Even left-wing journalist Mehdi Hasan couldn’t let Hunter Biden off easy this week, pressing the former first son in a published interview over his controversial board position at Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father, Joe Biden, served as vice president.
Hasan didn’t hold back, telling Hunter directly that he shouldn’t have taken the Burisma board seat while his father held the office, noting that even officials within the Obama administration at the time raised red flags. “A lot of Obama administration officials at the time were saying, ‘This does not look good,'” Hasan said, adding that staffers running Ukraine policy were privately messaging that the vice president’s son shouldn’t be sitting on the company’s board.
Remarkably, Hunter agreed with the criticism — but quickly pivoted to defend himself, insisting he was simply the most qualified candidate for the job. He rattled off his resume, citing his background in corporate governance, his work at a prominent law firm, his role as vice chairman of Amtrak’s board, his position chairing a support arm of the UN World Food Program, and his seat on the board of the Center for International Policy. “I was eminently qualified for the position,” he said.
The exchange revives a long-running controversy that has dogged the Biden family for years. Back in 2019, a New Yorker writer told CNN that Hunter’s business ties “undermined American policy of fighting nepotism,” and separately noted there were two distinct issues at play: whether it was wise for Hunter to take the position in the first place while his father was steering Ukraine policy, and whether Biden staffers should have pushed Hunter to step down once they became aware of the arrangement. The writer called that combination “a legitimate subject of scrutiny.”
It’s a rare moment of a prominent liberal media figure holding a member of the Biden family accountable for decisions that, by Hunter’s own admission during the interview, drew internal alarm even from Democrats serving in the Obama administration at the time. The comments serve as yet another reminder of the ethical questions that swirled around the Biden family’s business dealings throughout Joe Biden’s time in office — questions that, according to this exchange, even Hunter himself doesn’t entirely dispute.
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