(Sept. 28) (Note: This was an official editorial for the board of the Washington Examiner.)
The release of a joint report by the Senate committees on homeland security and finance raised important questions about obviously unethical foreign profiteering by members of the Biden family.
In particular, former Vice President Joe Biden’s ne’er-do-well son Hunter received a remarkable amount of money from highly suspect foreign entities, including ones controlled by the Chinese government. On at least one occasion, the elder Biden appears to have directly facilitated his son’s tawdry dealings. On another, the current Democratic presidential nominee ignored an obvious appearance of a conflict of interest that compromised the moral authority of U.S. diplomacy.
Not to be outdone, Joe Biden’s brother James and sister-in-law Sara cashed in as well, creating an international financial web that Politico a full year ago dubbed “Biden Inc.” Finally, and rather sickeningly, the new report shows multiple payments from Hunter to Russian and Eastern European women suspected of links to an “Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”
The legality of some of these dealings is at least questionable. But the ethical stench is undeniable. And while a father is not responsible for the actions of his grown son, Joe Biden’s role as at least a silent enabler raises serious questions about his judgment, not to mention his susceptibility, at least at the margins, to forms of foreign emotional blackmail….
None of this is immaterial to Joe Biden’s fitness for the presidency. As his son sought all this business with Chinese entities, the vice president ferried Hunter Biden on Air Force Two when Joe took a diplomatic mission to China…. oe Biden should be forced to explain why he took his son on that trip and also why he didn’t ask him to avoid such sketchy financial arrangements with elements of a communist, largely hostile major global rival….
[The full editorial is at this link.]
