher. Some analysts describe malaria as “a disease of the poor”. Families living in mosquito-infested environments who cannot afford chemically treated mosquito nets or insecticides often bear the brunt of the disease. Treatments for the disease can be expensive. In Mozambique, a 2019 study found that one household will need to spend $3.46 for treatments for an uncomplicated case, but up to $81.08 for treatments for a severe case. The average household income in Mozambique is about $149 per month. Even without vaccines, malaria could be eliminated if more attention is paid to reducing poverty structures and providing better living environments, O’Meara of Duke University said. “Malaria was eliminated in the US before modern insecticide-treated nets, before DDT [insecticide] and certainly before artemisinin combination drugs or vaccines,” she said. “Malaria ecology in the US was of course much different than Africa, but still that was achieved by environmental
Qatar releases former Indian navy officers after dropping death sentences
Seven of the men have already been returned to India, but details of the case remain scant. Qatar has released eight former Indian naval officers previously sentenced to death on charges of spying for Israel. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) thanked Doha on Monday as it announced that the octet had been freed. The details surrounding their arrest, sentencing, and commuting remain unclear. “We appreciate the decision by the Amir [Emir] of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the ministry said in a statement in New Delhi. The men were reportedly arrested in August 2022, due to accusations that they had passed sensitive submarine-related information to Israeli intelligence. Neither Qatar nor India officially confirmed the charges. A preliminary court sentenced them to death last year, prompting India to express deep shock and file an appeal. The MEA confirmed in December that it had gained consular access to the prisoners. Later the same month, it said an appeals court had commuted their death sentence to varying prison terms. It said on Monday that seven of the men had already returned to India. No further details were given about the eighth man, the conditions of the release, or the current status of the case. Firm allies The arrest of the men last year made headlines in Indian and Arab media. The eight were senior employees of Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a company advising on a Qatari programme aimed at obtaining high-tech, Italian-made, submarines that could evade radar detection. The private firm has since been shut down. While briefly disturbing ties, the case appears unlikely to have a significant effect on relations between New Delhi and Doha, which are firm allies. The pair continue to have extensive economic ties. Last week, they signed a deal worth tens of billions of dollars that will secure exports of Qatari liquified natural gas until the end of 2048. Adblock test (Why?)
Ex-Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan quits Congress, likely to join BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls
Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has resigned from the Congress party.
‘Delhi Chalo’ protest: Traffic restrictions at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur borders ahead of farmers’ march
Before the farmers’ planned “Delhi Chalo” march on February 13, traffic restrictions and increased security measures have been implemented at the national capital’s borders with Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri.
Why Biden’s anger and defensiveness inflamed anxiety about his memory issues
President Biden took a setback and turned it into a debacle. It’s not like it had never occurred to anyone that an 81-year-old president seeking a second term was problematic. There has been a growing debate about whether Biden has the mental acuity and physical stamina for the job. Even a majority of Democrats say in polls that he shouldn’t run again. I have been saying for a couple of years now, every chance I get, that it’s a mistake for the president’s advisers to shield him from the media. It makes him look disengaged. It takes him out of the news cycle. It leaves a void that is filled by Donald Trump. It’s a surrender of the world’s biggest bully pulpit. The guy even turned down a Super Bowl interview for the second straight year, passing up a massive audience. MEDIA BUILDS UP AROUND TAYLOR SWIFT, SUPER BOWL LVIII AS BIDEN SEEKS SWIFT’S ENDORSEMENT What Biden’s inner circle is doing, of course, is protecting him from making gaffes (which he has done his whole life). Instead, he puts out statements, which get little play. Even when the military launched retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the commander-in-chief remained silent. My view is that making mistakes is a small price to pay for being on camera, providing video that drives television and the web. Biden may be working hard behind the scenes, but if voters don’t see you out there leading, they will wonder why you vanished – especially with your likely opponent constantly engaging with journalists. Taking a couple of questions from reporters and providing terse answers, often over the roar of a helicopter, just doesn’t cut it. Biden had a tough time on the memory front last week. He spent 30 painful seconds trying to think of “Hamas” until a reporter supplied the name. He mixed up Emmanuel Macron and the late Francois Mitterand. Then, telling the same anecdote, he described what German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had told him in 2021, except the leader died four years earlier. Then came the special counsel’s report. The good news – no indictment for mishandling classified documents – was immediately overshadowed by Robert Hur’s description of the president. The most stinging quote: “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” So poor that no jury would convict him. INFIGHTING CONTINUES AT NEW YORK TIMES AS STAFFERS COMPLAIN ABOUT LGBTQ COVERAGE Biden, said Hur, couldn’t remember what years he had served as VP or the year that his son died. The president, Kamala Harris and the White House all said that Hur, originally a Trump appointee, had no business including such gratuitous insults. Attacking the prosecutor is a well-worn tactic, also practiced by the likes of Trump and Bill Clinton. No matter. A special counsel had given an official stamp of approval to public concerns and anxieties about the president’s mental fitness and his staff had no business letting the boss do five hours of interviews on the two days after Hamas massacred Israelis. But this is when Biden made things far, far worse. Privately cursing and furious, according to several media accounts, he decided to hold a rare news conference – the press was given a 20-minute warning – and poured kerosene on the fire. Biden sounded angry, petty and defensive – a “crotchety grandpa,” in the words of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. He expressed outrage: “There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How dare he raise that?” And he turned his ire against the press, by turns combative and mocking. “I’m well-meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president. I put this country back on its feet,” Biden said. As for his memory, “take a look at what I’ve done since I became president. None of you thought I could pass any of the things I got passed. How’d that happen? You know, I guess I just forgot what was going on.” NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS SUGGEST BIDEN’S MEMORY COULD BE HUGE FACTOR IN FUTURE CRISIS CNN’s M.J. Lee uncorked a long and confrontational question before being cut off by the president: “While many American people have been watching and they have expressed concerns about your age –” “That is your judgment,” Biden snapped. “That is your judgment. That is not the judgment of the press.” But it certainly showed up in poll after poll. “They expressed concerns about your mental acuity,” Lee said. “They say that you are too old. Mr. President, in December you told me that you believe there are many other Democrats who could defeat Donald Trump. So why does it have to be you now? What is your answer?” “Cause I’m the most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started,” he shot back. Oh, and he described Egyptian leader Abdel al-Sisi as the president of Mexico. It was a train wreck. His worst traits were on display. What might have been a two-day flap over the report turned into a chaotic melodrama, with reporters shouting to be recognized. This has the feeling of a turning point. Even though the 77-year-old Trump has had his missteps, confusing Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, Biden seems more frail in the way he walks and talks, but it is too late for the Democrats to change horses now. The president has nine months to convince the country that he’s up to the job. Footnote: Politico says in a report that “top party operatives are warning Biden aides that the president cannot retreat in response to the special counsel report that fueled concerns over his age and mental faculties. They say President Joe Biden, having largely [shielded] away from interviews and press conferences, needs to be out in public far more. “They want to see him engage with the press and voters in the off-script and punchy exchanges he’s been known for in
Ahead of farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, Delhi Police imposes Section 144, tightens security
Farmers’ protest: Delhi Police imposes Section 144, tightens security.
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