Another Biden defector: Hunter's business partner donated $100K to GOP

Hunter Biden 's business partner and friend of Joe Biden has switched sides to give $100,000 to the Republicans – and coincidentally avoided a subpoena in the GOP 's Biden probe. Illinois attorney Jeff Cooper partnered with Hunter in multiple overseas business deals, flew on Air Force 2 with Hunter to a business meeting in Mexico in 2016, and brought foreign billionaires they were working with to meet then-Vice President Joe at the White House.

Cooper became a person of interest in the Republican investigation of Joe's links to Hunter's overseas deals after DailyMail.com revealed his close relationship to the two Bidens in 2021. Once the Republicans took control of the House in 2023 , Hunter's associates started getting subpoenas by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee, including his Rosemont Seneca consultancy partner Eric Schwerin, who did Joe's taxes, and his fellow Ukrainian gas firm Burisma board member Devon Archer, who met multiple times with VP Joe.

But Cooper was mysteriously missing from the interview list. Now, donation records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveal that Cooper donated $100,000 in February 2023 to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy , his PACs, and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The donations are a stark shift from Cooper's previous political allegiances.

He had been a longstanding friend and supporter of Joe Biden, and gave a total $417,968 to Democrat campaigns in previous years. His most recent donation before 2023 was to Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan's Illinois congressional campaign in 2019. Other previous donations include cash to ActBlue, the Obama Victory Fund, and the Democratic National Committee.

But on February 10, 2023, Cooper gave $50,000 to the McCarthy Victory Fund, $38,400 to the NRCC, and two donations of $3,300 each to Kevin McCarthy for Congress. The four donations add up to exactly $100,000. The donation data was first spotted by right wing nonprofit Marco Polo . Congressional documents dated as early as July 2021 show Cooper was on Republicans' radar.

In a letter to the National Archives demanding records on the Bidens , GOP House Oversight Committee members wrote: 'Details continue to unfold about Joe Biden's history of alleged influence peddling while serving as a Senator and Vice President. Recent reporting indicates that in 2014, then-Vice President Biden hosted Hunter Biden's business associates, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, in the Vice President's office.' 'In 2016, while Vice President, Joe Biden flew Hunter Biden and his business associate, Jeff Cooper, on Air Force 2 to Mexico City where Hunter attended meetings regarding a business deal .'

The letter cited a DailyMail.com story that revealed Cooper's Mexico connection with Joe, using material from Hunter's abandoned laptop. Last year the committee subpoenaed Hunter's business partner Devon Archer, who worked with the First Son and Cooper on overseas deals. A transcript of Archer's July 31, 2023 interview – after Cooper's $100,000 GOP gift – shows he was asked just once about Cooper, and the topic was immediately dropped.

'And who is Jeffrey Cooper?' asked Oversight chief counsel James Mandolfo in the interview. 'He was the founder of Eudora Global, which was a firm that Hunter Biden had some equity [in],' Archer said. 'When was the last time you talked with Jeff Cooper?' Mandolfo asked. 'Jeff Cooper is a dear friend of mine,' Archer replied. The Illinois attorney was not mentioned again. In Eric Schwerin's congressional interview on January 30, 2024 , Joe's entertaining of Cooper and Hunter's Mexican billionaire partners at the VP's official Naval Observatory residence came up – but was not pursued.

'Do you know who else was there for those meetings?' an investigator asked Schwerin. 'I think that Jeff Cooper was probably there as well, is my recollection,' he replied. 'Okay. Got it,' the investigator said, and the interview moved on to a different topic. The apparent lack of probing of Cooper's links to Joe is surprising, given his friendship with the President and central role in Hunter's affairs. Cooper and Hunter reportedly met through their now-ex-wives: Francesca Cooper went to high school with Hunter's first wife Kathleen Biden. His Illinois law firm, asbestos claim litigation specialists SimmonsCooper, worked with Hunter's late brother Beau Biden's Delaware law firm on dozens of cases. It also bankrolled Hunter and Joe's brother Jim's unsuccessful attempt to buy a hedge fund in 2006.

By 2008 SimmonsCooper was reportedly Joe Biden's number one donor, giving $200,000 over the previous eight years. The large donations, and thousands more to Beau's political campaigns, drew scrutiny when Joe, in his role as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, helped block an asbestos reform. The reform would have jeopardized SimmonsCooper's business, and the firm lobbied him over the issue. At the time, a spokesman for Joe told the Los Angeles Times that all the SimmonsCooper business deals with his sons and brother were above board, and no special favors were arranged.

The close connection between Joe, Hunter and Cooper is exemplified in a text message from the President to his son on June 15, 2018. 'Jeff 618-[Cooper's phone number] Asked for you. Wants to do some work with you. Love Dad,' Joe wrote. In 2014 Hunter and Cooper discussed plans to set up a Washington, DC consultancy with Joe Biden once he left the White House. Hunter laid out the proposed new Biden family company in an email with Cooper dated November 20, 2014, with the title 'Firm'. He set out 'ball park' annual overheads for the consultancy shop totaling $1.2million including a $500,000 salary for his brother Beau.

'In order to develop this as a platform for both JRBs [Beau and Joe's initials] I think it is imperative we (the three of us) have full control come 2016 when JRB1 [Joe] comes on board,' Hunter wrote. The plans were put on hold when Beau died of brain cancer in May 2015. DailyMail.com revealed the emails in a July 2021 story . In November 2022 an anonymous whistleblower told DailyMail.com that he was on a 2012 phone call with then-VP Joe , Hunter and Cooper discussing a Latin American online gambling business.

The whistleblower said Joe was asking for 'revenue projections' and talking like he was 'chairman of the board'. DailyMail.com obtained business records, an archive of the gambling website, and emails from Hunter's laptop referencing Cooper and the South American web gambling operation. At the time, Cooper said the whistleblower's claim was a 'complete fabrication'.

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