Presumptive president-elect Joe Biden addressed questions about a federal investigation into his son Hunter Biden, saying he is “confident” that his son did nothing wrong.
Biden and his transition team have largely dodged questions about the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes by either not responding or replying, “I’m proud of my son,” Fox News reported.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed Biden on Wednesday and asked if the presumptive president-elect was confident Hunter Biden did nothing wrong. Biden responded, “I’m confident.”
In a statement released earlier this month, Hunter Biden announced he was being investigated by federal prosecutors in Delaware for potential tax crimes.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in a Dec. 9 statement.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
Biden’s transition team issued a statement of their own that said Biden “is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger.”
The younger Biden has come under scrutiny in the past year over his business dealings, specifically during the time when he served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings while his father was vice president.
According to Politico, which cited a “person with direct knowledge of the investigation,” Hunter Biden’s finances have been investigated by the securities fraud unit in the Southern District of New York.
And as of early last year, investigators in Delaware and Washington were examining Hunter Biden’s foreign connections, the source said.
Hunter Biden was also being examined in connection with a potential money laundering case, the source added.
A subpoena was issued on Dec. 8 seeking information related to over two dozen entities, including Burisma Holdings and the younger Biden’s Chinese business dealings, a person familiar with the tax investigation told The Associated Press.
The subpoena will allow prosecutors to take a wide-angle lens to examine Hunter Biden’s finances and international business ventures.
It is unclear at this time if his work at Burisma Holdings is a central part of the investigation or if prosecutors are seeking information about all of his sources of income.
The investigation reportedly was launched in 2018, a year before the elder Biden announced his candidacy for the presidency.
In October, emails from a laptop computer that was reportedly used by Hunter Biden allegedly showed he was trying to make a deal involving a Chinese company that would be “interesting for me and my family” and included a reference to an unnamed “big guy,” according to the New York Post.
The China emails come from 2017, according to the report, and appear to reference a deal Hunter Biden was trying to make with CEFC, a Chinese energy company.
The emails estimate Hunter Biden would be paid “850” and that shares in a new company he was trying to start would be split with “10 held by H for the big guy.”
The email chain did not reveal the identity of the “big guy.”
A September report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee painted an overview of Hunter Biden’s alleged activities in China.
“Hunter Biden’s connections and financial associations appear to have accelerated significantly after he associated himself with Ye Jianming, who had deep connections with the Communist regime and [People’s Liberation Army],” the report said.
“However, that didn’t seem to have any impact on Hunter Biden, who made millions from the relationship. Indeed, Hunter Biden and his family, to include James and Sara Biden, associated with other Chinese nationals such as Gongwen Dong.
“In one case, the three of them went on a $100,000 global spending spree after Gongwen Dong and Hunter Biden opened a joint account. In addition, Hunter Biden received millions of dollars over a period of years from Gongwen Dong’s companies. According to records acquired by the Committees, many of these transactions involved potential criminal financial activity.”
The report also noted that Hunter Biden was involved in the 2015 acquisition of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm, which the report called a potential conflict of interest because of his father’s role in the Obama administration, which approved the deal.
Story cited here.
