GLENDALE, Arizona — Despite a judge’s ruling to compel his testimony in an investigation about business practices by the president’s family, Eric Trump wants to turn attention to the Senate report alleging Hunter Biden engaged in wide-ranging corruption during his father’s time in the White House.
Trump spoke with the Washington Examiner while on a campaign trip through Arizona on behalf of his father. President Trump is locked in a tight race against Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 3 elections. Eric Trump said he believes the findings of a Republican Senate committee report on Hunter Biden, released on Wednesday, potentially rises to the level of criminal conduct.
There “should be a process” and that “people should look into” whether charges should be brought against Hunter Biden, Eric Trump told the Washington Examiner.
“When the mayor of Moscow was giving the vice president’s son three and a half million dollars, you know, I mean, this was not an upstanding kid,” Trump said in Glendale, Arizona, following his remarks at an Evangelicals for Trump rally. “This is a kid who got kicked out of the Navy for cocaine use and lots of other bad things that he was doing at the time. He was making $600,000 sitting on the board of a natural gas company when the average board member of Exxon Mobil makes 300 grand a year.”
The comments came hours after New York State Judge Arthur Engoron on Wednesday rejected claims by President Trump’s middle son that his “extreme travel schedule” on the campaign trail warranted a delay. Eric Trump, a Trump Organization executive, must comply with a subpoena to give a deposition under oath no later than Oct. 7.
New York Attorney General Letitia James went to court to enforce the subpoena after his lawyers abruptly canceled a July interview with investigators in her office’s investigation, which is focused on whether the Trump Organization lied about the value of its assets in order to get loans or tax benefits.
When asked about his own allegations of corruption and misconduct from Democrats and the Biden campaign, Trump wouldn’t get into specifics.
But he was happy to lay into Hunter Biden, son of the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, who has been the subject of criticism by Republicans for work on behalf of a Ukraine natural gas company while his father oversaw the Obama administration’s anti-corruption efforts relating to that country.
The Biden campaign has repeatedly denied any allegations of corruption between Hunter and foreign nationals. Joe Biden himself has refused to answer virtually any questions related to his son and Burisma, dismissing them as the product of a political smear.
Trump did not go as far as saying which law enforcement agency should consider bringing a criminal case against Hunter, only that the allegations in the report “should be tracked, wherever they go.”
The 87-page report by the Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees found several conflicts of interests between Hunter and the Obama White House, notably Hunter’s role with Burisma.
“In addition to the over $4 million paid by Burisma for Hunter Biden’s and [Hunter Biden’s business partner Devon] Archer’s board memberships, Hunter Biden, his family, and Archer received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds,” the report alleged, later claiming that “Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow.”
The report also alleged that Biden “opened a bank account with” Gongwen Dong, a Chinese businessman with ties to the People’s Liberation Army “to fund a $100,000 global spending spree.”
Trump’s reaction to the Senate report is a likely preview of his father’s debate strategy against Joe Biden, the first of which is scheduled for Sept. 29.
“I think it’s a disgrace that the media is not talking about it, and it should really be talked about,” Trump said. “It looks like [Hunter Biden] got away with murder. I mean, I’d much rather count our accomplishments than talk about this. You better believe if the roles were reversed, they’d be asking questions on our end.”
When pressed about whether he was concerned about Joe Biden lobbing allegations of corruption against the Trump family in response, Eric Trump denied any equivalency.
“Did I take a billion dollars from China? I’m not that worried. I’ll give you an answer to that: I didn’t take a billion dollars,” he said. “Did I get paid three and a half million dollars by the mayor’s wife, of, you know, Moscow? No. Hunter Biden is a truly corrupt human being, and the fact that he’s flying over on Air Force One to, you know, China, with his father to take money out of that country is disgusting.”
