For years, President Joe Biden has shared key professionals with his family, including a bookkeeper with his son, Hunter, and a personal lawyer with his brother, Jim. Notably, Jim Biden once hired the former head of Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail to investigate one of Hunter Biden’s business associates. Despite Joe Biden’s repeated claims since 2019 that he has distanced himself from his family’s business affairs, a review of House impeachment inquiry interviews, public records, and emails indicates that members of his inner circle were frequently involved in these dealings. Many of the president’s closest advisers and staffers have also served as business associates to his relatives, both during and after their tenure working for Joe Biden.
This interconnectedness reflects a longstanding, family-centric approach to business and politics that dates back to Biden’s first Senate campaign, which was largely managed by his parents and siblings. Over the decades, Biden’s political supporters have occasionally formed business relationships with his relatives, who have, in turn, converted some of their business partners into campaign backers. This blend of public and private roles has made it challenging for the Bidens to convincingly separate the president from his family’s business ventures.
As Hunter and Jim Biden’s foreign dealings have sparked controversy and legal troubles, including convictions of some of their business partners for fraud and corruption, scrutiny has intensified. The Bidens claim to maintain strict boundaries to prevent discussing business within the family. However, the presence of numerous former and current aides in these dealings and private communications suggesting Jim and Hunter Biden represented Joe Biden in business matters cast doubt on the effectiveness of these claimed firewalls.
In one notable instance, Jim Biden hired Dale Pupillo, the former head of his brother’s Secret Service detail, to investigate Patrick Ho, a Chinese executive Hunter Biden was set to meet. Jim Biden’s decision to hire Pupillo was driven by a desire to understand who his nephew would be meeting with and any potential complications. Despite Pupillo’s background check coming back clean, Ho was later arrested and convicted on federal corruption charges. This hiring and subsequent investigation have raised questions about the true intentions behind Jim Biden’s actions, though he has firmly denied any wrongdoing.
The Bidens’ approach complicates their efforts to distance the president from his family’s ventures. With Jim and Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings under renewed scrutiny and several of their business partners convicted of federal crimes, potential links between their business activities and the president continue to attract attention. The Bidens assert that they observe strict interpersonal firewalls to prevent the intermingling of personal and business matters. However, the involvement of close aides and the surfacing of private communications suggest that these boundaries may not always have been as firm as claimed, leaving onlookers to question the effectiveness of these measures.
SOURCE: POLITICO
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