XPost: alt.government.employees, alt.politics.org.fbi, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://amac.us/newsline/national-security/disgraced-fbi-agent-tipped-off-   
   hunter-biden-linked-chinese-company-about-investigation/   
      
   A disgraced former FBI agent tipped off an employee of a Chinese-company   
   tied to Hunter Biden about an investigation into the firm, a new watchdog   
   report reveals.   
      
   Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI   
   Counterintelligence Division in New York, told a businessman employed by   
   Chinese infrastructure conglomerate CEFC about the FBI’s investigation   
   into the company, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a   
   watchdog report on McGonigal’s activities.   
      
   From October 2016 to September 2018, McGonigal oversaw the FBI   
   investigation into CEFC and businessman Patrick Ho, an executive at its   
   nonprofit arm and a business associate of Hunter Biden’s who was later   
   convicted in Manhattan on bribery charges. Ho was implicated in a scheme   
   to bribe officials from Chad and Uganda into awarding contracts to CEFC.   
      
   A person listed in McGonigal’s Washington, D.C., indictment met with FBI   
   agents in December 2021 and October 2022 and informed the bureau that   
   McGonigal had leaked details of the FBI’s investigation to CEFC before   
   Ho’s arrest, according to the inspector general report.   
      
   The unnamed person disclosed that “on multiple occasions before Ho’s   
   arrest, McGonigal leaked confidential information about the CEFC   
   investigation to Person B, which Person B thereafter provided to Ho and   
   the CEFC China Chairman,” the report says.   
      
   The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office weighed obstruction of justice   
   charges against McGonigal for the leak but chose not to pursue them.   
   McGonigal was later indicted in New York on money laundering charges for   
   receiving payments from sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.   
      
   McGonigal faced separate charges in D.C. for taking funds from an Albanian   
   national and failing to disclose meetings with that person’s business   
   associate. McGonigal was given a 50 month prison sentence for the New York   
   charges and a 28 month sentence in D.C. to be covered by the other prison   
   sentence.   
      
   The “Person B” referred to in the inspector general report is a former   
   Albanian government official and employee of CEFC. The individual was an   
   international businessman and consultant who McGonigal sought an   
   introduction to in April 2017.   
      
   The businessman was not a target of the FBI’s investigation at the time,   
   but the case team did have concerns about him due to his ties to Ho.   
   McGonigal met with the person in April 2017 despite being told not to.   
   Afterwards, McGonigal had several meetings and calls with the person that   
   he did not disclose to the FBI.   
      
   McGonigal first leaked to the businessman in June 2017 during a trip in   
   Florida he took with his future Albanian business partner and a former FBI   
   agent. The businessman told Ho about the investigation the next day when   
   they met in Washington, D.C. where Ho attended a conference.   
      
   The businessman and McGonigal met in New York several times afterwards.   
   They discussed CEFC and the chairman’s actions. In November 2017,   
   McGonigal leaked information to the businessman for a second time.   
   McGonigal told the associate something along the lines of “we are ready   
   for them” in reference to the FBI’s investigation into CEFC. The leak   
   happened on a phone call about whether McGonigal would be attending an   
   upcoming CEFC event in New York. Ho was arrested upon arrival to New York   
   to attend the CEFC event.   
      
   Days earlier, James Biden attempted to figure out whether there was an   
   active arrest warrant for Ho. A retired Secret Service agent told the FBI   
   that James Biden reached out to him in November 2017 to see if he could   
   determine whether there was a warrant out for Ho’s arrest. The agent and   
   another former Secret Service agent incorrectly concluded that Ho   
   specifically did not have an active warrant.   
      
   James Biden disclosed his communications with the Secret Service agent   
   when he testified before the House Oversight Committee last year. The FBI   
   case team concluded that Ho chose to come back to the U.S. after Biden or   
   another individual provided reassurances.   
      
   Upon his arrest, Ho sought assistance from the Bidens in his time of need.   
   Ho paid Hunter Biden a $1 million retainer for legal work but nothing ever   
   came of it, according to IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, an agent who   
   spent years on the Hunter Biden tax case before coming forward with   
   allegations of misconduct from federal investigators. Last year, Ho   
   threatened to sue the younger Biden for his $1 million back but it unclear   
   if anything came of it.   
      
   When the inspector general interviewed McGonigal, he initially downplayed   
   his relationship with Ho and denied having substantive conversations about   
   CEFC. His attitude changed when shown text messages to the contrary.   
   Eventually, McGonigal acknowledged the full extent of his activities and   
   disclosed that he leaked information about the FBI’s plan to arrest CEFC   
   associates.   
      
   McGonigal admitted his motivation was “bravado” and said he did not leak   
   the information to harm the investigation. Neither of the Bidens were   
   implicated in the FBI investigation of CEFC and Ho.   
      
   Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden were in business with CEFC for the   
   better part of three years. In early 2017, CEFC wired $3 million to Hunter   
   Biden’s business partner Rob Walker and a third of the funds went to   
   Biden, bank records show. The payment came after Hunter Biden and his   
   business partners developed a business relationship with CEFC during his   
   father Joe’s vice presidency, which concluded in January 2017.   
      
   During the impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden, Hunter and   
   James Biden both denied that Joe Biden had any involvement in their   
   business dealings. However, Hunter did confirm Joe Biden met and spoke to   
   his business partners on multiple occasions, including an infamous 2017   
   meeting with business partner-turned-critic Tony Bobulinski.   
      
   The Bidens dismissed Bobulinski’s testimony as motivated by their failed   
   business relationship. Bobulinski was involved with negotiating a business   
   venture with CEFC that did not pan out and led to the one Hunter and James   
   subsequently launched with the company.   
      
   In late 2017, Hunter and James Biden explored a joint venture with CEFC   
   known as Hudson West III. CEFC poured $5 million into the account and   
   explored U.S. energy deals, but the venture ultimately fell apart when Ho   
   and other company executives faced legal troubles. A small portion of   
   those funds ended up in Joe Biden’s bank account after a string of   
   transactions involving the Bidens withdrawing money and putting it into   
   various bank accounts.   
      
      
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