Biden named in 2017 email discussing natural gas deal

President Biden was mentioned in a 2017 email to Hunter Biden discussing a multimillion-dollar natural gas deal with potential links to China.

In an email dated Oct. 27 of that year, Louisiana attorney Robert W. Fenet wrote to Mr. Biden’s brother Jim Biden and son Hunter Biden to say he had arranged a call with a contact at the Houston-based energy company Cheniere to “discuss the purchase of 5 million tons of gas.”

“I confirm I have requested [the contact] to be available for a call from Joe Biden and Hunter Biden on Monday morning,” Mr. Fenet wrote.

The email reveals further involvement of Mr. Biden, who in 2017 was between being vice president and president, in his son’s overseas ventures, despite Mr. Biden’s repeated denial.

The email, which was recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop computer, was first reported by the Daily Mail.

The news outlet acknowledged that while it's possible Mr. Fenet mistyped Joe instead of Jim, other emails and whistleblower testimony suggest Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including with CEFC China Energy.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Oct. 27, 2017, email does not directly mention the Chinese energy giant as being a party to that deal.

But in an email to Jim Biden seven days earlier to set up the call with Cheniere Energy, Mr. Fenet proposed a project involving supplying millions of tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a Louisiana supplier to CEFC.

“We can begin supplying LNG in 2018 at the rate of three, four, five, or six million metric tons of LNG on a five-year basis,” Mr. Fenet wrote. “From year five until year twenty-five, we will have the capacity to supply 13 million metric tons per annum of LNG to the Port in China.”

He added, “If your client will purchase a twenty-five-year stream of LNG, I can build the plant for $12 billion dollars.”

The following month, Hunter Biden wrote to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, saying the deal would provide “large quantities of LNG at very competitive rates while also advancing the long-term goals of CEFC through a partnership or acquisition of a promising LNG terminal project in Louisiana.”

In that same letter, Hunter Biden told his Chinese partner that he was “making inquiries regarding arranging a meeting for you with the Chairman of Cheniere.”