Joe Biden conceded that his son Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Ukranian gas company Burisma, a position that prompted interest from President Trump’s team and became the center of the Trump impeachment, may not have looked like a clean arrangement from the outside.
“No one’s found anything wrong with his dealings in Ukraine except they say it sets a bad image,” Joe Biden said in an interview Monday morning.
Joe Biden was then asked if he also believes his son’s role set a bad image.
“Yeah. And my son said that,” Joe Biden said.
Hunter Biden said in an October interview, “In retrospect, look: I think that it was poor judgment on my part” to join the Ukrainian board. “I did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is a, it’s a swamp in many ways? Yeah. And so I take full responsibility for that.”
Monday’s exchange was a rare admission by the former vice president, 77, as others have argued that Hunter Biden’s position while Joe Biden was leading Ukrainian foreign policy for the Obama administration had the appearance of a conflict of interest. Usually, Joe Biden would only point to his son’s sentiment without explicitly agreeing with it. Joe Biden adamantly denied, however, that Hunter Biden received the position because of his family name and connections.
“You’re saying things you do not know what you’re talking about. No one said that,” Joe Biden said.
In previous interviews and statements, Joe Biden has aggressively denied any hint of wrongdoing on the part of himself or his son.
“My son’s statement speaks for itself. I did my job. I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine,” Joe Biden said in an October Democratic presidential debate. “My son made a judgment. I’m proud of the judgment he made. I’m proud of what he had to say.”
When a voter at a December campaign stop in Iowa brought up that Joe Biden “let [his] son over there, get a job and work for a gas company” even though “he had no experience,” the former vice president called the voter “a damn liar.”
“There’s nothing on its face that was wrong,” Joe Biden said about the arrangement in a December interview.
Trump and his allies have suggested that while Joe Biden was vice president, he conditioned $1 billion in aid to Ukraine on the country firing an official who was investigating Burisma. There is no evidence that Joe Biden was acting in the interests of his son, and many international organizations at the time condemned the official for not pursuing corruption charges among Ukrainian politicians.
Joe Biden’s primary rivals have tiptoed around the issue while subtly knocking Joe Biden’s judgment, saying that they would not want the son or daughter of their vice president to hold a position on a foreign company’s board. In December, Joe Biden promised that if he is president, he would not allow his children to become involved in foreign business arrangements.
.@JoeBiden snaps at @SavannahGuthrie after she asks about Hunter Biden: “You’re saying things you don’t know what you’re talking about!” pic.twitter.com/4O4LmLNenb
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 3, 2020
