In growing Ukraine turmoil, Joe Biden's son is thrust into limelight he never sought

[webfact]

In growing Ukraine turmoil, Joe Biden's son is thrust into limelight he never sought

By Ginger Gibson

 

FILE PHOTO: Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend an NCAA basketball game between Georgetown University and Duke University in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2010. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican President Donald Trump appears to have narrowed in on his preferred foe for the 2020 election: Hunter Biden, the son of leading Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden.

 

A frequent but silent presence in his father's decades-old political career, Hunter Biden, 49, has never sought the limelight as he struggled in private with drug and alcohol addiction.

 

The lawyer and lobbyist has now seen his profile skyrocket as the frequent target of Trump, who is seeking to depict him as the embodiment of corruption in an effort to sully his father's presidential campaign.

 

It was always Biden's eldest son, Beau, who lived in the public eye. A former federal prosecutor, Beau Biden went on to become the attorney general of Delaware, an assumed stepping-stone for a political career that could have one day made him governor, senator or even a presidential contender.

He died in 2015 after a fight with brain cancer.

 

Hunter Biden also became a lawyer, but instead of public service, he went to work for MBNA, which at the time was one of the largest employers in Delaware, a credit-card company that hired him for a lucrative in-house job.

 

He would later become a Washington lobbyist, where his clients included universities and tech companies, like the now-defunct Napster. He stopped lobbying when his father got elected vice president in 2008.

 

Trump points to Hunter Biden's role after he left lobbying, when he started a consulting shop meant to help foreign companies, and his work in China and Ukraine while his father was vice president under Democratic President Barack Obama.

 

On Thursday, Trump upped the pressure, publicly calling on Beijing and Kiev to launch investigations into Hunter Biden's work - repeating accusations of corruption he has made with no evidence.

 

It was Trump's July call with Ukraine's president urging that country to investigate the Bidens that prompted Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump.

 

The president's call on Thursday for China to investigate came only moments after discussing how he could exert pressure on that nation to approve a trade deal.

 

PROMINENT RIVAL

Joe Biden not only leads most opinion polls among the 19 Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination but also bests Trump in several polls measuring a hypothetical matchup in November 2020.

 

His standing in the polls, he argues, is what is provoking Trump to levy increasingly aggressive and public attacks against both him and his son.

 

The Biden campaign accused Trump of abuse of power on Thursday following the president's suggestion that China investigate Biden, but did not mention Hunter in the statement. It did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

 

But the turmoil has brought to the forefront the personal details of Hunter Biden's life that can easily be assumed he would have rather remained private.

 

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine earlier this year, Hunter Biden detailed his repeated attempts to kick a drug and alcohol addiction.

 

He discussed missing his father's campaign launch rally in Philadelphia last May - disclosing that the same week, he had proposed to and married a woman he had known only a few weeks.

 

"I’ve never missed a rally for my dad. The notion that I’m not standing next to him in Philadelphia, next to the Rocky statue, it’s heartbreaking for me," Hunter Biden told The New Yorker later.

 

"It’s killing me and it’s killing him. Dad says, ‘Be here.’ Mom says, ‘Be here.’ But at what cost?”

 

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-04

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[canuckamuck]

Poor Hunter Biden. Poor you to get noticed with your pockets full from political appointments you did not earn or qualify for.

[BTB1977]

The many jobs and positions he would have never gotten if it wasn't for his father.  What back room deals and strong arming did his father have to do to get a x drug addict and alcoholic such jobs.  Good for Trump to ask the hard questions.  

[Jonnapat]

Trump continuing to disgust most of the rest of the world

[jany123]

5 hours ago, BTB1977 said:

The many jobs and positions he would have never gotten if it wasn't for his father.  What back room deals and strong arming did his father have to do to get a x drug addict and alcoholic such jobs.  Good for Trump to ask the hard questions.  

What a croc!

 

i got my start in life thru my parents contacts, as do a whole lot of people... for example, the trump got started with his dad’s dosh, which kept coming, despite multiple bankruptcies. Imagine the string pulling to keep a multiple bankrupt in work!

 

meanwhile, regards the salary in question... the only way for this to be relevant is if his salary is compared to that of other board members at the time. 

 

Witch hunt! Hoax! Fake news! ????????????

[Chomper Higgot]

There are only two facts that need to be understood in the ‘Ukraine Turmoil’.

 

1:  It is a Federal Offense for a foreigner or foreign entity to interfere in a US election.

 

2: Trump attempted to solicit the help of the Ukrainian President in an attack on prospective political opponent to Trump in the forthcoming US election.

 

 

[placnx]

29 minutes ago, jany123 said:

What a croc!

 

i got my start in life thru my parents contacts, as do a whole lot of people... for example, the trump got started with his dad’s dosh, which kept coming, despite multiple bankruptcies. Imagine the string pulling to keep a multiple bankrupt in work!

 

meanwhile, regards the salary in question... the only way for this to be relevant is if his salary is compared to that of other board members at the time. 

 

Witch hunt! Hoax! Fake news! ????????????

Yes, I'm waiting for someone to check whether the reported $50,000 per month is in line with what others were/are paid in Ukraine. Getting hired by a foreign possibly state company in a corrupt country while one's father is a national leader in a democracy is tendentious. Smacks of influence peddling.

[FarangDoingHisThing69]

There are only two facts that need to be understood in the ‘Ukraine Turmoil’.
 
1:  It is a Federal Offense for a foreigner or foreign entity to interfere in a US election.
 
2: Trump attempted to solicit the help of the Ukrainian President in an attack on prospective political opponent to Trump in the forthcoming US election.
 
 

Actually, asking why a sitting Vice President was allowed to influence an investigation into his own son using government influence as a cudgel, is illegal.


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[Bob12345]

17 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There are only two facts that need to be understood in the ‘Ukraine Turmoil’.

 

1:  It is a Federal Offense for a foreigner or foreign entity to interfere in a US election.

 

2: Trump attempted to solicit the help of the Ukrainian President in an attack on prospective political opponent to Trump in the forthcoming US election.

 

 

So Trump is trying to frame the Ukrainian president? 

Would the Ukraine arrest their own president and send him to the US for trail?

[Pedrogaz]

4 hours ago, jany123 said:

What a croc!

 

i got my start in life thru my parents contacts, as do a whole lot of people... for example, the trump got started with his dad’s dosh, which kept coming, despite multiple bankruptcies. Imagine the string pulling to keep a multiple bankrupt in work!

 

meanwhile, regards the salary in question... the only way for this to be relevant is if his salary is compared to that of other board members at the time. 

 

Witch hunt! Hoax! Fake news! ????????????

Yes the nepotism route is we;;.established. Pity you have no shame admitting it.

[Sujo]

4 hours ago, FarangDoingHisThing69 said:

Actually, asking why a sitting Vice President was allowed to influence an investigation into his own son using government influence as a cudgel, is illegal.


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Then you should learn the facts that have been known for weeks and even posted on this site. So aside from spin, these are the facts.

 

1 there was no investigation into his son. It started 2 years before he was employed by burisma.

 

2 before he was employed the investigation was stalled.

 

3 the prosecutor was known to not investigate any corruption into any ukraine company. 

 

4 because the prosecutor refused to investigate corruption the un, eu, imf, all european allies wanted him gone. The ukraine govt requested international assistance to be rid of him.

 

5 it was US policy to want the prosecutor gone. Not bidens policy.

 

6 biden did not unilaterally make the decision, the decision was made, he was appointed to do it.

 

7 the removal of the prosecutor that refused to investigate burisma meant the new prosecutor appointed would reopen that investgation.

 

8 the prosecutor, whose appointment was agreed then investigated and found nothing.

 

then for the ukraine president to get the 300 mil in aide, which the govt had approved in law was withheld by trump, unlawfully, and a personal whitehouse reception not agreed to unless ukraine agreed to re investigate biden.

 

when congress found out about trump refusing to release the funds, he released them.

 

the end

qed

[Tug]

Sujo exclent post as usual unfortunately the trump supporters don’t want truth or facts.trump is a (db)attacking a mans son after the father had lost the other son the sooner Donald is gone the better and what have the trump spawn been doing lately they probably know from past experience to steer well clear when Donald is having one of his episodes 

[neeray]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Sujo exclent post as usual unfortunately the trump supporters don’t want truth or facts.trump is a (db)attacking a mans son after the father had lost the other son the sooner Donald is gone the better and what have the trump spawn been doing lately they probably know from past experience to steer well clear when Donald is having one of his episodes 

"one of his episodes" !!!!

987 days in office and 987 episodes (more or less).

This is the greatest "Episodic Adventure" the world has ever witnessed.