Hunter Biden called on Obama admin to help push Burisma deal while father was VP: report

Newly released documents revealed which government entity Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was contacting regarding his foreign dealings.

As the first son's trial in his federal tax case approaches, a filing by special counsel David Weiss has already alleged that the younger Biden was hired by a Romanian oligarch “to try to influence US government agencies “. Now, according to the documents obtained per the New York Times, it appears Hunter was in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Rome as part of an effort to advance a project for Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.

“I want to be careful about over-promising,” an embassy Commerce Department official wrote to Biden. “This is a Ukrainian company, and just to protect us, USG (government) should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the DOC Advocacy Center.”

Defending his client's communications, attorney Abbe Lowell told the newspaper that in his capacity as a Burisma board member, Hunter “asked several people” to arrange a presentation between the energy firm and the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, Enrico Rossi. to advance a geothermal project there.

“No meeting took place, no project materialized, nothing was ever requested from the US, and only a presentation was requested in Italy,” Lowell claimed.

Meanwhile, the text of the letter was not released by the State Department as it was completely redacted amid claims citing “exemptions that allowed the retention of records that would compromise individual privacy, attorney-client privilege, or the deliberative process of government”.

Because the documents were not released until after the president ended his re-election bid, the Times detailed how “A State Department spokeswoman suggested the timing was coincidental, noting that the department had released batches of documents in each of the last three months, before the section revealing Mr. Biden's communication at the United States Embassy in Rome.”

The outlet also cited a backlog of nearly 19,000 FOIA requests at the State Department, while a White House spokesman told the Times that Biden was not aware 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 that Hunter Biden asked the US government for help in securing a Burisma deal when his father was vice president.

Coincidence? https://t.co/CZjuDfgYqM

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) August 14, 2024

The ongoing claims about the then-vice president's ignorance of his son's business came as Weiss' allegations against Hunter indicated that, regarding alleged involvement with Romanian oligarch Gabriel Popoviciu, the younger Biden he had “concealed the true nature of the work he was doing. ” to avoid “political ramifications”.

As for the then US ambassador to Italy, John R. Phillips, he said he did not recall a letter from Hunter about Burisma with the additional caveat that he received many letters.

“I would certainly pay attention to him. As a courtesy, I would probably make sure he got some sort of response, but not necessarily from me,” Phillips said. “And I wouldn't even want to encourage it, because it wouldn't involve us in something like that.”

To that end, a Commerce Department email to “other US government officials” said: “The ambassador already responded to a letter from Mr. Biden. He may be buying more support than he got here.”

Rossi explained in an interview that he never met Hunter and did not remember the embassy contacting him about that geothermal project.

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of the truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel the

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