Biden Defends Hunter Saying He Has ‘Great Confidence’ Amid Tax Probe

President-elect Joe Biden defended his son Hunter Biden, saying he has “great confidence” amid an ongoing federal investigation and believes Republicans’ efforts in their calls for a special counsel investigation into his son’s foreign business dealings is a political “cudgel” that amounts to “foul play.”

In an exclusive interview with CBS News “A Late Night with Stephen Colbert” Thursday night, the late-night host Stephen Colbert brought up Hunter, but not the issue regarding his federal probes, to ask Biden about his feelings towards Republicans, whom the liberal comedian claims “want to make hay in Washington are going to try to use your adult son as a cudgel against you” when he returns to Washington next year.

“I have, we have great confidence in our son,” Biden told Colbert. “I am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. It’s used to get to me. I think it’s kind of foul play but look, it is what it is. And, he’s a grown man, he is the smartest man I know, I mean from a pure intellectual capacity. And as long as he’s good, we’re good.”

Colbert admired Biden’s response and followed up asking how as president would he be able to work with Republicans who will use the issue of Hunter as political ammunition to personally attack you.

“As a father, I understand that and I admire that. But I mean, in terms of your job as president, can you reach across the aisle to people who’ll be using this as an attack on you when it is such a personal attack because it’s about family?” Colbert asked.

“But if it benefits the country, yes. I really mean it,” Biden said. “Because we know who we are. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t angry.”

He added later on, “I’m going to be judged by history, whether or not I can make things better for the American people. And I will do I will deal with anyone if what we’re working on is improving the well being of American people, that’s not phony. It’s real. I swallow hard, and I’ll do it.”

Biden asserts that the American people believe the federal probe into his son is “phoniness,” while expressing disappointment at Republicans whom some he thought was his friend.

The Biden transition team claim that Biden was not referring to the investigation as “foul play,” but rather to Republicans who have used Hunter’s business dealings to go after him personally for months.

“There has indisputably been ‘foul play’ of that exact kind,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates tweeted, referring to those people who would use Hunter Biden as a “cudgel” against his father. “Trump got himself impeached engaging in it.”

False. Colbert’s question, which Evening News omitted from their clip, was about people who “use your adult son as a cudgel against you” – not the investigation.

And there has indisputably been “foul play” of that exact kind: Trump got himself impeached engaging in it. https://t.co/UByTZEWi78 pic.twitter.com/jTDRYIU0xE

— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) December 18, 2020

The comments about his son have been the most extensive response from Biden since using the tax-funded transition to inform the media earlier this month a statement from Hunter revealing he is under federal investigation for his “tax affairs” dealings. According to two people briefed on the probe, investigators have been examining multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in his foreign business dealings with China.

The probes include one being led by the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office into whether Hunter Biden violated tax laws, and another by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania concerns his activities in Ukraine and potential money laundering. The federal probe has been ongoing since 2018 but it was only revealed last week when Attorney General Bill Barr worked overtime to conceal the info from the public during the 2020 presidential election.

During the final weeks of the 2020 election, hints of Hunter being under federal investigation emerged after the New York Post in their in-depth respectable bombshell coverage, which was widely suppressed by the likes of the liberal media and social media. In their coverage, it was reported that a laptop belonging to Hunter that contained numerous emails chain revealing his foreign business dealings, including contacts in Ukraine and China, as well as the FBI seizing both Hunter’s laptop and a hard drive back in December 2019.

Republican lawmakers since October have urged Attorney General Bill Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter business dealing after the New York Post bombshell report. Their response to their inquiry was ultimately ignored.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reiterate those calls to investigate Hunter’s taxes and finances, as well as to see if any crimes were committed during his time serving on the board of Burisma and to see if his business dealings regarding China. New reports came into light this week revealing Hunter discussing with his former business associates a joint venture with the now-bankrupt Chinese energy company CEFC and to get his father involved to make the venture appear to the Chinese as a “truly family business.”

The development comes one day after Fox News also released texts showing Hunter extended “best wishes from the entire Biden family” to CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, and urged to “quickly” send the $10 million wire to “properly fund and operate” the joint venture.

“I am absolutely calling on a special counsel to look at all things Hunter Biden to see if he presents a conflict for the Biden administration regarding his business dealings in Ukraine, which is overrun with Russian agents, and any activity he had with the Chinese government,” Graham told reporters in the Capitol Wednesday.

Biden was asked specifically about his personal relationship with the South Carolina Senator, a longtime friend and if would be able to patch up his friendship in light of his calls for a special counsel as well as his refusal to acknowledge in public his election victory.

“Lindsey’s been a personal disappointment because I was a personal friend of his,” Biden responded. “I think I can work with Republican leadership in the house in the senate I think we can get things done and I think once this President is no longer in office, I think you’re gonna see his impact on the body politics fade. And a lot of these Republicans are going to feel they have much more room to run and cooperate.”

A Late NightAndrew BatesBiden TransitionCBS NewsHunter BidenJoe BidenRepublicansSen. Lindsey GrahamSpecial CounselStephen ColbertTax Affairs