Trump accuses Biden of personally getting ‘a lot of money’ from Hunter’s overseas business deals
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused President Biden of personally benefiting from first son Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings, pointing to the commander in chief’s real estate portfolio as potential proof.
The GOP front-runner leveled the accusation at a town hall event in Greenville, S.C., after being asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about his response to those who argue that there’s no evidence that Joe Biden, 81, received any financial benefit from his 53-year-old son’s influence peddling operation.
“Well, he’s got a lot of houses all over the place and he’s never been paid more than $179,000,” Trump said, incorrectly stating Biden’s income.
The former president went on to put it even more plainly.
“He’s gotten a lot of money. Hunter’s gotten a lot of money. Hunter gets millions of dollars just for sitting on a board, an energy board, and he admits that he knows nothing about energy,” Trump said.
The first son spent five years on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy giant that paid Hunter a salary of up to $1 million per year beginning in April 2014, as his dad assumed control of US policy toward Ukraine as vice president.
As president, Biden makes a salary of $400,000 per year. During his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden earned about $235,000 per year. And in his 36 years in the Senate, Biden topped out at just over $169,000 a year in 2008.
But, between his time as vice president and president – from 2017 and 2019 – Biden earned more than $16.5 million from large payouts for book deals and speaking gigs.
The president currently owns two properties in Delaware – a 6,850-square-foot mansion in Wilmington, purchased in 1998 for $350,000 and now reportedly worth at least $2 million, and a 4,800-square-foot vacation home in Rehoboth Beach he purchased for $2.74 million in 2017.
In 2017, Biden rented a 12,000-square-foot house in McClean, Va., for an estimated $20,000 a month.
House Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into the president’s alleged involvement in his family’s business deals have long demanded that he turn over his bank statements to prove he didn’t benefit financially from the operation.
President Biden has repeatedly claimed that he “never” discussed business with his family and in December claimed he “did not” interact with any of their foreign business associates — despite evidence that he did so repeatedly.
