While we knew about the EU's 'Qatargate,' investments with the Kushner family, and of course Sen. Bob Menendez advancing Qatar's interests, Politico reports that the Biden family's ties to Qatar "Would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government," if courtroom testimony about Jim Biden's foreign fundraising efforts is substantiated.
"My family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency," Jim Biden and Rustom wrote in a draft letter to an official at the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
In February of this year, Jim Biden told impeachment inquiry investigators that roughly $600,000 in payments from Americore were for his role in arranging a series of bridge loans - of which $200,000 was transferred to Joe Biden in March 2018 for what the White House claims is a repayment of an unrelated loan between brothers.
In order to solve their problem, Jim Biden explored working with payment processing company "Billerfy," described as an "Open network for global payments," for which Jim Biden could be their "Chief global banking emissary" - until Americore's outside counsel, Christopher Anderson, shot it down.
With progress in Qatar slowing in mid-May of 2018 during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, tensions grew between Jim Biden and his comrades - with Jim Biden venting to Americore CEO Grant White in a May 17 email that he had "Agreed to go to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China."
The former Americore executive said that Jim Biden and Lewitt traveled to Qatar in mid-2018 as part of the fundraising efforts, but it is not clear whether any meeting between Jim Biden and Qatar's then-finance minister, Ali Sharif Al Emadi, took place.
While Biden testified that this was a forgiven loan, Lewitt disputed it - telling Politico that Jim Biden's debt was assumed by an unnamed third party.
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