President Biden spoke Tuesday alongside a powerful labor leader who once credited Hunter Biden with giving him White House access during the Obama administration.
Biden delivered remarks at the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) legislative conference Tuesday, hours after announcing he and Vice President Kamala Harris would seek re-election next year.
While the appearance was officially a White House event, the president gave a campaign-style speech that echoed the themes in his re-election launch video.
The president was introduced by NABTU President Sean McGarvey who praised Biden for “building an economy that works for working people.”
“Hello, Building Trades! And thank you, President and my friend Sean McGarvey. You’ve been a friend of mine for a long time, as many of you have,” Biden remarked after McGarvey gave him the floor. “I wouldn’t be standing here, I wouldn’t have been elected to the United States Senate in the state that was a ‘right to work’ state initially were it not for American union labor.”
“Well, you know, I’m here because there’s no better place to talk about the progress we’ve made together. And it wouldn’t have been made without you. And that’s not hyperbole; that’s a fact,” he continued. “Our economic plan is working. We now have to finish the job, but there’s more to do.”
While the event wasn’t an official campaign event, Biden used the phrases “finish the job” six times and “more to do” four times. It also marked his first public appearance since announcing he would run for re-election.
Biden’s relationship with McGarvey, meanwhile, appears to date back to 2010 when his son Hunter Biden arranged for the two to meet, according to emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop and verified by Fox News Digital. At the time, Biden was serving as vice president and McGarvey was NABTU’s secretary-treasurer.
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According to an email exchange from December 2010, Mike Mathis and Chuck Harple — two political consultants who founded the Mathis Harple Group and have lobbied on behalf of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and AFL-CIO, two NABTU affiliates — contacted Hunter Biden, informing him that McGarvey was frustrated he couldn’t arrange a meeting with then-Vice President Biden.
McGarvey had sent a letter to the then-vice president in late 2009, requesting a meeting to no avail. McGarvey also asked if former NABTU President Mark Ayers could join in on the meeting.
“My real question is- if I have the boss make a call is it to Mark Ayers or Sean?” Hunter Biden said in a Dec. 14, 2010, email to Harple.
Harple responded “Sean,” and, in another email, shared McGarvey’s email and phone number with Hunter Biden.
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“Btw, just got off with Sean. Told him we talked. He and President Ayers personally thanked me and said it is good to know that what we were thinking about the VP may be totally wrong,” Harple said in another email. “I don’t even want to get in what I ha ve heard that they were told why the. Vp couldn’t meet.”
“I’ll work on it- but is there any issue I should know about before I go around everyone and straight to him- if I ask he will do it- but if I am missing something legit then i will get killed by staff,” Hunter Biden responded.
“You should not be worried about getting ‘yelled’ at by the Boss or his staff – they should be sh—ing their pants thinking that – because of miscommunication, the Building Trades think they are being dissed by the Vice President,” Harple said. “If it were my union – I would have sandwiched the President, VP or their CoS and made sure they knew.”
“All that said, what works best – for you and I – is for you to call Sean first. Say you talked to me and that you want to get all the facts before you talk to the big guy. This will be good for both of us,” Harple concluded.
Less than a week later, on Dec. 20, Hunter Biden helped arrange a phone call between Ayers and then-Vice President Biden, noting in an email the pair also planned to meet in early 2011.
“Talked to Sean. He and Mark Ayers totally credit you for saving the day,” Harple said in an email to Hunter Biden later that day. “I was a little taken aback over their enthusiasm, but they truly felt – for once – they were being heard.”
Months later, in April 2011, Harple emailed Hunter Biden, recounting a meeting that had recently been arranged between then-Vice President Biden, McGarvey and Ayers. Harple said the two union leaders were again frustrated that, while the meeting was productive, White House staff continued to be unresponsive.
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“I just talked to National Building and Construction Trades Secretary Treasurer Sean McGarvey. You may remember how you saved the day by addressing the Building Trades issue with the Vice President – a request to see him had been repeatedly unanswered for over a year,” Harple said in the April 30, 2011, email. “The Vice President met with General President Mark Ayers, Sean McGarvey and a number of other General Presidents from the respective affiliates of the Building Trades association.”
“Since then, the Building trades have reached out to the VP’s Economic Policy Director, who was in the meeting, and heard nothing back,” the email continued. “In addition, there has been over 6 unreturned phone calls and letters requesting meetings to follow up. As Sean regaled to me, ‘The VP was incredible in the meeting, but I fear that it was a dog and pony show after our attempts to reach out to them has gone for naught.’”
Additional emails showed that Hunter Biden and McGarvey had golfed together on numerous occasions throughout 2012.
And McGarvey emailed Hunter Biden on Nov. 7, 2012, congratulating his father on winning re-election.
“Lost last nite was the job for the last year the old man did ! We know it!!! so please tell him well done and get some rest!!” McGarvey said.
The White House and NABTU didn’t respond to requests for comment.