One of the talking points Donald Trump repeatedly screamed about during the Tuesday presidential debate was that Hunter Biden got $3.5 million from the wife of the mayor of Moscow.

It’s not unsurprising, but Trump got 99% of the story wrong.

What was right?  There was a Russian woman involved.

What was wrong?  Virtually everything else. 

Here’s the story:  in 2014, Elena Baturina–the widow of a former mayor of Moscow and the richest woman in Russia with a net worth of $1.2 billion–sent a series of wire transfers totalling $3.5 million to BHR Partners, a Boston-based international investment fund.

BHR is a cooperative effort of two American companies (Rosemont Seneca Partners and Thornton Group LLC) and two Chinese groups (Bohai Industrial Investment Fund and Harvest Fund Management).  One of the founding partners of BHR was Hunter Biden.

The fund sought to raise $1.5 billion for investment opportunities around the world.  They invested funds in everything from a Buffalo, New York technology start up to a Chinese nuclear power company.

There was also a $600 million investment in a Michigan auto components company, a South African copper mining company, and a Chinese version of Uber.

Hunter Biden never took personal possession of the money, nor was it paid to Biden.  As with any investment group, the vast majority of money is put into investments; partners in the investment firm may take a salary, but most income comes from returns on their investments.

Hunter Biden resigned from the company in October 2019 as his father’s presidential campaign ramped up.

The truncated story Trump told was part of a pre-debate package sent to media to prep them with the background for the talking point.  Various media outlets reported receiving the story from the RNC.