During Tuesday night’s CNN Democratic presidential primary debate, moderator Anderson Cooper ran interference for former Vice President Joe Biden — though it didn’t help the presidential hopeful entirely.
Biden has recently been pounded with criticism, mostly from President Donald Trump, for his and his son Hunter Biden’s shady dealings with Ukraine. When Cooper inquired about the scandal, he helpfully prefaced the question for Biden by repeatedly claiming the former vice president and his son had engaged in absolutely “no wrongdoing.”
“President Trump has falsely accused your son of doing something wrong while serving on a company board in Ukraine,” started Cooper. “I want to point out there’s no evidence of wrongdoing by either one of you.”
Cooper then noted that Biden announced on Sunday that no one in his family, including Hunter, will be involved with any foreign businesses when he’s president. “My question is, if it’s not okay for a president’s family to be involved in foreign businesses, why was it okay for your son when you were vice president?”
Biden said Hunter’s statements on the matter “speak for themselves” and claimed he never talked to his son about business, which has been contradicted by Hunter himself.
“My son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” Biden said, according to Fox News. “I carried out the policy of the United States government, which was to root out corruption in Ukraine and that’s what we should be focusing on.”
During a recent interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Hunter said he “did nothing wrong at all” but used “poor judgment” in retrospect because his actions are giving ammunition to his father’s political opponents.
He also noted that he “didn’t have any discussions with with my father before or after I joined the board as it related to it, other than that brief exchange that we had.”
As reported by NPR, Biden began making trips to Ukraine in the spring of 2014, when Hunter took a position on the board of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest private gas company — thereby earning a reported $50,000 a month.
“The question of a possible conflict of interest — with Hunter Biden profiting in a country where his father was actively working with the government — was raised publicly at the time,” NPR reported. Moreover, in March 2016, “Biden made one of his many trips to Ukraine and told the country’s leaders that they had to get rid of the prosecutor” probing corruption “if they wanted $1 billion in U.S. aid.”
WATCH:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper runs interference for the Democrats, claims that Trump “falsely” accused Biden of corruption
Biden responds by lying, falsely claims that he never talk to his son about business. Even his son said that he did. pic.twitter.com/jxeVoHTSIU
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 16, 2019