BREAKING: Hunter Biden steps down from board of Chinese equity firm after Trump accused him of corruption over claims he made $1.5BN in Beijing during his father’s time in office – and swears he’ll give up foreign work entirely if Joe Biden wins office
- Hunter Biden, 39, announced he will resign from the board of BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company at the end of the month
- The lobbyist has been linked to the state-backed private equity firm since 2013
- Donald Trump accuses Biden of corruption and making $1.5billion in China
- He says Biden helped the private equity fund procure that amount after flying on Air Force Two with his father to Beijing in December 2013
- Hunter denies playing a role in forming the company or having equity in it while Joe Biden was in office
- Hunter says he’ll forgo all foreign work if his father is elected president in 2020
- Biden’s foreign business work in China and Ukraine have been at the center of Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry
Hunter Biden has stepped down from his post on the board of a Chinese-backed private equity company in the midst of President Donald Trump’s allegations of corruption in China and Ukraine.
Biden, 49, announced he will resign at the end of the month from the board of BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company, which is backed by several Chinese state-owned companies, in a statement released Sunday.
Biden’s foreign business interests, particularly in Ukraine, are currently at the center of Donald Trump’s impeachment scandal.
Trump claims that Biden made $1.5billion in China for the private equity firm after he flew to China in December 2013 with his father aboard Air Force Two, when Joe Biden was in office.
Hunter has denied playing a role in forming the company or having equity in it while his father was in office and insists the board position was unpaid.
Hunter Biden, 39, announced he will resign from the board of BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company at the end of the month following President Donald Trump’s accusations of corruption with the state-backed firm in 2013. Hunter pictured with father Joe Biden in 2016
The lawyer and lobbyist vowed to avoid any conflict of interest and claims he will forego all foreign work if his father is elected president in 2020, stressing that he never discussed any of his business activities with his father.
‘Hunter always understood that his father would be guided, entirely and unequivocally, by established U.S. policy, regardless of its effects on Hunter’s professional interest,’ a statement released by Hunter’s lawyer George Mesires said, according to Bloomberg.
‘He never anticipated the barrage of false charges against both him and his father by the President of the United States.’
The Trump campaign has repeatedly claimed that Hunter Biden made millions of dollars from China while Joe Biden was vice president.
They also alleged that Biden used his position as the U.S. administration’s point person on Ukraine to help quash an investigation in 2016 into Burisma – one of Ukraine’s largest private gas companies where Hunter sat on the board.
He stepped down from the board of Burisma earlier this year.
The explosive accusations against Biden came in a whistleblower complaint in September that accused the White House of trying to cover up a call with Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy. In that phone call, on July 25, Trump advised Zelenskyy to look into Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s deals in Ukraine.
Trump has accused Hunter of corruption in China saying he procured $1.5billion from China for a private equity fund after he flew to Beijing on Air Force Two with his father in December 2013
Hunter then came under scrutiny for his work with Burisma, which he joined in April 2014 and served a five-year term before resigning earlier this year.
Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani claim that Vice President Biden threatened to withhold billions of dollars in loan guarantees in 2016 unless Ukraine fired the country’s top prosecutor Viktor Shokin – who was leading a probe into Burisma.
Despite Trump’s claims that Biden misused his power in order to protect his son and Burisma Holdings – but there is no evidence to corroborate those claims.
Biden has denied any wrongdoing in Ukraine.
US and Ukrainian officials also said that the investigation into the company was dormant at that time and Shokin was actually fired for the opposite reason, cut for failing to fight corruption.
‘Despite extensive scrutiny, at no time has any law enforcement agency, either domestic or foreign, alleged that Hunter engaged in wrongdoing at any point during his five-year term,’ Hunter’s statement said.
Earlier this month Trump also called on China to investigate Biden, but the country’s foreign ministry said they would not.
‘Under a Biden Administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests. He will continue to keep his father personally uninvolved in his business affairs,’ Hunter’s statement added.