The White House has avoided questions related to an ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the now infamous laptop belonging to Hunter uncovered by journalists in 2020.
The laptop containing emails detailing how Hunter used his father’s political power as leverage in overseas business dealings was first reported on by the New York Post during the heat of the 2020 presidential race.
In the wake of a New York Times report released this week claiming to authenticate the emails citing anonymous sources, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday was asked if the president has changed his view that the Post story was “a bunch of garbage” and “a Russian plant.”
“I would point you to the Department of Justice and also to Hunter Biden’s representatives. He doesn’t work in the government,” responded Psaki.
When pressed on whether she stood by her assessment in October 2020 that the Post story was “Russian disinfo,” Psaki gave an identical answer.
“I would point you to the Department of Justice and to Hunter Biden’s representatives. I’m a spokesperson for the United States. He doesn’t work for the United States,” she said.
The Post article, citing the emails, described how Hunter introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured the Ukrainian government into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, Burisma Holdings.
The younger Biden’s previous work with Burisma has raised conflict of interest concerns and was the point of contention raised by former President Donald Trump on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that set off events leading to Trump’s first impeachment.
Psaki and several other top members of the Biden campaign, citing a letter signed by dozens of former intelligence officials, dismissed the Post story as “Russian disinfo” when it came out weeks before the November 2020 election. Twitter and Facebook banned links to the Post article before reversing course days later under pressure from Republicans who accused the tech companies of biased political censorship.
The New York Times, which initially referred to the Post story as “unsubstantiated,” published a report Wednesday about the ongoing federal probe into Hunter’s tax filings, claiming to have authenticated emails from Hunter’s laptop while citing anonymous sources. The Times story also details the communication between Hunter Biden and the Burisma executives setting up a meeting with then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Neither the Department of Justice (DOJ) nor legal representation for Hunter Biden responded to requests for comment on the publication of this story.
