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Hunter Biden to Leave Chinese Company Board, Addressing Appearance of Conflict Hunter Biden to Leave Chinese Company Board, Addressing Appearance of a Conflict
(about 1 hour later)
ALTOONA, Iowa — Hunter Biden, whose overseas business dealings have drawn relentless attacks from President Trump and posed a threat to the candidacy of his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., intends to step down from the board of a Chinese company, BHR, by the end of the month, his lawyer said in a statement on Sunday. ALTOONA, Iowa — Hunter Biden, whose overseas business dealings have drawn relentless attacks from President Trump and posed a threat to the candidacy of his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., intends to step down from the board of a Chinese company, BHR, by the end of the month, his lawyer said on Sunday, a move his father later lauded in a forceful defense of his son’s integrity.
The statement also said that if Mr. Biden were to be elected president, his son would “agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies.” The lawyer also said in a statement that if Mr. Biden were to be elected president, his son would “agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies.”
The decision is the first action the pro-Biden camp has taken that appears to acknowledge the extent to which Hunter Biden’s business practices have created an untenable problem for his father’s 2020 campaign. With the fourth Democratic primary debate only two days away, political strategists said Hunter Biden’s decision to leave the Chinese company could help defuse the issue at a time when some of Mr. Biden’s lower-polling Democratic rivals have suggested his son’s work overseas raises questions about conflict of interest. The decision is the first action the pro-Biden camp has taken that appears to acknowledge the extent to which Hunter Biden’s business practices have created an untenable problem for his father’s 2020 campaign. With the fourth Democratic primary debate only two days away, political strategists said Hunter Biden’s decision to leave the Chinese company could help defuse the issue at a time when Mr. Biden’s lower-polling Democratic rivals have suggested his son’s work overseas raises questions about conflict of interest.
“Hunter’s decision won’t stop Trump from spreading debunked conspiracy theories about the past,” said David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former chief strategist. “But it does give Joe Biden an answer he didn’t have about potential conflicts of interest moving forward.”“Hunter’s decision won’t stop Trump from spreading debunked conspiracy theories about the past,” said David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former chief strategist. “But it does give Joe Biden an answer he didn’t have about potential conflicts of interest moving forward.”
There is no evidence Mr. Biden acted improperly to aid his son’s overseas financial dealings in China and Ukraine. Still, many on the Biden team have been gravely concerned about Mr. Trump’s ability to inflict damage with a barrage of baseless claims of corruption against the Biden family, some of which were included in an expansive pro-Trump advertising campaign. In a brief news conference here Sunday in which he repeatedly pounded the podium, Mr. Biden stressed that the decision to leave the Chinese company’s board had been his son’s alone and suggested he learned of the statement from Hunter Biden’s lawyers. He also appeared to take veiled swipes at some of Mr. Trump’s children, who have had their own overseas business dealings.
Mr. Biden has consistently ranked as one of the Democratic Party’s leading presidential candidates. But his advantage has slipped in some recent polls, and his fund-raising has lagged his top rivals. Over the last two weeks he has begun to vigorously fight back against Mr. Trump’s criticisms and last week, in a fiery address in New Hampshire, he called for the first time for Mr. Trump to be impeached. “The statement my son put out today, which I saw when he put it out — I was told it was going to be put out, I did not consult with him about what’s being put out — in fact represents the kind of man of integrity he is,” Mr. Biden said. “And I can tell you now, if I am your president, next president, I’m going to build on the squeaky-clean transparent environment that we had in the Obama-Biden White House, and no one in my family or associated with me will be involved in any foreign operation whatsoever. Period, end of story.”
“You go to three foreign governments, not just all about me — three foreign governments, and ask them to come in and interfere in the sovereignty, the sacredness of the American electoral process?” Mr. Biden said Sunday at a union gathering in Altoona, apparently alluding to Mr. Trump’s dealings with Russia, as well as with Ukraine and China. “Come on. Come on. This is outrageous. If in fact the House doesn’t move, let the facts fall where they may, then what does the next unethical president, if we elect one, what does that say they can do?” Minutes later, he appeared to jab more sharply at members of the Trump family, a message that Mr. Biden, a Senate traditionalist who reveres beltway customs and civility, does not typically emphasize.
The statement on Sunday from Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, said his client had served only as a member of the board of directors of BHR, an equity investment fund manager, “which he joined based on his interest in seeking ways to bring Chinese capital to international markets.” It was an unpaid position. Mr. Mesires has previously said Hunter Biden became an investor in 2017, taking a 10 percent stake in BHR. “No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they’re a Cabinet member, will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,” he said.
Mr. Trump has said with no evidence that Mr. Biden’s son used political ties to induce China to invest $1.5 billion in a fund he was involved in, an assertion Mr. Biden has denied. “No one,” he said twice, smacking the podium each time, “has asserted my son did a single thing wrong.”
The statement had been in the works for weeks, one Biden adviser said. Separately, a person familiar with the decision said it came at Hunter Biden’s initiative, not his father’s. “No one,” he said, “has asserted that I have done anything wrong except the lying president. That’s the only thing. That’s the focus."
Mr. Trump has directed his broadsides against Hunter Biden as he faces an impeachment inquiry in the House, which was spurred by the president’s phone call to the president of Ukraine urging the government to investigate Hunter Biden’s financial dealings there. Subsequently, Mr. Trump publicly called for China to look into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings in that country. There is no evidence Mr. Biden acted improperly to aid his son’s overseas financial dealings in China and Ukraine, as Mr. Trump has asserted. Still, many on the Biden team are gravely concerned about the president’s ability to inflict damage with a barrage of claims that, while baseless, could nevertheless take hold in voters’ views of the race. Some of those claims have been featured in an expansive pro-Trump advertising campaign.
Aides say Mr. Biden has been bracing for weeks for questions about his son at Tuesday’s CNN/New York Times debate. His allies and advisers say that any Democrat who broaches the subject is playing into Mr. Trump’s hands and hurting the party’s cause, and some have suggested Mr. Biden is prepared to make that case if he faces personal attacks, though several of his more prominent opponents have so far been careful to avoid criticizing Mr. Biden’s family. Mr. Biden has consistently ranked as one of the Democratic Party’s leading presidential candidates. But his advantage has slipped in some recent polls, and his fund-raising has lagged his top rivals. Over the last two weeks he has begun to vigorously fight back against Mr. Trump’s criticisms; last week, in a fiery address in New Hampshire, he called for the first time for Mr. Trump to be impeached, a view he expanded on when addressing a gathering of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Sunday afternoon.
Still, the national focus on Mr. Biden’s family has become a political vulnerability, some Democrats say, moving him off his campaign message and forcing him to play defense as he faces questions about conflicts of interest. “It does have an incredibly negative impact on the state of affairs in the country,” he said. “I wish it didn’t get there, but it’s gotten so far now, if you don’t, if you don’t move on it, then what do we say to the rest of the world about who we are? What do you say about opening the gates and saying, ‘come on in, get involved in our elections?’”
The statement on Sunday from Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, said his client had served only as a member of board of directors of BHR, an equity investment fund manager, “which he joined based on his interest in seeking ways to bring Chinese capital to international markets.” It was an unpaid position. Mr. Mesires has previously said Hunter Biden became an investor in 2017, taking a 10 percent stake in BHR.
The statement had been in the works for weeks, one Biden adviser said. Over the past month, Mr. Biden and his team have at times hesitated about how to respond to Mr. Trump’s attacks, and some Democratic operatives and voters have wondered why Mr. Biden and his campaign did not respond more swiftly and comprehensively.
His campaign didn’t answer several follow-up questions about the younger Mr. Biden’s decision, including about why Hunter Biden didn’t recuse himself earlier.
Mr. Trump has directed his broadsides against Hunter Biden as he faces an impeachment inquiry in the House, which was spurred by the president’s entreaties to the government of Ukraine urging the government to investigate Hunter Biden’s financial dealings there. Subsequently, Mr. Trump publicly called for China to look into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings in that country.
Mr. Trump has said with no evidence that the younger Mr. Biden used political ties to induce China to invest $1.5 billion in a fund he was involved in, an assertion Joseph Biden has denied.
Aides say Mr. Biden has been bracing for weeks for questions about his son onstage at Tuesday’s CNN/New York Times debate. His allies and advisers say that any Democrat who broaches the subject is playing into Mr. Trump’s hands and hurting the party’s cause, and some have suggested Mr. Biden is prepared to make that case if he faces skepticism over his son’s Ukraine dealings from either the moderators or rival Democrats.
Mr. Biden, said Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a close Biden ally, is “not going to be surprised” by any attacks on the debate stage on Tuesday, even highly personal ones.
Still, some Democrats say the national focus on Mr. Biden’s family has become a political vulnerability, moving him off his campaign message and forcing him to play defense.
“It becomes a distraction, and that’s what hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016,” said Bret Nilles, the Democratic Party chairman in Linn County, Iowa, alluding to the scrutiny of Mrs. Clinton’s email practices while she was secretary of state.“It becomes a distraction, and that’s what hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016,” said Bret Nilles, the Democratic Party chairman in Linn County, Iowa, alluding to the scrutiny of Mrs. Clinton’s email practices while she was secretary of state.
The Biden campaign’s strategy has been to push back firmly on Mr. Trump’s claims, and to argue that the president is attacking Mr. Biden because he is concerned about running against him in a general election. The Biden campaign’s approach has been to push back firmly on Mr. Trump’s claims through an aggressive media strategy, and to argue that the president is attacking Mr. Biden because he is concerned about running against him in a general election.
“They can also say, for Democrats who are nervous about it, ‘Hunter’s taken a step to say he won’t be on these boards if the vice president is elected president,’ and they could say, ‘We’ve addressed it and it’s time to move on,’” said Jennifer Palmieri, who was Mrs. Clinton’s communications director in the 2016 presidential campaign. “There are these campaign rituals you have to go through when your campaign does hit a perilous patch like this in order to signal to the press you’re handling it right, and to reassure supporters.” “They can also say, for Democrats who are nervous about it, ‘Hunter’s taken a step to say he won’t be on these boards if the vice president is elected president,’ and they could say, ‘we’ve addressed it and it’s time to move on,’” said Jennifer Palmieri, who was Mrs. Clinton’s communications director in the 2016 presidential campaign. “There are these campaign rituals you have to go through when your campaign does hit a perilous patch like this in order to signal to the press you’re handling it right, and to reassure supporters.”
At the union gathering here on Sunday, Mr. Biden began his remarks by praising Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., for a morning television appearance where he defended “me and my family against these outrageous, lying ads” from Mr. Trump. Mr. Biden sought to take that tack with reporters Sunday, repeatedly seeking to direct attention back to Mr. Trump’s behavior.
“That’s a good man,” he said of Mr. Buttigieg, to applause. Mr. Biden also began his remarks at the union gathering by praising Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., for a morning television appearance where he defended “me and my family against these outrageous, lying ads” from Mr. Trump.
His campaign didn’t respond to several follow-up questions about the younger Mr. Biden’s decision, including about why Hunter Biden didn’t recuse himself earlier. The last few weeks have been a challenging time for Mr. Biden, aides and allies have said. The Biden family, which is close-knit, has endured painful losses over the years, including the death in 2015 of Mr. Biden’s elder son Beau Biden; Hunter Biden is the former vice president’s only surviving son.
The last few weeks have been a challenging time for Mr. Biden, aides and allies have said. The Biden family, which is close-knit, has endured painful losses over the years, including the death in 2015 of Mr. Biden’s elder son Beau Biden; Hunter Biden is the former vice president’s only surviving son. In the weeks since news broke that Mr. Trump urged the Ukrainians to look into Mr. Biden’s family, he has held only a handful of public events, spending significant time at fund-raisers as the third quarter of the year drew to a close. He finished the quarter having raised about $10 million less than his two top rivals, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
“Before he decided to run, we sat down and had a conversation about how hard it was going to be because we know Donald Trump, we saw what he did in 2016,” said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware and a close Biden ally. “It’s different when it starts and it’s different when it picks up steam and it’s different when it’s, you know, a direct attack on you and your family.” Mr. Biden has also toggled between responding sharply to Mr. Trump and pivoting back to policy, though he has ramped up his criticisms of Mr. Trump forcefully in recent weeks, and is expected to make the president a major focus of his debate appearance on Tuesday, a Biden adviser said.
But, he said, Mr. Biden is “not going to be surprised” by any attacks on the debate stage on Tuesday, even highly personal ones. Jonathan Martin and Laura Holson contributed reporting.
Many Democrats think the Trump children, for their part, warrant tough scrutiny, given their own business dealings overseas.
In the weeks since news broke that Mr. Trump urged the Ukrainians to look into the Bidens, Mr. Biden has held only a handful of public events, spending significant time at fund-raisers as the third quarter of the year drew to a close. He finished the quarter having raised about $10 million less than his two top rivals, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Mr. Biden has also toggled between responding sharply to Mr. Trump and working to pivot back to policy, though he has ramped up his criticisms of Mr. Trump forcefully in recent weeks, and is expected to make the president a major focus of his debate appearance on Tuesday, a Biden adviser said.
Jonathan Martin contributed reporting.