President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, step off Air Force One Feb. 4, 2023, at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Galanis said he worked with Devon Archer and Hunter Biden between 2012 and 2015. Their business together, he said, included the acquisition of Burnham & Co, a division of Drexel Burnham Lambert, combined with "other businesses in insurance and wealth management." Galanis testified the three "owned and acquired with total audited assets of over $17 billion."
"Our objective was to build a diversified private equity platform, which would be anchored by a globally known Wall Street brand together with a globally known political name," Galanis testified. "Our goal — that is, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and me — was to make billions, not millions."
Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Galanis testified that, in 2014, he "agreed with Hunter and Devon that the Burnham & Company enterprise would be significantly enhanced by forming a partnership with Harvest Fund Management, a $300 billion Chinese financial services company closely connected to the Chinese Communist Party." Harvest, at that time, had already agreed to be a founding partner of BHR Partners, he explained.
Fox News Digital has previously reported that Joe Biden met with Jonathan Li, who worked for BHR Partners, in China in 2013.
Galanis explained that Henry Zhao, the director of Harvest, was a contact of Hunter Biden’s.
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"Mr. Zhao was interested in this partnership because of the game-changing value-add of the Biden family, including Joe Biden, who was to be a member of the Burnham-Harvest team post-vice presidency, providing political access in the United States and around the world," Galanis testified.
Galanis pointed to a draft email dated Aug. 23, 2014, from Hunter Biden, which states: "Please also remind Henry [Zhao] of our conversation about a board seat for a certain relation of mine. Devon and I golfed with that relation earlier last week and we discussed this very idea again and as always he remains very very keen on the opportunity."
Draft email provided by Jason Galanis to House Republicans regarding Hunter Biden (Provided to Fox News Digital)
Galanis said the email was forwarded to him by Devon Archer with the words: "FYI … example of lean in on Henry from Hunter … this is email drafted for him to send to Henry."
Galanis testified that the words "lean in" were "used often by Devon and Hunter in our business dealings as a term for access to Vice President Biden’s political influence."
"As Devon Archer is mentioned as a direct party to the conversation with the vice president on the golf course, it is clear from his email that Devon believed this was an accurate representation of that conversation," Galanis said in his opening statement.
"I am certain that the phrase ‘a certain relation of mine’ refers to Vice President Biden, and Devon told me about this conversation on the golf course shortly after it happened," Galanis testified. "And it was one of many conversations that I understood the vice president had expressing his willingness to join Harvest board after his vice presidency."
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The draft email does not specifically mention Joe Biden’s name or refer to the "certain relation" as Hunter Biden’s father. However, there is an infamous photo of Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer on the golf course. That photo was taken in mid-August 2014, which would have been a week or so prior to the draft email. News reports indicate the vice president was in the Hamptons at the time.
Jason Galanis testified from prison to House investigators working on the Joe Biden impeachment inquiery (Facebook | AP)
Archer last year testified before the House Oversight Committee that Hunter put his father, who was vice president at the time, on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times, and he said Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell "the brand."
Galanis testified that call was "not the only time" he heard Hunter "call his father regarding business matters," pointing to a separate call in which Hunter Biden put his father "on speaker." Galanis said Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina and her husband, the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, were present for the call, which took place May 4, 2014.
Fox News Digital has previously reported that Joe Biden attended dinners in 2014 at Cafe Milano in Georgetown in 2014 and 2015 with Baturina and others.
"Hunter called his father, said hello and ‘hold on, Pops,’ then put the call on speakerphone and said, ‘I am here with our friends I told you were coming to town, and we wanted to say hello,’" Galanis recalled. "The vice president said hello and some pleasantries of ‘Hope you had safe travels,’ and then seemed like he wanted to bring the call to an end by saying, ‘OK then, you be good to my boy.’"
Galanis said Hunter responded by saying, "Everything is good, and we are moving ahead."
"The vice president said something about ‘being helpful,’ and Hunter ended the call by saying that he was going to call his father later," Galanis testified. "I recall being stunned by this call — to actually hear the vice president of the United States speaking on the phone."
Galanis testified that "it was clear" to him that "this was a pre-arranged call with his father meant to impress the Russian investors that Hunter had access to his father and all the power and prestige of his position."
Days later, on May 9, 2014, Archer sent Galanis an email, obtained by Fox News Digital, which revealed Baturina was "committed to a ‘hard order’ of $10-20 million in a Burnham investment banking client."
Draft email provided by Jason Galanis to House Republicans regarding Hunter Biden (Provided to Fox News Digital)
Galanis acknowledged that "in an effort" to build Burnham, he "engaged in unlawful conduct" and "betrayed" the trust of union members’ pension fund money.
"I pleaded guilty. I have had eight years in federal custody to reflect on my actions, and I am profoundly sorry for my role," he said.
Archer was also indicted in the scheme, but Hunter Biden was not. Galanis testified he believed the federal "prosecution strategy was intended to protect Hunter Biden and, ultimately, Vice President Biden."
Galanis has applied for and been denied home confinement. Galanis said that beginning in January 2023, he was "sexually assaulted" by a member of prison staff at FPC Pensacola. He testified that he was hoping home confinement "would remove me from the danger."
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"I believe that based on the events I have described, much of which is memorialized in writing, I have been the victim of a pattern of retribution by the Department of Justice in order to prevent my home confinement, which would have allowed full and free access to congressional investigators," he said.
Galanis said that from his experiences in the justice system, he believes he is putting himself "at grave risk within the BOP for providing information on these matters concerning the president and his son."
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
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