Pete Buttigieg took a shot at Joe Biden by criticizing his son Hunter for being on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was still vice president.
“So, I would not have wanted to see that happen,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said about whether he would want his son to be on the board of a Ukrainian gas company in a Monday interview with the Associated Press. “And, at the same time, again, I think this is being used to divert attention from what’s really at stake in the impeachment process. There’s been no allegation, let alone finding of any kind of wrongdoing.”
The 2020 presidential candidate, who currently does not have children, said his administration would have a “very high” ethics standard, adding that he would “do everything we can to prevent even the appearance of a conflict.”
“That’s very important because, as we see, it can create a lot of complications even when there is no wrongdoing,” he said.
Buttigieg’s comments come as Biden is under renewed scrutiny for his son’s high-paying job while he was leading foreign policy in Ukraine. President Trump’s impeachment earlier this month stemmed from a July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine, during which he asked the foreign leader to investigate the Bidens.
The 37-year-old mayor has mostly taken subtle jabs at his fellow rivals throughout the campaign. Earlier this month, he explained away his low support from younger voters by saying he “was a big fan of Bernie Sanders” when he was 18. On Sunday, however, the candidate made a more overt attack on Biden.
“Well, I certainly respect the vice president, but this is an example of why years in Washington is not always the same thing as judgment,” he said in an interview with Iowa PBS, calling the move “the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime.”
Buttigieg is polling fourth in the Democratic primary, which still has over a dozen candidates, with 8.3% support.
