Newly released documents revealed which government entity then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was contacting regarding his foreign business deals.
As the first son’s trial for his federal tax case draws near, a filing from Special Counsel David Weiss has already alleged that the younger Biden was hired by a Romanian oligarch “to attempt to influence U.S. government agencies.” Now, according to documents obtained by the New York Times, it appears that Hunter was in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Rome as part of an effort to advance a project for the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.
“I want to be careful about promising too much,” a Commerce Department at the embassy wrote to Biden. “This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, U.S.G. (government) should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the D.O.C. Advocacy Center.”
In defending his client’s communications, attorney Abbe Lowell told the newspaper that in his capacity as a board member of Burisma, Hunter “asked various people” to arrange an introduction between the energy firm and the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, Enrico Rossi, toward advancing a geothermal project there.
“No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested,” contended Lowell.
Meanwhile, the text of the letter was not released by the State Department as it was fully redacted amid claims citing “exemptions allowing the withholding of records that would compromise individual privacy, attorney-client privilege or the government’s deliberative process.”
As the documents weren’t released until after the president ended his re-election bid, the Times detailed how “A State Department spokeswoman suggested that the timing was coincidental, noting that the department had released batches of documents in each of the last three months, before the tranche revealing Mr. Biden’s outreach to the U.S. Embassy in Rome.”
The outlet further indicated a backlog of nearly 19,000 FOIA requests at the State Department while a White House spokesperson told the Times Biden was unaware of contact between his son and the embassy while he was vice president.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee raised an eyebrow at the notion of “coincidence.”
Less than a week after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, the State Department finally released records showing Hunter Biden sought U.S. government help to land a Burisma deal when his father was VP.
Coincidence? https://t.co/CZjuDfgYqM
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) August 14, 2024
Ongoing claims of the then-vice president’s ignorance of his son’s business deals came as Weiss’ allegations against Hunter indicated that, with regard to supposed involvement with Romanian oligarch Gabriel Popoviciu, the younger Biden had “concealed the true nature of the work he was performing” to avoid “political ramifications.”
As for then-U.S. Ambassador to Italy John R. Phillips, he said he had no recollection of a letter from Hunter about Burisma with the added caveat that he received many letters.
“I certainly would pay attention to it. Out of courtesy, I’d probably make sure he got a response of some sort, but not necessarily from me,” stated Phillips. “And I wouldn’t even want to encourage it, because I wouldn’t get us involved in something like that.”
To that end, an email from the Commerce Department to “other U.S. government officials” stated, “The Ambassador already replied to one letter from Mr. Biden. He may be shopping for more support than he got here.”
Rossi explained in an interview that he never met Hunter and did not recall the embassy contacting him about that geothermal project.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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