WILL JOE BIDEN EVER FACE QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ROLE IN THE HUNTER BIDEN SCANDAL? President Joe Biden gave a rare — really rare — one-on-one interview Tuesday night. Speaking to CNN, Biden defended his use of the word “Armageddon” in warning that nuclear annihilation might result from Vladimir Putin’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Biden described Putin as “a rational actor who’s miscalculated significantly.”
Biden was not asked about the appropriateness of making the “Armageddon” statement at a small Democratic Party fundraiser in Manhattan, rather than in, say, an address to the nation. In any event, since the president had granted CNN just 15 minutes, there wasn’t time to discuss anything in depth. Biden and interviewer Jake Tapper spent most of the time on Ukraine and international affairs, with brief discussions of midterm elections, a possible recession, and Biden’s 2024 plans.
Republicans would be heartened to know there was one question about the Hunter Biden scandal but disappointed to know that it revealed nothing. Tapper introduced the topic by noting reports that Justice Department prosecutors think they have enough evidence “to charge your son Hunter for tax crimes and a false statement about a gun purchase.” That led to the question: “Personally and politically, how do you react to that?”
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
“Well, first of all, I’m proud of my son,” Biden said. “He got hooked on — like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life.” Biden said he was proud of Hunter for writing a memoir, Beautiful Things, about his addiction. Then he addressed the possible firearms charge. “This thing about a gun — I didn’t know anything about it,” Biden said. “But turns out that when he made [the] application to purchase a gun … you get asked a question, ‘Are you on drugs or do you use drugs?’ He said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book. So, I have great confidence in my son. I love him, and he’s on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple of years now. And I’m just so proud of him.”
That was it. The interview then moved in another direction. What can be gleaned from that brief moment? First, Biden denied any knowledge of his son’s alleged gun violation. Second, Biden skipped over Hunter’s possible tax crimes entirely. Did not say a word about them. And third, and most important, Biden was not asked, nor did he address, the key allegation in the Hunter Biden affair: that he, Joe Biden, not only knew about but benefited financially from his son’s shady international business dealings.
But it was a short interview, one might say, and had to cover many topics, so a journalist could not do a deep dive into the Hunter Biden story. True. But even with just a few seconds to devote to the topic, an interviewer could forgo the mushy “what’s your reaction” question in favor of a simple but more substantive query such as this: “In his private communications, your son Hunter often complained that he had to pay bills for you. There was even a famous email mentioning ‘ten percent for the big guy,’ meaning you would receive a cut of his business deals. Did you ever receive money from Hunter, or did he make any payments on your behalf?”
Biden would most likely deny any knowledge of anything. That has been his pattern throughout the Hunter Biden affair. But the value of asking the question is that the president would then be on the record on the issue, beyond his general denials that he never discussed his son’s business dealings with Hunter. In the future, as more facts regarding the Hunter Biden story come to light, the elder Biden’s answer could then be compared to the evidence.
There are other, equally brief, questions that might be posed. I asked the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, author of Laptop From Hell, what she would ask the president under tight time constraints. Her question: “You keep saying you know nothing about Hunter’s overseas business dealings. So, why did you meet or speak to so many of his overseas business partners?”
That’s a good one. And, as with the first question, Biden would probably not answer. But his way of not answering might still be informative.
Of course, Joe Biden is never going to sit for an interview devoted to his son’s scandal. He almost never sits for any interview about anything. But the Hunter Biden story, which social media companies and some journalists tried to suppress and deny before the 2020 election, is moving on. It will certainly be the topic of an investigation in the House of Representatives if Republicans win control next month. So, at some point, perhaps soon, at least a few of the Hunter and Joe Biden questions might be answered.
For a deeper dive into many of the topics covered in the Daily Memo, please listen to my podcast, The Byron York Show — available on the Ricochet Audio Network and everywhere else podcasts can be found. You can use this link to subscribe.
