White House Press Sec Dodges When Asked Why Hunter Biden Still Has a Stake in Chinese Investment Firm
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday punted on a question about why President Biden’s son Hunter Biden still holds an investment in a Chinese company.
Asked during a press conference at the White House whether she had an update on Hunter Biden’s divestment from his ten percent stake in the Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, Psaki referred a reporter to the younger Biden’s lawyers.
“He has been working to unwind his investment,” Psaki said, adding, “as a private citizen, I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.”
In December, Biden assured voters that he and his family would not be involved in any business dealings that appear to conflict with the office of the president.
“My son, my family will not be involved in any business, any enterprise that is in conflict with or appears to be in conflict with the appropriate distance from the presidency and government,” Biden said during a CNN appearance.
Hunter Biden was reportedly in the process of divesting from his equity stake in BHR in late December, but as of last week, he appears to have retained his investment through his company, Skaneateles LLC.
BHR, whose largest shareholder is the Chinese government-controlled Bank of China, has invested about $2.1 billion.
Hunter Biden came under scrutiny last year for his lucrative position on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. In leaked emails from 2014, Biden appears to try to leverage his influence with his father, then-vice president Joe Biden, who was heavily involved in U.S. policy on Ukraine, referring to the elder Biden as “my guy.”
He also attracted criticism for entering into a consulting contract with China’s largest private energy company that initially earned Hunter Biden $10 million a year “for introductions alone,” according to leaked emails.
Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” is scheduled to come out on April 6. The book will focus on the younger Biden’s well-documented drug abuse issues, according to Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
