Hunter Biden’s decision to sit for an interview to address his foreign business activities was made independently of the presidential campaign of his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democrat presidential candidate said.
“I did not coordinate any of this with my son. I didn’t even know he was having these long discussions for some time with ABC. I guess it’s ABC. Was it ABC? Yes. With ABC,” Biden told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio.
Others individuals familiar with the decision who spoke with the Washington Examiner on background say Hunter Biden is likely under increasing pressure from his attorneys to respond to attacks by Trump and supporters.
Yet the timing of the interview — aired the morning of the fourth round of Democratic presidential debates and while the former vice president is losing his lead over the rest of the pack to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — has some backers questioning the wisdom of Hunter Biden sitting down with ABC.
“I think Hunter Biden did a little bit of a mea culpa and I think it was appropriate. Because it doesn’t look good to the American people,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told the Washington Examiner. “But he also said that if his last name wasn’t Biden, he wouldn’t have been hired by the Ukrainian gas company. I think Joe should address it.”
Rendell is one of the most outspoken supporters of Biden’s presidential bid, at times publicly questioning strategy and tactics. Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor and Democratic National Committee chair, said Biden’s primary rivals are unlikely to hit him with it much, unlike Trump.
Hunter Biden in his interview “did a decent job. He said what had to be said. In the Democratic primaries, this isn’t hurting Joe Biden. Will it be something he’ll have to address in the general election? Probably,” said Rendell, 75.
The Hunter Biden interview focused largely on his role on Burisma, as well as his business dealings with China, which critics contend were aimed at leveraging his position to access billions of dollars in investment capital. Hunter Biden in the interview denied he acted illegally, but admitted he exercised “poor judgment.”
“I did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is a, it’s a swamp in many ways? Yeah. And so, I take full responsibility for that,” Hunter Biden said.
“I don’t regret being on the board. What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president of the United States that would be listening to this ridiculous conspiracy idea, which has, again, been completely debunked by everyone.”
Earlier this week, Hunter Biden announced that he would step down from the board of a Chinese equity firm and said that he would not serve on the board of any foreign company should his father be elected president.
“Despite extensive scrutiny, at no time has any law enforcement agency, either domestic or foreign, alleged that Hunter engaged in wrongdoing at any point during his five-year term,” Hunter Biden said in a statement.
Hunter Biden’s foreign business relationships have continuously been the target of Trump and his campaign, so much so that the elder Biden has been forced to reorient his campaign to more effectively deal with the influx of attacks.
Donnie Fowler, a veteran of presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama, told the Washington Examiner, “The story isn’t going away.”
By doing the interview, “No one can ask, ‘Where is Hunter Biden?’ So that’s a positive,” said Fowler, a San Francisco-based consultant and son of prominent Democratic activists in South Carolina, where he grew up. “Yet he gave credibility to the accusation.”
