Hunter Biden Denies Any 'Ethical Lapse' in His Ukraine and China Work

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/us/politics/hunter-biden-interview.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur



In an interview with ABC News, the former vice president’s son rejected as “ridiculous” President Trump’s suggestions that he and his father had engaged in wrongdoing.

By Katie Glueck and Stephanie Saul
Oct. 15, 2019, 6:37 a.m. ET

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son, acknowledged in an interview to be broadcast on Tuesday that he probably would not have been named to the board of a foreign company if his last name weren’t Biden, but he rejected suggestions by President Trump that he and his father had engaged in wrongdoing.

“Did I make a mistake? Maybe in the grand scheme of things,” Mr. Biden said in an interview with ABC News, which published excerpts from it on Tuesday morning. “But did I make a mistake based on some ethical lapse? Absolutely not.”

“I don’t think there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden,” Mr. Biden told Amy Robach of ABC.

Mr. Trump has seized on the younger Mr. Biden’s work in Ukraine and China to launch a series of attacks against the former vice president, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, over the past month. There is no evidence for the president’s claims that Mr. Biden, while in office, improperly intervened to aid his son, but that has not stopped him and other Republicans from raising questions about possible conflicts of interest.

The younger Mr. Biden, who recently resigned from the board of a Chinese investment company, said his service there had become a “distraction, because I have to sit here and answer these questions. That’s why I have committed that I won’t serve on any board or work on any foreign entities when Dad becomes president. That’s the rule I’m going to adhere to.”

Mr. Biden, 49, blamed his father’s opponents, including Mr. Trump, for stirring up controversy over his work. “What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and president of the United States that would be listening to this ridiculous conspiracy idea,” he said.

</snip>

[democratisphere]

1. Patronage jobs NEVER look good to many of US.

Hunter Biden has said he PROBABLY wouldn't have the foreign jobs he has/had if his name wasn't Biden. Never understand why Democrats set themselves up to become targets for the absolutely corrupt rightwing rethuglicons. This sh't is handed to them on a silver platter! Damn it people, wake up!

[Funtatlaguy]

2. Maybe a small self inflicted wound by the Biden campaign.

But, far from lethal.
Plus every time it is brought up, there’s an easy pivot to the crooked Trump family.

[beastie boy]

3. It was not self inflicted.

It was carefully and deliberately inflicted on Biden by the Trump camp and picked up by the media. The effort didn't have a desired effect, in fact it backfired BECAUSE it was manufactured from start to finish. Hunter is taking steps to get the whole issue out of the news cycle, nothing more.

[Funtatlaguy]

6. My comment was about Hunters interview

that the media has been blasting this morning.
They’ve all been saying it was a staff decision mistake for him to do the interview.
I’d rather he had not done it.
But, in the scheme of things it was minor and the media is being too critical.

[still_one]

29. These thing are not good to sit on. President Obama realized that when he disassociated himself

with Rev Wright.

While this involves Biden's son, they are making implications about Joe Biden, and I say it is good to clear it up as quickly as possible

John Kerry delayed much too late in response to the swift boat liars, and that persisted throughout, even though it was false

Amazingly even when things are proven untrue, there is always a subset that will deny the facts.

When you have 20% of the populace believe President Obama is not a citizen, there is a problem in the critical thinking skills of a good segment of the American populace

[Peacetrain]

35. You expect VP Biden to disassociate from his son?

okie doke..

[still_one]

37. Of course not, and that wasn't the point I was trying to make. The point I was trying to make was

that it is better to address this early rather than let it fester.

There are some who seem quite upset that this is being brought up now. As though waiting would make it disappear

That would not have helped in the Wright situation, and was learned the hard way by the swift boat liars regrading Kerry, because he ignored it too long, expected surrogates and press "integrity" to clear it up, and by the time he did address it, it was too little too late.

This situation is more closely aligned with Jimmy Carter and his brother Billy.

Regardless, I think it is good it is being addressed now, and all except the partisan hacks should be put to bed once and for all

[Peacetrain]

39. With that I totally agree..better to take care of it now..

[still_one]

41. I probably should not have used that as an example to make my point without being

stronger with the point I was making.

Clear the air as quickly as possible, and get on with the business at hand, defeating trump

[Peacetrain]

44. I could not agree more still_one...

deal with it right away!!

[TidalWave46]

7. This would be talked about by any Republican running.

The difference is they would simply be calling out the ethical aspects. Trump has gone full conspiracy theory and sold out the country for his own good.

[Demsrule86]

8. This was discussed years ago, and dismissed... the orange POS was looking to take down the one

who will beat him...and supporting this sort of thing only helps Republican ...in the end it won't help other Democratic candidates either.

[TidalWave46]

10. The ethical aspect was never dismissed.

No one in their right mind, outside of a partisan hack, would dismiss the way it looks ethically. Hunter himself has even backed that up very recently by stating he won’t do more foreign work in the immediate future.

What Trump is accusing them of has been dismissed.

I know of not one person who doesn’t think it was an ethical lapse outside of partisan hacks.

[Funtatlaguy]

32. Nothing ever ends with them. Benghazi, Monica, emails.

Truth doesn’t matter.
Facts don’t matter.
Their playbook is to take any kernel of something and overinflate it with lies and then have their entire team of enablers say the lies over and over.

[democratisphere]

4. You know the rethuglicons drill THIS kind of thing into the heads

of their idiot supporters. If it ain't Benghazi and emails, it's patronage jobs in foreign countries. You would think Democrats might know better at THIS point.

[Demsrule86]

9. That is pure bullshit and impossible too...we need to fight back and not allow the GOP to define us

If some didn't support these faux Biden attacks in order to help their chosen candidate, it would be over by now...so spare the me 'we have to be better than the GOP'...I promise you ..there are no perfect candidates who can run...the GOP will find something...we should fight back by going after Trump's spawn...put them on the defense instead of trying to purify our candidates which will never happen and is why we lose elections we should win hands down.

[democratisphere]

12. Biden is my candidate and his son's patronage jobs are a problem with me.

If we are going to point fingers, our own conduct must be beyond reproach.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

14. the jacobin folks are one step ahead of you

Elizabeth Warren’s daughter, Amelia Tyagi, with whom she has coauthored two best-selling books, has come a long way from her mom’s humble Oklahoma origins. Tyagi is now a founder and CEO of a consultancy called the Business Talent Group. Like Mayor Pete (BOOTEdgeEdge), she’s also worked as a consultant for McKinsey, a secretive consulting firm that has been rightly blamed for some of the worst miseries of working life at many major corporations. Journalist Duff McDonald, who wrote a book about the company, said McKinsey might be “the single greatest legitimizer of mass layoffs.” While the capitalist class already approved of layoffs in tough economic times, McDonald told Time magazine in a 2013 interview, McKinsey helped get them comfortable with the idea of layoffs in prosperous times “simply to juice profits.” Even the respectable Time interviewer couldn’t help observing that this sounded “evil.”

Tyagi also cofounded HealthAllies, a venture capital–backed health benefits firm which was eventually acquired by United Health Group. It makes you wonder: how likely is Warren to go all in for Medicare for All, a reform deeply opposed by most of the health insurance industry, when someone so close to her, an intellectual partner and colleague as well as a daughter, has been a heath care profiteer and still works as a management consultant to corporate America?

Kamala Harris, for her part, is married to a corporate lawyer. I don’t doubt that Douglas Emhoff, widely referred to in cutesy fashion as “Mr. Kamala Harris” (which is low-key gross but not the couple’s fault), is the sensitive, supportive spouse the candidate makes him out to be. He does seem to be man enough to serve as First Husband. But he spends his days and makes his money helping corporations defend their interests against consumers, workers, and other injured parties. He once represented more than fifty entertainment companies in a wage and hour class action lawsuit. No wonder Harris has “not been comfortable with Bernie’s plan” for single-payer health care. No wonder she has been able to credibly assure wealthy donors: “I believe in capitalism.” That system has treated her family well (though she acknowledges not everyone has been so lucky). Not only are her household’s interests inextricably intertwined with those of the capitalist class, she keeps company with someone who is paid amply to defend that class against everyone else.

As for Joe Biden, with so many tragic deaths in his family, it is tempting just to be happy for him that he has any kids left alive and leave it at that (I’m serious!). But Hunter Biden is probably a blatant grifter, involved in shady business in Ukraine and China during the Obama administration, most likely profiting immensely from his father’s position (as the Trump family has been doing).

We can’t expect everyone affiliated with a presidential candidate to make a virtuous living. We live, after all, in a rapacious, dirty system. (Though it’s worth noting Bernie Sanders’s children include an advocate for the disabled, a progressive politician, and a yoga studio owner, while his wife is a former college president who currently runs a left-wing think tank with the help of another of their sons.) And needless to say, any of these candidates, however unsavory their associations, would be better than the current occupant of the White House. Trump seems to have almost no genuine human affinities or ties, which is arguably worse than having shady ones.

But in the Democratic primary, in which candidates typically claim to support ordinary, hardworking Americans, it’s fair to assume their closest associates will ultimately shape their thinking, especially on the most material issues. And that’s a legitimate issue when we think about whom to support for 2020.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/09/elizabeth-warren-daughter-amelia-tyagi-mckinsey-healthallies

They fail to mention Jane Sanders had an investigation into the financial handling of the college during her presidency of course

[Pisces]

76. This will not be dead because the impeachment process will keep this alive every day.

[LanternWaste]

24. The appearance wrongdoing is at best, a diaphanous construct created by the GOP

The appearance wrongdoing in the Democratic primaries is at its best, a diaphanous construct created by the GOP and changes at their whims, dependent entirely on who is currently the biggest threat to their rule.

If not Biden, then the next front-runner will have baseless, imaginative accusations leveled at them as well. And if history is consistent, a handful of DUers will "be concerned this looks bad..." also, as it's either convenient for their own candidate of choice, of they're simply duped by the GOP spin machine.

[at140]

27. +1000

[still_one]

31. Really. Are you saying that most children of celebrities and public figures don't get certain

privileges?

From getting into Ivy League Schools, Law firms, better jobs, etc.

It is a long list, and it crosses party lines

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. Why is this idiot talking?

Like, did some staffer actually think trotting George W. Biden out in front of camera for a presser was a good idea? What the hell, guys?

Hunter Biden doesn't need to clear his name. His name is shit. And everyone knows it. We should be hammering it home that Hunter is an adult, and doesn't clear his every dumbass decision with his dad.

[Act_of_Reparation]

18. Yes, I am an idiot.

You are correct. This press conference was a resounding success. Thanks to Hunter's timely intervention, we can now put this issue to rest and move forward unencumbered. Hunter Biden 2024!!!1!

[phleshdef]

20. Keep going. You are making my point for me.

[Act_of_Reparation]

25. Yes, I am incredibly stupid.

[at140]

28. No, you are not!

But you are very good at posting nascent sarcasm lol

[crazytown]

13. 'Where's Hunter'?

Hunter / Biden campaign took the bait.

[DrFunkenstein]

16. Hunter Biden Makes It Difficult For All Democrats

By allowing Trump "a hook" to muddy the waters. He should have listened to Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, who did the right thing and told the State Department he had absolutely nothing to do with Hunter Biden's major lapse of judgment.

This doesn't affect Joe Biden alone. This affects all Democrats, who are now forced to say "yeah, but Trump's kids are worse" in defense, rather than going on the attack against corruption.

There are very clear ethical guidelines about avoiding the appearance of conflict. Hunter Biden was a federal lobbyist, but stepped down in 2008 because of the appearance of conflict it would give his father, Obama, and Democrats generally.

Why did he not do the same here? Why are we being bullied into defending this guy - he's not an elected Democrat, nor is he an official in the Party.

He's just some spoiled rich kid who has been getting a pass through the fast lane because of his connected daddy.

This is Democratic Underground. I'll defend Biden, who did nothing wrong, but I'm not going to pretend like this dumb schmuck did anything but make it harder for progressives to make their case to the American people.

[crazytown]

17. "spoiled rich kid"?

[Otto Lidenbrock]

19. see my post above - your candidate's daughter has been used to plant doubt about Warren

That came from the Left. The Right will as usual use that to attack her if/when it comes.

The point is the right wing are never held accountable for these things and when they do it, it's "capitalism at its core". They are hypocritical grifters of course and I'd love to hold the moral ground in 2020 but the fact is the family of a candidate are private citizens, they have their own careers and qualifications boosted by their famous relative's name.

Hunter Biden appears a man full of personal demons. He may have stonewalled his dad...we'll see. But it's better he arranged the interview imo because otherwise he'll have reporters lined up outside his home trying to interrogate him.

[crazytown]

21. ?

"your candidate's daughter has been used to plant doubt about Warren"

[Otto Lidenbrock]

23. From Jacobin - the Bernie Sanders campaign mouthpiece

Elizabeth Warren’s daughter, Amelia Tyagi, with whom she has coauthored two best-selling books, has come a long way from her mom’s humble Oklahoma origins. Tyagi is now a founder and CEO of a consultancy called the Business Talent Group. Like Mayor Pete (BOOTEdgeEdge), she’s also worked as a consultant for McKinsey, a secretive consulting firm that has been rightly blamed for some of the worst miseries of working life at many major corporations. Journalist Duff McDonald, who wrote a book about the company, said McKinsey might be “the single greatest legitimizer of mass layoffs.” While the capitalist class already approved of layoffs in tough economic times, McDonald told Time magazine in a 2013 interview, McKinsey helped get them comfortable with the idea of layoffs in prosperous times “simply to juice profits.” Even the respectable Time interviewer couldn’t help observing that this sounded “evil.”

Tyagi also cofounded HealthAllies, a venture capital–backed health benefits firm which was eventually acquired by United Health Group. It makes you wonder: how likely is Warren to go all in for Medicare for All, a reform deeply opposed by most of the health insurance industry, when someone so close to her, an intellectual partner and colleague as well as a daughter, has been a heath care profiteer and still works as a management consultant to corporate America?

[crazytown]

26. Got it.

Thanks.

[phleshdef]

22. Joe Biden was not a wealthy man when raising his kids.

Hunter is not a spoiled rich kid and you strip everything you said of all credibility by making such a ridiculous and easily disproved accusation.

[Act_of_Reparation]

30. Yes, the halls of Archmere Academy are practically littered with unpretentious middle-class kids.

[phleshdef]

33. You said nothing to disprove my point.

Biden's net worth in 2007 was negative 320k, negative because he still owed a mortgage.

https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/top-net-worth?filter=C&sort=A&type=W&year=2007

[Act_of_Reparation]

34. Yes, I am extremely stupid.

You're right. Archmere probably admits lots of students from debt-ridden families not sharing a surname with a business magnate, an actor, or a sitting US senator.

No way in hell that last name opened doors for Hunter that remained firmly closed to most Americans. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. Probably all the paint chips I've been eating.

[phleshdef]

36. And yet I stll remain 100% correct.

Joe Biden wasn't a wealthy man until recent years. All the snark in the world doesn't make that less true or you less wrong.

[Act_of_Reparation]

38. Of course you are.

You're smart. Way smarter than me. You clearly understand hard currency is the only thing of value in the world, a concept around which I struggle to wrap my minute brain.

I look forward to your next insightful reply.

[phleshdef]

42. Trying to change the argument doesn't make you correct either.

The person said he is a spoiled rich kid... nothing about his dad being a Senator being a helpful stepping stone, just that he was rich. Anyone with an ounce of common fucking sense knows that poster was implying that the Bidens were wealthy when Hunter was a child (he became an adult 31 years ago). What the poster said was an outright lie and now that you failed to defend that outright lie (because you couldn't even bother spending 5 minutes on Google to find out Biden's financial history), you are now trying to change the argument entirely. It won't work.

[Act_of_Reparation]

45. Not understanding what wealth actually is doesn't make you correct.

In fact, it makes you wrong.

But whatever. You clearly have a very powerful need to hold a high opinion of Hunter Biden, for reasons I will obviously never comprehend. Good luck with that endeavour. I'm going to go do something more fitting of my mental acuity. Like maybe playing lawn darts blindfolded, or sending in fake applications to Archmere to see if they'll take me on despite my $300k mortgage.

[phleshdef]

53. Wow such baseless hatred against a guy you know nothing about.

Warren would be ashamed of your bigotry.

[Cha]

75. No he does NOT, DrFunkenstein.. You are WRONG.

[polichick]

40. Nepotism is nepotism, no matter which party takes part in it...

Time to get a job that isn’t about the last name.

[phleshdef]

43. That isn't nepotism. His family didn't hire him.

[polichick]

48. Eh, his father got him the job indirectly - same difference.

[phleshdef]

50. No he didn't. His business partner got him that job.

Hunter is educated and has a pretty big resume. Being a Biden helped him, sure, but he isn't some know nothing that people are writing checks to. Why is everyone so quick to judge a guy they know very little about?

[polichick]

52. Even Hunter knows he got most of his jobs because of his father...

No point pretending our side doesn’t engage in this bullshit,

[phleshdef]

57. He knows being a Biden was a blessing for him.

Thats not "engaging" in anything. You make it sound dirty. It isn't. Its unavoidable. Based on your logic, no famous person's child should be allowed to do anything worthwhile with their life. Its stupid.

[polichick]

63. Based on my logic, a politician's child should not get...

jobs that are more about influence peddling than that child’s skills.

What’s “stupid” is making excuses for it and spinning to make it okay because it’s your team.

[BeyondGeography]

54. Hitching a ride on Air Force Two reduces travel costs

Can’t deny that.

[phleshdef]

58. Big fucking whoop.

[BeyondGeography]

60. That's right. Let's be the Big Fucking Whoop Party.

It’s a winner.

[phleshdef]

61. Better than being the "grasping at horse shit caked straws" party....

....which seems to be the kind of party you are going for. This is why we lose.

[Politicub]

69. Your accusation of nepotism is false. Completely false. Why make the accusation if it isn't true?

Joe did not hire his son nor did he pull strings for Hunter to get these board appointments.

Even though Hunter has the name of a long-standing figure in government (and VP), the jobs were not the result of nepotism in any sense of the definition of the word.

[polichick]

71. Eh, his father got him the job indirectly - same difference.

[Politicub]

73. Words matter. It was not nepotism nor the "same difference."

Getting hired by a relative versus earning a spot on a board in another company are not the same thing.

[polichick]

74. Words do matter - in no way did Hunter Biden "earn" that spot...

He got it because of his relationship to VP Biden - something he does not deny.

Hiring the son or daughter of a friend - or politician you want in your corner - also involves granting favors due to kinship.

[phleshdef]

51. There is no way of knowing how successful Hunter would be otherwise.

Its baseless speculation that can never be proven one way or the other. He isn't some illiterate idiot though.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

55. He was 40 years old when his dad became an international name

For the first 40 years of his life he was just another Senator's child. They all get a leg up because of it but the last name Biden was not a big deal pre-2009. A respected Senator for his work by political followers but most people don't follow politics. His previous two runs for POTUS show that. He was a nobody to the average person.

Go around the country and some of our current candidates are nobodies.

[still_one]

59. Would a Kennedy, Clinton, Bush, etc have gotten to where they are over some nameless child?

Perhaps, but just the namesake without meaning to gives them privileges

[Otto Lidenbrock]

67. Joe Biden was 67 years old when his name became valuable

This is what separates the Biden's from the others.

He's the patriarch of that family but it took him 36 YEARS to be elevated into a name. This isn't a dynasty like the Bush's dating back to Prescott Bush. Or the Kennedy's with Joe Sr. He was not in the White House as a young man with a young family like the Obama's and Clinton's.

Biden pre-2009 was like Patrick Leahy. A long serving, respected public servant but if you're not a deep political follower you probably have no clue who he was.

[Politicub]

70. The name last name Trump has turned into a millstone around the people who

have the unfortunate distinction of having it.

"Everybody does it" doesn't apply here. It's loaded language, too.

You can't control your last name (well, I guess one could change it, but that would be silly in most instances... unless it's Trump) and who your father is if he's a public figure.

[exboyfil]

65. No one is voting for Hunter Biden

He is not running for office. He is an adult and has his own agency.

I have my own preferences for a candidate, but Biden would make an excellent President. Unlike the fool on the other side, most of our candidates are qualified for the job.

[StarfishSaver]

66. He didn't come across well at all

[Cha]

77. Big Surprise that that's your Opinion.

[StarfishSaver]

78. Big surprise that you would take issue with my opinion on this

or maybe not, since it's an opinion that falls short of being fawning adoration of all things Biden.

[Cha]

79. lol Shocking!

[StarfishSaver]

80. Lol!

[Politicub]

68. The timing is interesting since it's on the day of the debate

Do the Bidens want to get this in the news cycle so Joe can hammer on Trump's corruption this evening? For the most part, media exposure like a sit-down interview is planned in advance, so Hunter's interview timing is no accident.

I believe Joe's perspective in the Ukraine story; it has become a damning indictment of Trump.

Anyway, I don't see the point in Hunter acknowledging that his last name was a factor in the board appointments. Hunter has a strong background in finance, government and law. I think these would be assets for serving on a board more so than his last name.