An email recovered from Hunter Biden's hard drive had people asking who "the big guy" is.  That's the cryptic identifier given to someone on whose behalf Hunter Biden would hold 10% of the equity in a deal with China's largest private energy company.  Thanks to Tony Bobulinksi, who was part of that deal, we've learned that "the big guy" is Joe Biden.  And while the "big guy" email dates from a few months after Biden had left the White House, it has important ramifications.

Here are the players:

• CEFC China Energy Co. (CEFC) was a private Chinese energy conglomerate that has since gone bankrupt.  In its heyday, CEFC, which had ties to the Communist Party, was part of China's Silk Road effort to acquire financial control over countries worldwide.  In 2017, the U.S. Justice Department prosecuted a CEFC official for bribing government officials in both Chad and Uganda.  China also accused CEFC of bribing local officials within China.
• Sinohawk Holdings is a holding company partnership formed between CEFC and the Biden family, ostensibly to invest in infrastructure, energy, and more.
• Tony Bobulinski is an institutional investor.  James Gilliar, an international consultant; Rob Walker, another investor; and Hunter Biden recruited Bobulinski to be Sinohawk's CEO.

The Hunter hard drive coughed out a May 13, 2017 email that Gilliar, who was handling negotiations with CEFC, wrote to Bobulinksi, with a cc to Hunter Biden and Rob Walker.  Gilliar identified proposed "remuneration packages":

• Chair/Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC (Hunter) 850
• CEO (Tony) 850
• James (EEIG) international consultancy agreement business development (James) 500,000
• Rob 500
• Jim Unknown
• Sanan (Under EEIG agreement) 72,000

The email also shows that Hunter demanded "some office expectations," while "James needs travel of 15,000K a month." Lastly, and most significantly, the email spelled out equity in the partnership:

[A] provisional agreement that the equity will be distributed as follows:

20 H

20 RW

20 JG

20 TB

10 Jim

10 held by H for the big guy?

When the email became public, people speculated that Joe Biden was the "big guy."  That theory gained credence from a text message Hunter sent his daughter.  Biden complained that he'd spent 30 years responsible for the family's expenses, adding, "It's really hard, but don't worry, unlike Pop I won't make you give me half your salary."  It seems Joe was always on the take.

The photo below is a screenshot of a text message from Hunter Biden to his daughter, Naomi Biden, on January 3, 2019.

This describes the amount kicked back to the Boss, Joe Biden, as happens in every organized crime group.

My observations here: https://t.co/1SAwTyEwk9 pic.twitter.com/BK6DTIhT0B

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 15, 2020

On Thursday, news broke that Tony Bobulinski had revealed who the "big guy" was: Hunter, he said, routinely called his father "the Big Guy" or "my Chairman."  Joe wasn't the only Biden family member benefiting from the deal with a corrupt Chinese company.  James Biden, Joe's brother, was also getting a cut.  You can see Bobulinski's full written statement here.

Then, on Thursday evening, just before the debate, Bobulinski dropped a bombshell video saying Joe Biden was hip-deep in business transactions with the Chinese, that Joe's involvement was secret, that Hunter contributed access to the Biden family, and that CEFC eventually sent its money not to Sinohawk, but to Hunter's entities:

There's more: two days after the email described above, Joe's brother, Jim, emailed Hunter, Bobulinski, Walker, and Gilliar, with a list of "key domestic contacts for phase one target projects."  That list includes some familiar names:

[Kamala] Harris, D-Calif.; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Virginia Gov. Terry McCauliffe [sic], among others.

It seems that Joe and Hunter Biden intended to take advantage of Joe's political connections, although there's no evidence they ultimately did so.

Considering that Joe had already left office by May 2017, why does this still matter?  There are several reasons.

First, as is discussed here, the initial phases of the Sinohawk project date to 2015–2016, when Biden was still the vice president.

Second, no one can doubt that Joe was contemplating running for election at the time, yet he crawled in bed with a corrupt company.

Third, China was then our largest geopolitical rival, making it unseemly for a former vice president and future (he hoped) president to do business with it.

Fourth, this transaction provides evidence of a pattern and practice: Joe used his political office to funnel money to his drug-addled son.  His son, in turn, would hold on to a huge cut for Joe.  In other words, Joe sold out America for his personal benefit.

Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiiSq7toqlQ&feature=youtu.be.  YouTube screen grab.