President Trump’s call for China to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter stems — like the Ukraine probe — from allegations of impropriety during Biden’s time as vice president.
When Biden made a state visit to China in December 2013, he was accompanied by Hunter, which didn’t initially draw scrutiny, as family members often join the president and vice president on official trips.
But it has since been alleged that Biden leveraged his political clout to aid his son’s financial dealings.
At the time, Hunter was in the process of forming a private-equity fund, BHR Partners, that was looking to raise money from investors, some of them based in China, according to a profile of Hunter by The New Yorker.
During the trip, Hunter reportedly met with Chinese investor Jonathan Li, a partner in the fund, but has insisted that the meeting was strictly social.
It later emerged that the Chinese business license officially creating the firm was issued 10 days after the trip, with Hunter Biden sitting on the board.
Joe Biden has insisted that he and his son never talked about Hunter’s business dealings.
Hunter Biden has noted through his lawyer that he was only an unpaid adviser for BHR until investing in 2017 — after his father was out of office.