Former Vice President Joe Biden is feeling the heat in his flailing campaign — and his son’s latest business move is proof that the Bidens are nervous.
Joe’s son, Hunter Biden, is resigning from the board of directors of a Chinese-backed private equity firm at the end of the month as part of a pledge not to work on behalf of any foreign-owned companies should his father win the presidency. Hunter got rich working for foreign companies while his father was vice president.
Biden, the 49-year-old son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, revealed his plan in an internet post written by his attorney, George Mesires, who outlined a defense of the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine and China, which has emerged as one of Trump’s chief lines of attack against Hunter’s father despite no proof of impropriety.
“Hunter makes the following commitment: Under a Biden Administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests. In any event, Hunter will agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign owned companies,” Mesires wrote.
Joe Biden, speaking to reporters after a union forum in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, claimed his son did not discuss that decision with him before posting the statement.
“No one has asserted my son did a single thing wrong,” Biden added, pounding his finger into the podium, “except a lying president.”
And Biden promised to bar his family members from occupying any office within the White House and said they won’t “sit in meetings as if they are a Cabinet member.” That was a jab at Trump, who taps daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, as advisers. Biden did not say if his pledge meant that Jill Biden, his wife, would not get the office traditionally assigned to first ladies, should he win.
Hunter Biden’s controversial work overseas sits at the center of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump.
The White House released a rough transcript of a call in which Trump asks Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to probe Biden’s family and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election that put Trump in office. Trump has also encouraged China to dig into Hunter Biden’s work in that country, asserting without evidence that earned $1.5 billion from a “sweetheart” business deal there.
The president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is also under increasing scrutiny for his efforts to dig into Hunter Biden’s business background. Late last week, two businessmen involved in Giuliani’s efforts to investigate Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine were charged with federal campaign finance violations.
Still, Republicans reacted to news of Hunter Biden’s decision to step away from the Chinese-backed BHR Equity Investment Fund Management Co. with deep skepticism.
“I think this is just another way to save a flailing campaign that’s going down,” Doug Collins, R-Ga., the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” ″He knows he’s in trouble and this is just another way to try and detract attention.”
On the same show, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Hunter Biden “should have done this quite a while ago.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article