The White House claimed Thursday that Hunter Biden, the president’s son, did not make any money off business deals in China despite documented payments worth millions of dollars made to Biden-controlled entities.
Financial documents compiled during a Republican investigation into Hunter Biden’s overseas business deals and documents and emails found on the hard drive of Biden’s abandoned laptop show that CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy conglomerate, paid Biden-controlled ventures millions over the course of about a year.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said during a Thursday press conference that the White House still stands behind comments President Joe Biden made during his 2020 campaign in which he denied that his son had made any money off business deals in China, according to The Washington Examiner. NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked Bedingfield if the White House stood by the president’s comments that Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings were ethically appropriate.
“We absolutely stand by the president’s comment, and I would point you to the reporting on this, which referenced statements that we made at the time that we gave to The Washington Post, who worked on this story,” Bedingfield said. “But as you know, I don’t speak for Hunter Biden, so there’s not more I can say on that.”
During a 2020 debate with former President Donald Trump, Biden claimed that “nothing was unethical” about Hunter’s business dealings and that Hunter made no money from deals in China.
“Nothing was unethical,” then-candidate Biden said at the time, “My son has not made money in terms of this thing about — what are you talking about — China. I have not had it. The only guy that made money from China is this guy. He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”
The Washington Post became one of the latest outlets to confirm reporting on Hunter Biden’s business dealings after The New York Post and others revealed much of the extent of Biden’s overseas business dealings in 2020 in the lead up to the election. WaPo reported on Wednesday:
Over the course of 14 months, the Chinese energy conglomerate and its executives paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle, according to government records, court documents and newly disclosed bank statements, as well as emails contained on a copy of a laptop hard drive that purportedly once belonged to Hunter Biden.
The Post did not find evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from or knew details about the transactions with CEFC, which took place after he had left the vice presidency and before he announced his intentions to run for the White House in 2020.
But the new documents — which include a signed copy of a $1 million legal retainer, emails related to the wire transfers, and $3.8 million in consulting fees that are confirmed in new bank records and agreements signed by Hunter Biden — illustrate the ways in which his family profited from relationships built over Joe Biden’s decades in public service.