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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged questions about Hunter Biden’s ownership stake in a Chinese government-linked investment firm.
During the press briefing, Newsmax’s Emerald Robinson asked Psaki about the reports and the lack of transparency from the White House about why the president’s son is still involved in business deals with foreign countries while Joe Biden is in office.
Below is a transcript of the exchange, via Grabien:
ROBINSON: “First, following up on Jeff’s question regarding China and Taiwan. China has grown increasingly aggressive under this administration, and then now we’re set to start trade talks back with them. There was concern when President Biden took office about his son’s business dealings with China. He was supposed to divest himself of his stake in a Chinese private equity firm in December with ties to the Chinese central bank. As of April, he had not yet done that, and at some point you were going to get back to us on that. Do you have an update on that? Has he dissolved that interest now?”
PSAKI: “I’d point you to his representatives on that, he doesn’t work in the administration. I would say, though, that — and I think you’re referring today to the announcement, this speech by Ambassador Tai about phase one. And what I think is important to note here is that this approach definitely differs from the approach of the prior administration in our view. Their approach hurts select sectors of the American economy and wasn’t targeted to address the strategic problems we have. These initial steps will help — we’re taking — are going to realign our trade policies towards — from the PRC toward our priorities and that’s the objective of this President. It’s just the first stage in this process. Obviously, the Ambassador gave an extensive speech today.”
ROBINSON: “[inaudible] into this, though. The President has said during the campaign that none of his family will have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country. Wouldn’t it be assuring to the American people as we head into this if they just let the American people know if Hunter has divulged himself of that?”
PSAKI: “Well, again, I conveyed to you and then I think I’m going to have to move on, that you should talk to — you should talk to his representatives — and there’s no reason to yell, I’m certainly not yelling. You should talk to his representatives. That remains his policy. He’s been working to wind that down. Beyond that, I’d say talk to his representatives.”
WATCH:
The Washington Examiner reported that “Chinese business records indicate that Hunter Biden still appears to hold a 10% equity stake in Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management.”
“The president said his family would not be involved in “any business, any enterprise that is in conflict with or appears to be in conflict with an appropriate distance from the presidency and government” during the presidential transition period in December, and a reporter pressed Psaki about his pledge on Monday,” the report addded.
“BHR and Hunter Biden’s lawyers have not responded to the Washington Examiner’s questions about whether he would relinquish his holdings in the Chinese firm. Through one of his lawyers, George Mesires, Hunter Biden promised to leave the board of the Chinese firm by the end of October 2019, but his resignation was submitted to China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System in the spring of 2020. He maintains his ownership stake,” the report continued.
“A review of BHR’s financial documents, including 2019 company board meeting minutes found on Hunter Biden’s purported laptop and provided to the Washington Examiner by Jack Maxey, a former co-host of the Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, show the firm had access to tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars for Chinese and global investments and set up a complicated web of China-based and Cayman Islands-based shell companies and subsidiaries,” the report said.
