Tony Bobulinski Sues Cassidy Hutchinson for Defamation, Denies ‘Shady Business Dealing’ with Mark Meadows

Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against former Trump official Cassidy Hutchinson over the allegation, made in Hutchinson’s recently published memoir, that Bobulinski was involved in a “shady business dealing” with her former boss, Mark Meadows, ahead of the 2020 election.

“In one of her business ventures, Defendant released a book in which she defamed Mr. Bobulinski and painted him in a false light. Defendant did so, in part, by lying about a meeting between Mr. Bobulinski and Mark Meadows, dishonestly portraying it to be unethical and, possibly, illegal. Consequently, Mr. Bobulinski now seeks to hold Defendant accountable for her malicious conduct,” reads the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Georgia and obtained by National Review.

Bobulinski is asking for $10 million in damages, claiming Hutchinson harmed his reputation and made him fear for his personal safety. He also offered to drop the suit if Hutchinson agrees to donate 20 percent of her book proceeds to a children’s hospital.

In her memoir Enough, published in September, Hutchinson implies that Meadows and Bobulinski were involved in a conspiracy to hurt Biden’s reelection chances.

“In the shadows of the bleachers, I observed Mark and Tony Bobulinski’s interaction through a gap in the vehicles,” Hutchinson wrote, claiming Bobulinski was wearing a “ski mask” when the pair met, according to book excerpts included in the suit.

“When they said their goodbyes, I saw Mark hand Tony what appeared to be a folded sheet of paper or a small envelope. Mark walked toward me, staring at the ground,” she continued.

In the defamation complaint, Bobulinski’s attorneys said the meeting was simply an exchange of pleasantries and nothing suspicious took place. Nothing was exchanged between the two men and the Biden family did not come up during the conversation, Bobulinski’s attorneys stated.

“This allegation is categorically false, and Defendant knew it to be false, or made it with reckless disregard for the truth. Mr. Meadows never gave Mr. Bobulinski any piece of paper or envelope,” the suit reads.

“It was Defendant’s feelings of ill-will toward Mr. Bobulinski and the Trump administration, along with self-promoting her own financial opportunities, that drove her to repeatedly lie about Mr. Bobulinski.”

Hutchinson rose to prominence as a star witness for the January 6th Committee, a select house committee that investigated the Capitol attack on January 6th, 2021. She served as an assistant to Meadows during the Trump administration and provided the committee explosive testimony in June 2022 about the events on and leading up to the Capitol riot. Some of the allegations she provided have been disputed, particularly her claim that Trump lunged at the steering wheel of his SUV and allegedly assaulted a secret service agent on January 6th.

Bobulinski first came forward in October 2020 about his business dealings with Hunter Biden and the Biden family after the New York Post’s reporting on the contents of Hunter’s abandoned laptop. He was put on an email thread in May 2017 where former business partner James Gilliar floated the possibility of giving “the big guy,” Joe Biden, a 10 percent stake in a nascent business venture.

Meadows and Bobulinski briefly met outside of a Trump rally on November 1st, 2020, after then-President Trump had brought Bobulinski to the October 22nd, 2020 presidential debate against then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Last month, Bobulinski testified before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees about his knowledge of the Biden family’s foreign business dealings for the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Bobulinski vividly recalled meeting Joe, Hunter and James Biden in May 2017 during negotiations over “SinoHawk,” a potential joint venture alongside Chinese firm CEFC that was supposed to receive $10 million of seed capital.

“So I’m glad you asked me this question because Cassidy Hutchinson is an absolute liar and a fraud,” Bobulinski said of Hutchinson. He denied allegations he wore a ski mask during the meeting and received an envelope from Meadows.

William H. Jordan, Hutchinson’s attorney, referred National Review to a letter he wrote to Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) on February 23rd after Bobulinski’s testimony. Hutchinson’s attorney defended his client’s assertions and provided an accompanying image of Bobulinski and Meadows standing together in a parking lot.

“Ms. Hutchinson described how the meeting was put together at the last minute, how it occurred behind the grandstands and between Secret Service vehicles so it could be shielded from view, how Mr. Bobulinski was wearing a mask, how Mr. Meadows handed Mr. Bobulinski something (although she does not know what it was), and how uncomfortable the entire situation made her feel,” Jordan said.

“On that November evening Ms. Hutchinson took a photo of Mr. Bobulinski meeting with Mr. Meadows from her vantage point just on the other side of the vehicle from their conversation. A copy is attached to this letter. Mr. Bobulinski may be somewhat hard to make out in this image — since he is wearing his Penn State hat…and a mask.”

The image shows Meadows and Bobulinski standing outside of a vehicle and Bobulinski appears to be wearing a face covering and a Penn State hat.

“Ms. Hutchinson stands by what she witnessed that night and wrote in her book,” Jordan added.

Raskin has questioned Bobulinski’s integrity and downplayed his testimony on multiple occasions, leading to strongly worded responses from one of Bobulinski’s attorneys.

The CEFC business deal ended up falling apart and both Bidens painted Bobulinski as a disgruntled bully when they testified. Bobulinski rejected the perception of him as a bitter former business partner during his testimony.

Hunter Biden corroborated Bobulinski’s testimony about the meeting and heavily implied his father was “the big guy” referenced by Gilliar. Bobulinski said emphatically Joe Biden was the big guy and recalled Gilliar speaking in code because of his intelligence background.

However, James Biden testified the meeting with Bobulinski never took place. Joe Biden has repeatedly denied interacting with his son’s business partners, despite testimony from his son and other business associates stating otherwise. Hunter and James Biden both insisted Joe Biden had no involvement in any of their business dealings.