Hunter Biden sought U.S. government assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was vice president, according to a report from The New York Times. The Times article stated Hunter Biden wrote a letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016, trying to get Burisma help for a lucrative geothermal energy project in Tuscany.
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The Times obtained documents from the State Department that revealed embassy officials in Italy were uneasy with the vice president’s son requesting help on behalf of a foreign company.
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A Commerce Department official based in Rome ultimately responded.
“I want to be careful about promising too much,” the official wrote. “This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, U.S.G. should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the D.O.C. Advocacy Center,” the official wrote.
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said it was a proper request and that Biden had reached out to multiple people for help.
“No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested,” Lowell said in a statement to the Times.
The Times said it obtained the documents as part of a Freedom of Information Act request dating back to June 2021. The news organization said the State Department was initially unresponsive, so it sued. The Times said it received some documents and ultimately kept pressing until the department released what it was looking for the week after President Biden ended his presidential campaign.
A State Department spokesperson told the Times the timing was coincidental.
Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma has followed him and his father for years. According to reports that cite documents on his laptop, Hunter was paid $1 million a year to sit on the board while his father was vice president and head of U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. For years, President Biden denied that he ever spoke to his son about his business dealings but congressional testimony, documents and communications showed that was not true.
Hunter Biden’s trial for a tax evasion case is scheduled to begin Sept. 9. In a recent court filing, prosecutors alleged Biden accepted payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to “influence U.S. government agencies.”
[Ray Bogan]
Hunter Biden sought U.S. government assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was Vice President, according to a New York Times report. The Times states Hunter Biden wrote a letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016, trying to get Burisma help for a lucrative geothermal energy project in Tuscany.
The Times obtained documents from the State Department that reveal embassy officials in Italy were uneasy with the Vice President’s son requesting help on behalf of a foreign company.
A Commerce Department official based in Rome ultimately responded by saying, “I want to be careful about promising too much.”
“This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, U.S.G. should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the D.O.C. Advocacy Center,” the official wrote.
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said it was a proper request and that Mr. Biden had reached out to multiple people for help.
“No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested,” Lowell said in a statement to the Times.
The Times said it obtained the documents as part of a Freedom of Information Act request that dates back to June 2021. The news organization said the State Department was initially unresponsive, so they sued, received some documents, and ultimately kept pressing until the Department released what it was looking for the week after President Biden ended his presidential campaign. A State Department spokesperson told the Times the timing was coincidental.
Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma has followed him and his father for years. According to reports that cite documents on his laptop, Hunter was paid $1 million a year to sit on the board of the company while his father was Vice President and head of U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. President Biden for years denied that he ever spoke to his son about his business dealings but Congressional testimony, documents and communications showed that’s not true.
Media Landscape
See who else is reporting on this story and which side of the political spectrum they lean. To read other sources, click on the plus signs below. Learn more about this data
Left 31%
Center 31%
Right 38%
Bias Distribution
47 other sources covering this story
Total News Sources
47
Leaning Left
13
Center
13
Leaning Right
16
Last Updated
4 months ago
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