An annoyed President Joe Biden insisted again he ‘never’ talked about business with his son Hunter as he finally addressed allegations he was involved in profitable foreign deals.
The president snapped at Peter Doocy of Fox News for asking a “lousy question” about the claims he was used to peddle influence while he served as vice president.
Doocy confronted Biden and said, “There’s this testimony now where one of your son’s former business associates is claiming that you were on speaker phone a lot talking business.”
The White House correspondent was referencing claims by a former business partner of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, that while the elder Biden was vice president, he was present in person or on speakerphone while Hunter met business associates to finalize bringing in millions.
President Biden responded, “I never talked business…I knew you’d have a lousy question.”
“Why is that a lousy question?” Doocy questioned.
“Because it’s not true,” snapped Biden before walking off.
Biden’s response came hours after the GOP released new bank statements that detailed $20 million in payments from Kazakhstan, Russia, and China to the Biden family and associates.
Devon Archer testified that then-vice president Biden was present in person or on speakerphone for several business meetings
Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee last week that the then-vice president had been present in-person or on speakerphone about 20 times over ten years while Hunter Biden was meeting with associates. Archer didn’t claim to have ever heard the then-vice president discussing business but said Hunter would use his father as a flex, as hearing the vice president’s voice on speed dial was enough to sell the “brand” to foreign executives.
“I can definitely say at particular dinners or meetings, he knew there were business associates,” said Archer to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week in an interview after his testimony. I don’t know if it was an orchestrated call-in or not. It certainly was powerful, though, because, you know, if you’re sitting with a foreign businessperson and you hear the vice president’s voice, that’s prize enough,” said Archer.
“Sometimes it was the call was coming in, and the speaker would go on,” said Archer as he detailed the conversations. “You understand D.C., right? So, the power to have that access in that conversation — it’s not in a scheduled conference call, and that’s a part of your family. That’s like the pinnacle of power in D.C.”
Archer told the committee about the conversations, “If his dad calls him at dinner and he picks up the phone, then there’s a conversation. And then, you know, the conversation is generally about the weather and, you know, what it’s like in Norway or Paris or wherever he may be.”
Through the policy advisory and investment firm Hunter Biden and Archer led together, Rosemont Seneca, Hunter led on “government regulatory issues,” Archer said. “Did Hunter have regulation expertise?” Carlson asked.
“I think he led a team that did,” noted Archer, noting that the work done by Hunter was primarily knowing who to call.
The Oversight Committee released a memo on bank records detailing the $3.5 million billionaire Yelena Baturina wired to Rosemont Seneca on Wednesday. The funds were transferred through other accounts that Hunter Biden and Archer had direct access to. Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow, attended a dinner with then-vice president Biden, his son, and Archer shortly following in 2014 and wasn’t among the Russian oligarchs hit with sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Records also show a wire for the exact amount the younger Biden paid for an expensive sports car, $142,300, which came in only a day before he purchased the vehicle. The wire came from Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakh oil oligarch, who also met with the vice president at dinner around the same time.
