Hunter Biden Sought State Department Help for Burisma

4 months ago 43
ARTICLE AD

Politics|Hunter Biden Sought State Department Help for Ukrainian Company

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/us/politics/hunter-biden-ukrainian-company.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

After President Biden dropped his re-election bid, his administration released records showing that while he was vice president, his son solicited U.S. government assistance.

Hunter Biden, wearing a dark blue suit and blue tie.
The release of records came as Hunter Biden prepares to stand trial next month on charges of evading taxes on income from Burisma and other businesses.Credit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Kenneth P. Vogel

Aug. 13, 2024, 8:27 p.m. ET

Hunter Biden sought assistance from the U.S. government for a potentially lucrative energy project in Italy while his father was vice president, according to newly released records and interviews.

The records, which the Biden administration had withheld for years, indicate that Hunter Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 seeking assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where he was a board member.

Embassy officials appear to have been uneasy with the request from the son of the sitting vice president on behalf of a foreign company.

“I want to be careful about promising too much,” wrote a Commerce Department official based in the U.S. Embassy in Rome who was tasked with responding.

“This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, U.S.G. should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the D.O.C. Advocacy Center,” the official wrote. Those acronyms refer to the United States government and a Department of Commerce program that supports American companies that seek business with foreign governments.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Biden, said his client “asked various people,” including the U.S. ambassador to Italy at the time, John R. Phillips, whether they could arrange an introduction between Burisma and the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, where Burisma was pursuing a geothermal project.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Read Entire Article