Hunter Biden’s business partner Eric Schwerin told congressional investigators that he communicated with then-Vice President Joe Biden via a private e-mail alias, while maintaining that he was "not aware" of Joe Biden's involvement in his family’s business dealings.
Schwerin appeared behind closed doors for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees in January as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden.
Fox News Digital obtained a transcript of Schwerin’s testimony.
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Schwerin told the committee that he "performed a number of administrative and bookkeeping tasks for then-Vice President Joe Biden related to his household finances" between 2009 and 2017. Schwerin testified he also helped Biden’s accountants in their preparation of his taxes and his annual financial disclosure statements.
Fox News Digital first reported that Biden, as vice president, used email aliases and private email addresses to communicate with Hunter Biden and his business associates hundreds of times – including with Schwerin. The communications came between 2010 and 2019, with the majority of email traffic taking place while Biden was serving as vice president.
The House Ways & Means Committee, which is co-leading the impeachment inquiry alongside the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, said 54 of those emails were "exclusively" between Joe Biden and Schwerin. The Ways & Means Committee describes Schwerin as "the architect of the Biden family’s shell companies."
During his transcribed interview, Schwerin was asked if an email address labeled "Robinware456" was associated with Joe Biden.
"Yes," Schwerin said.
"That’s Joe Biden?" a committee investigator asked.
"Correct," Schwerin testified.
Schwerin also identified an email address labeled "Hurricane5155" as Valerie Biden and "261penn" as Beau Biden.
Schwerin also said it was his "understanding" that "Robert.L.Peters" was also an email address associated with Joe Biden.
"I believe, when I personally emailed him, it was through that ‘Robinware’ email address," Schwerin testified that the email address was a "private Gmail account" and said he would also communicate via a private Gmail account.
Meanwhile, Schwerin said he met Hunter Biden while working in the Clinton administration at the Commerce Department, and after government service, joined the first son at a law and lobbying firm.
Schwerin co-founded Rosemont Seneca Partners along with Hunter Biden and other colleagues – a firm he described as a "consulting and investment firm that offered development and public policy advisory services to a wide range of clients."
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"In the course of performing these duties, I had the ability to view transactions both into and out of Vice President Biden’s bank accounts while he was vice president," Schwerin said in his opening statement. "Based on that insight, I am not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members or their associates nor any involvement by him in their businesses. None."
Schwerin also said he "cannot recall any requests for Vice President Biden to take any official action on behalf of any of Hunter’s clients or his business deals – foreign or domestic."
"In fact, I am not aware of any role that Vice President Biden, as a public official or a private citizen, had in any of Hunter’s business activities. None," he said.
Schwerin testified that regarding his interactions with Biden, he "never asked him to take any official actions for the benefit of Hunter’s clients or any other client."
"Furthermore, I have no recollection of any promises or suggestions made by Hunter or myself to any clients or business associates that his father would take any official actions on their behalf. None," he said. "In my discussions with the Vice President concerning his personal finances, he was always crystal clear that he wanted to take the most transparent and ethical approach consistent with both the spirit and the letter of the law."
Schwerin added: "Given my awareness of his finances and the explicit directions he gave to his financial advisers, the allegation that he would engage in any improper conduct to benefit himself or his family is preposterous to me."
But Schwerin did testify that he did have "discussions" about what Joe Biden would do post-vice presidency.
"Did you ever have any conversations with Hunter Biden or anyone else about jobs for Joe Biden post-Vice Presidency?" a congressional investigator asked.
"I don't know about jobs per se, but we did have discussions as to what – about what his dad might be doing post-Vice Presidency," Schwerin said, noting that there were "two efforts, I know, going on related to the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania."
"There was a point in which I and Hunter were a little more involved in the discussions related to the University of Delaware, and there were institutes set up and whether – how it would all be structured and things like that," he said.
Meanwhile, Schwerin testified that he was appointed to the U.S. Commission on the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.
Schwerin said Biden, when vice president in 2009, asked him if he would be "interested in being on one of these boards or commissions."
"I understood that – my assumption was that it was something that, you know, the Vice President had signed off on, but I would think it was someone from the staff who said, we can put your name forward to Presidential Personnel, and they would, you know, give you a call about this," he said, adding that he was not appointed to the board until May 2015.
