First, the major media said the stories about Hunter Biden were Russian disinformation. Then they said Hunter Biden’s overseas influence-peddling business deals were fine. Both of these arguments have been demolished. So now, the argument is that Hunter Biden’s sketchy influence-peddling overseas business dealings in no way reflect on his father, President Joe Biden.
This may be the weakest of the three defenses.
Start with the fact Hunter Biden traded on his political connections. The only reason foreign state-connected companies were paying him was that they thought his access to the U.S. government would help their company or the government that backed their company. The burden of proof is on Hunter Biden’s defenders to explain what other value he offered — what specific skills, knowledge, or experience Hunter had.
Whether from Ukrainian energy company Burisma or Chinese state-connected bank CEFC China Energy, Hunter Biden made millions peddling his connections to U.S. government power. That is corrupt because selling access to political power is corrupt. It is also disloyal because it is doing the bidding of foreign governments vis-à-vis your own government.
So the next question is how this reflects on Joe Biden.
As far as we know, Joe Biden didn’t give any policy favors to Hunter’s clients — and that is most important. The pinnacle of public corruption is wielding government power for the enrichment of yourself or your cronies. Nor do we know, despite allegations to the contrary, of Joe Biden getting any of the millions his son got from these foreign influence-seekers.
But here’s where it reflects on Joe Biden, and not well: The president says he is totally fine with all of Hunter Biden’s sketchy influence-peddling overseas business dealings.
“My son did nothing wrong,” Biden says about Hunter’s overseas profiteering.
His son made millions selling purported access to him and his party and his government, and Joe Biden thinks that’s cool.
This is moral midgetry. Joe Biden is inviting every American politician, staffer, or family member to make millions selling access to power. The president says it’s OK for well-connected Americans to become paid foreign agents.
Even if Joe Biden never took and never takes action to benefit Hunter’s clients, it harms the United States that foreign governments and foreign companies believe or believed they could buy access to Biden by paying his son — or whomever else Biden has granted permission to sell access. It’s harmful that foreign companies or governments will believe Biden owes them something, even if Biden doesn’t believe it.
The next defense of Biden will be that the Trumps were worse. That may be true. It’s also increasingly the only case to make for Biden at all.
