President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani tweeted Sunday that the news media had “covered up” the fact that Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, had financial dealings with the Chinese government.
Arguing that his son’s dealings influenced Biden’s views on China, Giuliani wrote, “A Fox poll shows that Dems view ethics as critical and prefer Biden. That’s because warped media has covered up how he brought his son to China, and while he was caving in to China, his son got $1.5 billion investment from China. Corrupt media can’t hide it forever.”
A Fox poll shows that Dems view ethics as critical and prefer Biden. That’s because warped media has covered up how he brought his son to China, and while he was caving in to China, his son got $1.5 billion investment from China. Corrupt media can’t hide it forever.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) June 16, 2019
Giuliani was referring to claims first reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2014 that Rosemont Seneca, a Washington, D.C.-based investment and advisory company run by Hunter Biden, entered into a deal with Chinese asset managers Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co. The deal eventually raised $1.5 billion in a deal negotiated with the state-owned Bank of China, one of Bohai’s largest stakeholders. The elder Biden was vice president at the time and engaged in high-level diplomacy with Beijing.
Biden has long been supportive of relatively friendly policies with China, such as giving it permanent normal trade relations. Last month, Biden dismissed concerns that China was an economic threat to the United States, stating at an Iowa campaign stop, “China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. … They’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They’re not competition for us.”
Despite Giuliani’s claims, Hunter Biden’s economic ties to China have been widely reported. In addition to the Wall Street Journal, they have appeared in such outlets as the Washington Post, New York Times, and Vanity Fair, though often in the context of claims made by Trump allies.
