Biden Says 'Nobody Warned Me' About Ukraine Because Son Beau Was Dying
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden last week sought to distance himself from allegations he acted improperly when it came to Ukraine after one Iowa voter made it clear Biden’s efforts at deniability are failing.
Biden told NPR on Friday that no one ever warned him about the potential conflict of interest lurking behind his son Hunter’s lucrative job with a Ukraine energy firm.
The issue has come to haunt Joe Biden, who publicly touted his achievement as vice president in pushing Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who had investigated Burisma, the energy company that employed his son.
Joe Biden said he would not comply with a potential subpoena to testify about Ukraine if there is a Senate trial on any articles of impeachment against Trump that might pass the House.
“I will not yield to what everybody is looking for here. And that is to take the eye off the ball,” Biden said.
“Everybody knows the issue here is not what I did, because no one has a proved one scintilla of evidence that I did anything other than do my job for America as well as anybody could have done it.”
“Making sure that we, in fact, got rid of a corrupt prosecutor who everybody, including our allies and including our allies as well as, as, as the [International Monetary Fund] and everyone else said has to go. I did my job incredibly well. And even the people in [Trump’s] administration have testified to my character, testified to my honesty,” he said.
When asked about warnings that were given to his office, Biden said word of those concerns never reached the top.
“Nobody warned me about a potential conflict of interest,” he said. “Nobody warned me about that.”
When reminded that State Department official George Kent had testified that he raised a concern, Biden shot back, “No, he didn’t say me. He did not say me.”
“I never, never heard that once at all,” he said.
NPR reporter Rachel Martin then pointed out, “Your staff told [Kent that Joe Biden] has no bandwidth for family matters.”
Biden noted that the timeline of Kent’s warning coincided with a personal tragedy — the loss of his other son, Beau, to cancer.
“Well, my son was dying, so I guess that’s why he said it, because my son was on his deathbed. But that, that’s not the reason why — they should have told me,” Biden said.
The former vice president then went on the attack.
“And the fact of the matter is, my son testified and did an interview saying if he, looking back on it, made a mistake, he made a mistake although he did nothing wrong,” he said.
“The appearance looked bad and it gave folks like Rudy Giuliani an excuse to come up with a Trumpian kind of defense, why they were violating the Constitution. His, his words speak for themselves.”
Last month, Kent testified as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry that he had concerns when Hunter Biden joined Burisma, according to the Washington Examiner.
“In February 2015, I raised my concern that Hunter Biden’s status as a board member could create the perception of a conflict of interest,” Kent said, adding, “Let me be clear, I did not witness any effort by any U.S. official to shield Burisma from scrutiny.”
As Biden sought to downplay the Ukraine issue, he came face-to-face last week with proof his story is not selling, as USA Today reported.
A voter at an Iowa event slammed Biden over his role in Ukraine, first criticizing President Donald Trump before he offered his summation of Biden’s activities.
“But you on the other hand sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company, that he had no experience with gas or nothing, in order to get access to the president, so you’re selling access to the president just like he was,” the man said.
“You’re a damn liar, man,” Biden said.
The former vice president defended that testy exchange in his NPR interview, saying, “But he’s lying! He’s lying. You acknowledge what he said wasn’t even true. None of the mainstream media believes any of that was true.”
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