In an interview with ABC News published Tuesday, Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, broke his silence over renewed allegations of corruption stirred up by the famous July 25 phone call in which President Trump asked Ukraine’s president to “look into” the Bidens.
Though he repeatedly defended himself against accusations of “improper” behavior, Hunter admitted to ABC that some of his private ventures — which include his lucrative position on the board of Ukraine-based energy company Burisma Holdings — was the result of “poor judgment” and that he “probably” would not have gotten some of his high-paying positions if he was not “the son of the vice president.”
Trump has since weighed in on Hunter’s interview, declaring it “really bad” and suggesting it only made the allegations swirling around “Sleepy Joe” worse.
“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part,” Hunter Biden told ABC News’ Amy Robach in reference to his business dealings while his father was vice president. “Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it — I know that there was — did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is … a swamp in — in — in many ways? Yeah.”
“I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father,” he explained. “That’s where I made the mistake. So I take full responsibility for that.”
Though he took the blame for giving his father’s critics a way to hit him, Hunter underscored that the did nothing wrong. “Did I do anything improper?” he said. “No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever.”
“What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president of the United States that would be listening to this — this ridiculous conspiracy idea,” he suggested.
“If your last name wasn’t Biden, do you think you would have been asked to be on the board or Burisma?” Robach asked in reference to Ukraine-based company that hired him just weeks after his father was tasked by President Obama with overseeing U.S.-Ukraine relations.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably not, in retrospect,” Hunter replied. “But that’s — you know — I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden. Because my dad was Vice President of the United States. There’s literally nothing, as a young man or as a full grown adult that — my father in some way hasn’t had influence over.”
In a tweet Tuesday, Trump slammed Biden over the interview, saying the whole situation reminded him of another scandal involving a different presidential rival that didn’t end up playing out well for Democrats in the election.
“Hunter Biden was really bad on [Good Morning America],” he tweeted. “Now Sleepy Joe has real problems! Reminds me of Crooked Hillary and her 33,000 deleted Emails, not recoverable!”
Hunter Biden was really bad on @GMA. Now Sleepy Joe has real problems! Reminds me of Crooked Hillary and her 33,000 deleted Emails, not recoverable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2019
Biden has openly bragged about his successful attempt as Vice President to use withheld aide to Ukraine to pressure the government to remove the prosecutor who happened to have investigated the company paying his son some $600,000 a year for alleged corruption.
Though the Bidens have repeatedly defended their respective dealings in Ukraine, Good Morning America notes that “ethics experts told ABC News that Hunter Biden’s role on the board of a Ukrainian oil and gas company called Burisma, while his father fronted U.S. foreign policy toward Kyiv, could present an ethical conundrum.”
Transcript via GMA.