Joe Biden's son Hunter embarked on overseas business dealings in countries where the then-vice president conducted diplomatic work. Experts say the timing presents questions about possible conflicts of interest.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declined to answer questions on the campaign trail this week about his son's overseas business dealings in countries where the then-vice president was conducting diplomatic work, an issue his political opponents have already begun to wield against him as he wades into the 2020 presidential campaign.
The ethics pledge follows renewed questions about a pair of overseas business opportunities involving Hunter Biden – one in Ukraine, another in China – that already have begun to generate political attacks from Joe Biden's conservative critics. Ethics experts interviewed by ABC News said these are legitimate questions about possible past and future conflicts of interest.
Just months before, in December of 2013, there was a similar episode when the then-vice president led an Obama administration effort to tamp down tensions in the Far East. Hunter Biden disembarked from Air Force Two in Beijing alongside his father, ahead of a series of meetings between the vice president and several high-ranking members of China's ruling party. Upon his departure, Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a"good friend.
An attorney for Hunter Biden told ABC News the vice president's son merely accompanied his daughter, Finnegan Biden, on the Air Force Two trip to Beijing and conducted no business during the visit. Hunter Biden and his associate at a business entity called Rosemont Seneca Partners -- where Hunter Biden was a managing partner -- both obtained board seats, and according to banking records reviewed by ABC News, the firm began collecting $166,666 payments each month.
Both Zlochevsky and the company have denied wrongdoing and neither have faced charges, but in an interview with ABC News, Shokin maintained his suspicions about the vice president's motives, accusing Biden of promoting his dismissal for personal reasons. He insisted he had"no doubt" Biden wanted him gone in an effort to protect his son's new employer.
"Explain to me why Biden shouldn't be investigated," Giuliani tweeted in May, before canceling the trip after facing criticism for appearing to engage a foreign government for political help. Daria Kaleniuk, a Ukrainian anti-corruption advocate, did not see fault in Joe Biden's conduct, saying she thought he"did what he had to do" in pursuing Shokin's removal, but decried his son's decision as"a very bad thing."
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