Joe Biden’s denials shift as evidence piles up about his involvement in Hunter’s deals
President Biden’s repeated denials that he participated in his son’s foreign business transactions or ever spoke with his son about them have shifted after an accumulation of evidence from bank records and eyewitness testimony in recent weeks shows he likely played a pivotal role in securing the lucrative deals.
Mr. Biden remained silent Friday when reporters shouted questions at him about a Justice Department special counsel investigation of his son Hunter Biden related to tax evasion, financial schemes and suspicions of acting as an unregistered lobbyist for foreign entities.
The president has long denied involvement in his son’s business deals, but a House investigation has compiled evidence that Mr. Biden helped his family pocket millions of dollars by serving as the influential “brand” and briefly joining phone calls and business meetings.
Questions about Mr. Biden’s candor were raised again last week with the surfacing of a 2015 photo showing then-Vice President Biden aboard Air Force Two en route to Ukraine talking with adviser Amos Hochstein. According to congressional investigators, Mr. Hochstein repeatedly warned about a conflict of interest from Hunter Biden’s job on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma that paid $1 million a year.
Hunter Biden and his associates also sought help from Mr. Hochstein on behalf of Burisma on a Ukrainian gas tax initiative, but it’s unclear whether the adviser provided any assistance.
Republicans called the Air Force Two photo “damning.” They said it was further evidence that Mr. Biden was well aware of his son’s business deals and spoke about them.
The photo was taken on the way to Kyiv, where Mr. Biden met with President Petro Poroshenko and demanded that he fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who had been investigating Burisma.
At an event Tuesday in Arizona, Mr. Biden did not deny knowing about his son’s business deals but said, “I never talked business with anybody.”
Mr. Biden was responding to a reporter’s question about testimony from his son’s former business associate Devon Archer.
Archer recently told House investigators that Mr. Biden, as vice president, phoned into about 20 of Hunter Biden’s business meetings and dined twice with their business associates.
Mr. Biden’s response marked a shift from his professed ignorance about his son’s lucrative deals, including his board seat on Burisma, which paid Hunter Biden a total of more than $3 million.
Asked in a 2019 Axios interview what job Hunter Biden was performing for Burisma to earn the hefty paycheck, Mr. Biden said, “I don’t know what he was doing. I knew he was on the board, but that was it.”
Archer, who is facing a prison term on an unrelated securities fraud conviction, testified that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky and another top Burisma executive, Vadym Pozharskyi, arranged a phone call, through Hunter, with Vice President Biden in December 2015. The Burisma executives wanted to talk with him about a state corruption probe of their company that was hindering efforts to break into U.S. energy markets.
Mr. Pozharskyi also dined with Mr. Biden at a Georgetown restaurant in April 2015, Archer revealed to House investigators.
Archer said the dinner conversation did not include any business talk. Democrats have downplayed Archer’s testimony and said Hunter Biden was merely selling “the illusion” that his powerful father would help Burisma executives and other business associates.
Earlier this summer, two IRS whistleblowers told Congress that they found evidence of more direct involvement from Mr. Biden.
In their investigation into Hunter Biden over unpaid taxes, IRS investigators uncovered WhatsApp messages in which Hunter Biden threatened a Chinese business associate to make good on a payment.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter Biden messaged to Henry Zhao on June 30, 2017. “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.
“And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
After the revelations, the White House changed its message.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pivoted away from claiming that the president was ignorant of his son’s business deals. “The answer remains the same. The president was never in business with his son,” she told reporters.
Mr. Biden started denying knowledge about his son’s business deals in 2019 when he ran for president.
“First of all, I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period,” Mr. Biden said at a campaign event in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in August 2019.
He told reporters that during his time as vice president, “There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there.” He pledged “an absolute wall” between the White House and his family’s business deals.
“That’s why I never talked with my son or my brother or anyone else, even distant family, about their business interests. Period,” Mr. Biden said.
Archer disputed Mr. Biden’s claim this month in an online interview with Tucker Carlson. He called the denials “categorically false” and said Mr. Biden “was aware of Hunter’s business [and] met with Hunter’s business partners.”
House Republican leaders recently wrote to White House Counsel Stuart Delery to ask whether Mr. Biden was tapped into his son’s business deals. The letter points to the shifting statements from the president and his press team that seem to offer wiggle room to accommodate the bank records and witness testimony that could tie the president to his son’s business deals.
“The American people must have confidence that the President of the United States is not compromised by foreign interests,” lawmakers wrote.
The White House has not responded.
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