UPenn teacher urged Hunter Biden’s kid to cash in on name
A professor at the University of Pennsylvania once pointedly urged Hunter Biden’s daughter to attend a lavish all-expenses paid conference in China, advising that her family name would open doors for her in the country, according to messages found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop.
The university is under scrutiny after classified documents were discovered at the school’s Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C. shortly before the midterm elections. The discovery was concealed by the Biden White House for months afterwards. Some of the documents related to countries Hunter Biden did business in — like Ukraine.
Frank Plantan Jr., a “lecturer emeritus” at the university, assured Naomi Biden that China’s Boao Forum — which he described as an “Asian Davos” — would be easy.
“My impression [is] it is pretty light lifting — no long speeches and more conversational. They will fly you business class and of course provide all your accommodations and meals and are happy to try and arrange meetings or introductions for you there or in other sectors in China,” Plantan wrote to Naomi in a message, found on the laptop, that she shared with Hunter Biden over text in February 2019.
“I don’t think it would surprise you that they are interested in you thanks to your family name. I would not take offense at that — it is truly the Chinese way. (And frankly, better you than that dolt Tiffany Trump),” he added.
Tiffany Trump and Naomi Biden were classmates at Penn and both graduated in 2016. The China invitation came when Naomi Biden was studying law at Columbia University, and her grandfather Joe Biden was gearing up for his 2020 presidential campaign.
In a message to Hunter, Naomi identified Plantan as the “head of the IR department at Penn” and asked for his thoughts on whether she should go.
Hunter Biden spent years himself looking for ways to cash in on China and was feted by some of the country’s most powerful businessmen. A 2017/18 bid to sell liquified natural gas to China — which appears to have involved Joe Biden — has become a prime focus of the US House Oversight Committee. It’s new Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has called the deal “potentially criminal.”
Hunter Biden was all for the venture.
“Yes- I would,” he advised, urging her to ask for a second ticket for boyfriend Peter Neal.
“Don’t be shy,” Hunter Biden said. “I like the frankness of your professor but also the event seems worthwhile and something you could benefit from.”
The 2019 Boao Forum took place a month later in the country’s resort island of Hainan. It’s keynote speaker was Chinese Premier Li Keqiang — then the second most powerful man in the country’s ruling Communist party.
Naomi Biden, however, wasn’t there. With Joe Biden preparing to announce his presidential campaign, his team put the kibosh on the trip.
“It is with great regret that I write to tell you I will not be able to attend the Boao Forum,” Naomi Biden wrote to Plantan in a message — a draft of which she shared with Hunter Biden in an email.
“In doing his due diligence, my Pop [Joe Biden] asked his China experts and advisors to brief him on how my attendance may be perceived by the press and Chinese government,” she continued. “After he has all the information and upon the advice of his staff my Pop asked that I respectfully tell the Boao Forum that I would in fact not be able to attend.”
Plantan did not respond to request for comment from The Post.
