Hunter Biden’s Business A Senate report reveals Joe’s passivity amid his son’s influence-peddling.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunter-bidens-business-11600901745?mod=opinion_lead_pos3
Joe Biden is running against Donald Trump’s character and supposed corruption, so a Senate report documenting the Biden family’s ethical swampiness certainly counts as news.
Senate committee Chairmen Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley on Wednesday released the findings of their year-long investigation into the problems that the business dealings of Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, presented to the Obama-Biden administration. The report makes clear Hunter was profiting off his father’s position—in Ukraine, and notably in China. Foreigners knew they were buying influence by association.
The Ukrainian gas company Burisma hired Hunter to “consult” on corporate governance in May 2014, only weeks after Vice President Biden took the U.S. lead in helping Ukraine fight corruption. Burisma was a top investigation target, and U.K. officials had seized the London bank accounts of Burisma’s owner. Hunter had no experience in Ukraine or natural gas. The report cites emails showing Hunter and his business associate, Devon Archer, requesting meetings with State Department officials after their Burisma appointments. A U.S. lobbying firm working for Burisma invoked Hunter’s name as it sought a State Department meeting.
Former State official George Kent wrote to superiors in 2016 that Hunter’s Burisma position made it “very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine.” He testified that officials had to worry about “opponents” saying “What about Hunter Biden?” State Department email chains show U.S. officials mulling how to handle the Hunter problem.
Committee documents show Hunter’s businesses received millions of dollars from other deals with foreigners during the Obama years. This included a $3.5 million wire transfer in 2014 from Elena Baturina, the widow of the former mayor of Moscow.
The report details a “vast web of corporate connections and financial transactions between and among the Biden family and Chinese nationals.” Several of these transactions involved Hunter and Joe Biden’s brother, James. No charges have been filed against the Bidens, who say they did nothing wrong.
Mr. Kent raised Hunter’s Burisma ties with Joe Biden’s staff in 2015. And former Obama Special Envoy Amos Hochstein that same year took it directly to the Vice President, warning that Russians and corrupt oligarchs would use Hunter’s position to “undermine [Vice President Biden’s] message.”
Yet Mr. Biden never stopped Hunter or recused himself from work on Ukraine, China or elsewhere. Joe Biden said last year that “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” But the report includes testimony that he was informed and discussed it with Hunter.
Democrats and the press are dismissing this as old news, but the facts show this was a legitimate area for investigation—especially after Democrats made Ukraine the center of their impeachment case. At best Hunter’s tale is an example of egregious Beltway influence-peddling and a father’s passivity despite warnings. Voters can now add this to their election calculus, and decide whether this is what Joe Biden means by a return to normalcy.
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