US President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden speaks by video feed, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, August 20, 2020.
The tax investigation was launched in 2018, the year before the elder Biden announced his candidacy for president. Hunter Biden confirmed the existence of the investigation on Wednesday, saying he learned about it for the first time the previous day. Investigators did not reach out until recently because of Justice Department practice against taking overt investigative actions in the run-up to an election, one of the people said. The people familiar with the investigation insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe.Hunter Biden has a history of international affairs and business dealings in a number of countries.
The revelations could also add weight to Trump’s broad accusations that Biden was weak on China. Trump took a tough line on China during the campaign as he tried to deflect blame for the coronavirus. Biden has rejected the characterisation that he was weak and said that, unlike Trump, he would rebuild global coalitions to check China’s power.
In the weeks before the election, Trump supporters used the existence of a laptop they said was connected to Hunter Biden – and the emergence of someone who maintains he had business discussions with him – to raise questions about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s activities in Ukraine and China. The president-elect has said he did not discuss his son’s international business dealings with him and has denied having ever taken money from a foreign country.