President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Attorney General William Barr has to “act fast” to probe allegations about Joe Biden’s son, urging an investigation “before the election.”
“We’ve got to get the attorney general to act,” Trump said on Fox News. “He’s got to act, and he’s got to act fast, and he’s got to appoint somebody.” The president added: “This is major corruption, and we have to know about this before the election. The attorney general has to act.”
The president’s call came after 11 House Republicans urged Barr to name a special counsel to investigate allegations that have emerged from a laptop purported to have belonged to Biden’s son Hunter.
“One email, dated May 13, 2017, and obtained by Fox News, includes a discussion of ‘remuneration packages’ for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as ‘Chair/Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,’ in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co,” Fox reported. “The email includes a note that ‘Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.’ A proposed equity split references ’20’ for ‘H’ and ’10 held by H for the big guy?’ with no further details.”
Other emails detail Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
“This is the laptop from hell,” Trump said. “Even if he didn’t get all of this money, you can’t go to China and have the son walk out with $1.5 billion. … You can’t go to Ukraine with $83,000 a month. … You can’t get $3.5 million from the mayor of Moscow’s wife.”
“And you didn’t have a job before your father was vice president,” Trump continued. “You can’t go and go with your father and every stop you make, you pick up $1 billion.”
He added: “The vice president got a kickback, and everybody knows it, and they’ve known it a long time.”
On Monday, 11 House Republicans on Monday urged Barr to appoint a special counsel.
“These alleged revelations raise serious questions about former Vice President Joe Biden’s reported participation with his son’s business, dealings, specifically whether the former vice president (1) received foreign monies during his tenure in the Obama administration and (2) if former Vice President Biden allowed his son to peddle access to his father with foreign business entities,” says the letter, obtained by Fox News.
“If these reports about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, are true, the former vice president fell far short of his responsibility to uphold his constitutional oath and betrayed the sacred trust of the American people,” the letter states.
“We request that the Department of Justice immediately appoint an independent, unbiased special counsel to investigate the issues that we have raised — as well as any corresponding legal or ethical issues that might be uncovered from the former vice president’s 47 years in public office,” the lawmakers wrote.