Hunter Biden on Monday was seen enjoying coffee in Malibu with a friend, as the row about the sale of his art work rumbles on.
The 51-year-old son of President Joe Biden lives close to Malibu, in a stylish $5.4 million canal-front home in Venice, California.
The president’s son moved into the three-story property with wife Melissa and their one-year-old son Beau toward the end of last year and the family is now under 24-hour Secret Service protection.
It’s believed the father of five is paying $25,000 a month to rent the posh property owned by Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman.
He and his friend were spotted sitting outside in a flower-filled patio garden at Blue Bottle Coffee, in the center of the celebrity enclave.
Hunter Biden was seen on Monday at Blue Bottle coffee in Malibu. The 51-year-old is believed to live in Venice, just down the road from Malibu along the Pacific coast
The lawyer and businessman, who is now also an artist, tried to maintain a low-key presence with his black baseball cap
Hunter was seen deep in thought while having a coffee with a friend at the popular Malibu coffee spot
Hunter and his friend were spotted sitting outside in a flower-filled patio garden at Blue Bottle Coffee
Hunter and his friend, in the blue sweater, seemed deep in discussion and were oblivious to the other customers around them
Hunter and the unnamed pal appeared engaged in an intense conversation as they sipped coffee together outside
Bergès told another arts outlet that Hunter Biden’s paintings would go from $75,000 for paper pieces to half a million dollars for larger works
Even on the campaign trail Hunter’s international business dealings were a headache for Joe Biden and his team, but the president continues to staunchly defend his son (pictured January 20)
The pair looked deep in conversation.
Biden’s Secret Service detail, which he has reportedly accepted, was nowhere to be seen.
The Harvard-educated lawyer now devotes his time to his art, and in the fall will be staging an exhibition of his work in New York City – his professional art debut.
Prices would range from $75,000 for pieces on paper to $500,000 for large-scale paintings, according to his art dealer, Georges Bergès.
Concerns over whether buyers of his paintings would try to use the transactions to curry favor with the Biden administration have put officials in an ethics bind.
Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, claimed that the gallerist ‘will be the only person who handles transactions or conversations in that vein and will reject any offer that is out of the ordinary.’
Hunter’s friend was pictured gesturing expansively with his hands, as Hunter listened intently. The president’s son is preparing to make his professional art debut in the fall, at a New York City gallery
Hunter’s friend was seen with a face mask. Los Angeles County on July 17 reintroduced a mask mandate, amid a rising COVID-19 case load
Psaki said Hunter will not know who has bought his art.
But critics, including George W. Bush’s former ethics chief, have cast doubt on the plan.
‘It’s going to be very clear with people in the know as to who buys Hunter Biden’s art,’ Richard Painter said on Fox last week.
‘The question is, are the American people going to know?
‘The White House should insist on complete transparency.’
On Sunday it emerged that Bergès, the art dealer representing Hunter in New York, was once labeled ‘one of the leading art experts on Chinese contemporary art’.
In a 2015 interview he declared he would be ‘the lead guy in China’ on finding and collecting Chinese art – comments that, given Hunter’s complicated business dealings in China and the criticism they elicited, have raised eyebrows.
Georges Bergès, the gallerist representing Hunter Biden, once told Resident magazine he wanted to get a ‘foothold in China’ (pictured October 2018)
‘When you think of it, China’s economy is transforming the global economy and everything is changing because of a rising China,’ Bergès told luxury lifestyle magazine Resident.
‘But beyond that, what fascinates me is the cultural impact that China is having on the world.
‘My plan is to be the lead guy in China; the lead collector and art dealer discovering and nurturing talent from that region.’
Top officials throughout the 21st century – including Joe Biden himself – have viewed the Chinese economy’s meteoric rise as a threat to global democracy amid the country’s abysmal labor protections and reported abuse against Uighur and Turkic Muslims.
But his son’s art dealer was eager to get in on the ground floor of China’s ‘cultural empowerment.’
‘I want to further my embrace of the rising China and its undisputable growing influence of contemporary art and that is why my focus these days is mostly on China,’ he said.
‘Money may come and go. Power may come and go, but when you make a cultural impact on society, that lasts forever.’
During the interview, first uncovered by Fox News, Bergès pledged to ‘establish the Georges Bergès Gallery foothold in China.’
‘Cultural power is real power,’ he said.
Hunter Biden’s artist profile on the Georges Bergès Gallery website
The gallery will feature Hunter’s paintings at a private showing in Los Angeles and a public exhibition in New York City
Hunter’s foray into the professional art world has been a source of ethics concerns surrounding the Biden White House (pictured May 22)
Hunter Biden had financial ties to a partially Chinese government-owned equity company as late as April (pictured: Closing session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017)
Bergès’ gallery’s website shows no indication he opened a location in Asia, but it does feature Hunter Biden under ‘Our artists’.
And while Bergès’ interest is limited to China’s cultural power, his infamous client has had links to its expanding economy.
Hunter reportedly owned a 10 per cent stake in Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Company – a Chinese equity firm partially owned by the country’s central bank – as late as this past April, more than 100 days after his father took office.
He previously said he would divest from the company in October 2019.
A Senate report from late 2020 uncovered a series of transactions involving Hunter and China that was flagged for ‘potential financial criminal activity.’
The money included a $5 million payment from a Chinese energy company with ties to the Communist party and $1 million for work with an associate who was later jailed for bribery.