Hunter Biden says he doesn’t regret sitting on the board of directors of Burisma holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, told ABC News in an interview released Tuesday that he does regret how that arrangement may be perceived, like by some in the Trump administration.
“What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president … that would be listening to this—this ridiculous conspiracy idea,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden says he doesn’t regret serving on board of Ukrainian gas company.
“What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president…that would be listening to this—this ridiculous conspiracy idea.” https://t.co/KIKuD9nXP4 pic.twitter.com/x8Nx5QscHm
— ABC News (@ABC) October 15, 2019
The “conspiracy idea” that the younger Biden refers to is the argument that he only received the position on the board because of his relationship to a father who was doling out assistance to Ukraine as then-President Barack Obama’s point man in the east European country. (RELATED: Nunes: Ukraine Will Sink Biden’s Campaign, Not Trump’s Presidency)
Biden admitted that sitting on the board of directors was at least “poor judgment on my part … to be in the middle of something that is a — it’s a swamp in many ways … and so I take full responsibility for that.”
Biden denied that he did “anything improper.”
“Not in any way whatsoever. I joined a board, I served honorably,” he continued. “I focused on corporate governance. I didn’t have any discussions with my father before or after I joined the board as it related to it, other than that brief exchange that we had.”
Joe Biden once bragged about having a Ukrainian prosecutor fired, but the former vice president says it was due to alleged corruption. Biden’s detractors argue that he did not want Victor Shokin to ask any embarrassing questions about why Hunter Biden — who had no apparent background or expertise in the energy sector — would be asked to sit on the board of a natural gas company. Many in the media have accepted Joe Biden’s narrative. (RELATED: Joe Biden Never Says He Discussed Hunter Biden’s Ukraine Deal. Hunter Says He Did)
But the prosecutor in question has filed an affidavit accusing Biden of forcing him out of his job, allegedly because he was assessing why Hunter Biden was sitting on the board of directors of Burisma Holdings.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden waves as he walks out of Air Force Two with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden (R) on Dec. 4, 2013 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty Images)
Although Shokin insists his departure was entirely due Joe Biden’s fears about his son being investigated, the Ukrainian prosecutor was widely accused of corruption at the time.
Biden told a journalist earlier in October to focus on Trump instead: “It’s not a conflict of interest. There’s been no indication of any conflict of interest, from Ukraine or anywhere else. Period. I’m not going to respond to that! Let’s focus on the problem. Focus on this man, what he’s doing, that no president has ever done. No president!”