In a 2017 WhatsApp exchange, President Joe Biden reportedly denied taking involvement in his son’s alleged extortion of a Chinese businessman.
At the White House on Wednesday, reporters questioned Biden about the WhatsApp conversation that was made public last week by IRS informants looking into the president’s son’s tax troubles.
The president has thus far refrained from making any more comments about the message that purportedly links him to his son’s interactions with foreign operatives.
On Monday, in answer to a query from a different reporter, Biden reaffirmed his assertion that he has never discussed business with his son.
The president’s position was, however, qualified in a statement from the White House counsel’s office that was issued last week in reaction to the disclosure in the WhatsApp communication.
Long disputed is the president’s assertion that he never discussed business with his son, Hunter, who pursued deals abroad as his father managed U.S. diplomacy in China, Romania, and Ukraine.
The president may have spoken with Hunter about his financial concerns in 2018 in conjunction with a report from The New York Times, according to a voicemail the older Biden left for his son last year.
In an effort to expose what they claim is an attempt to impede and hinder the Hunter Biden investigation from the Department of Justice, IRS officials investigating Hunter Biden allegedly shared his WhatsApp message during testimony before the House.
The agents said that Henry Zhao, an official at the Chinese energy business CEFC, received the communication on July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden.
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