Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 03:38, 28 September 2019

Hunter Biden
Biden at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in 2013
Vice Chairman of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation
In office July 26, 2006 – January 29, 2009
Nominated by	George W. Bush
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Succeeded by	Jeffrey R. Moreland
Personal details
Born	Robert Hunter Biden (1970-02-04) February 4, 1970 (age 54) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Kathleen Buhle ​ ​(m. 1993; div. 2017)​ Melissa Cohen ​ ​(m. 2019)​
Domestic partner	Hallie Olivere (2016–2019)
Children	3
Parent(s)	Joe Biden Neilia Hunter
Relatives	See Biden family
Alma mater	Georgetown University (B.A.) Yale Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	2013–2014
Rank	Ensign

Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American lawyer and lobbyist who is the second son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. He is a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners, an international consulting firm.

Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a major Ukrainian natural gas producer, from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, President Donald Trump claimed that Joe Biden had sought the dismissal of a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to protect Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings, although extensive press reporting and the Ukrainian government have found no evidence to support the claim. Trump also falsely asserted Biden took $1.5 billion out of China through an investment fund. Trump's alleged attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens by withholding foreign aid triggered an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September 2019.

Early life

Biden was born on February 4, 1970, in Wilmington, Delaware. He is the second son of Neilia Biden (née Hunter) and Joe Biden, the latter of whom represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009 and served as Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Hunter Biden's mother and younger sister, Naomi, were killed in an automobile crash on December 18, 1972. Biden and his older brother, Beau, were also seriously injured in that crash. Hunter and Beau Biden later encouraged their father to marry again, and Jill Jacobs became Hunter and Beau's stepmother in 1977. Biden's half-sister, Ashley, was born in 1981.

Like his father and brother, Biden attended Archmere Academy, a Catholic high school in Claymont, Delaware. In 1992, he graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in history. During the year after he graduated from college, he served as a Jesuit volunteer at a church in Portland, Oregon, where he met and eventually married Kathleen Buhle. After attending Georgetown University Law Center for one year, he transferred to Yale Law School, graduating in 1996.

Career

Early positions, 1996–2009

After graduating from law school, Biden took a position at MBNA America, a major bank holding company. From 1998 to 2001, he served in the United States Department of Commerce, focusing on ecommerce policy. Biden became a lobbyist in 2001, co-founding the firm of Oldaker, Biden & Belair. According to Adam Entous of The New Yorker, Biden and his father established a relationship in which "Biden wouldn't ask Hunter about his lobbying clients, and Hunter wouldn't tell his father about them." In 2006, Biden and his uncle, James Biden, attempted to buy Paradigm, a hedge-fund group, but the deal fell apart before completion. That same year, Biden was appointed by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of Amtrak; he served on the board of Amtrak from 2006 to 2009.

Later career, 2009–present

After his father was elected as vice president in 2008, Biden resigned from his position on the Amtrak board of directors and left his career as a lobbyist. Along with Christopher Heinz and Devon Archer, Biden founded the investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners. He also became an attorney with the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, and founded Eudora Global, a venture capital firm. In 2013, Biden, Archer, and Chinese businessman Jonathan Li founded BHR Partners, a business focused on investing Chinese capital in companies based outside of China. In September 2019, as he was also accusing Biden of malfeasance in Ukraine, President Trump claimed Biden "walk out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund" and earned "millions" of dollars from the BHR deal, assertions Washington Post and CNN factcheckers found false.

U.S. Navy Reserve

In May 2013, Biden joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, receiving an age-related waiver since he was over the age cut-off of 42. He received a second waiver because of a past drug-related incident. Biden received a direct commission as an ensign, serving in a public affairs reserve unit based in Norfolk, Virginia. In February 2014, Biden was discharged from the navy reserve after testing positive for cocaine use. Biden claimed that he had ingested the cocaine involuntarily, but declined to contest the discharge before an appeals panel.

Burisma Holdings

In the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Mykola Zlochevsky assembled a "high-profile international board" to oversee his oil and gas company, Burisma Holdings, the largest natural gas producer in Ukraine. Among those who joined the board of directors in 2014 were Biden and former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski. Biden served on the board of Burisma until his term expired in April 2019, receiving compensation of up to $50,000 a month. Because Vice President Biden played a major role in U.S. policy towards Ukraine, some Ukrainian anti-corruption advocates and Obama administration officials expressed concern that Hunter Biden's having joined the board could create the appearance of a conflict of interest and undermine Vice President Biden's anti-corruption work in Ukraine. While serving as vice president, Joe Biden joined other Western leaders in encouraging the government of Ukraine to fire the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was widely criticized for blocking corruption investigations. The Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Shokin in March 2016.

In 2019, President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed that Vice President Biden had actually sought the dismissal of Shokin in order to protect his son and Burisma Holdings. In May 2019, Shokin claimed that he was fired because he was actively investigating Burisma, but U.S. and Ukrainian officials have stated that the investigation into Burisma was dormant at the time of Shokin's dismissal. There is no evidence that Hunter Biden was ever under investigation by the government of Ukraine, or that Vice President Biden sought the removal of Shokin to protect Hunter Biden or Burisma Holdings. In July 2019, Trump ordered the freezing of $391 million in military aid shortly before a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Zelensky to initiate an investigation of the Bidens. On September 24, 2019, the United States House of Representatives initiated a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump on the grounds that he may have sought to use U.S. foreign aid and the Ukrainian government to damage Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.

Nonprofit roles

Biden has served on the boards of various nonprofits, including World Food Program USA. He also served on the Chairman's Advisory Council for the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He was an honorary co-chairman of the 2009 presidential inauguration committee.

Personal life

Biden married Kathleen Buhle in 1993, and they have three daughters: Naomi, Finnegan, and Maisey. Biden and Kathleen separated in 2015 and divorced in 2017. In 2016, he began dating Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother, Beau; Biden and Hallie had ended their relationship by early 2019.

In May 2019, Biden married Melissa Cohen, a filmmaker from South Africa.

See also

• Joe Biden presidential campaign, 2020

References

1. Phelps, Jordyn; Saenz, Arlette (August 25, 2015). "Hunter Biden Denies Ashley Madison Account Is His". ABC News.
2. ^ Entous, Adam (July 1, 2019). "Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father's Campaign?". The New Yorker.
3. Connelly, Kevin (August 28, 2008). "Biden shows more bark than bite". BBC News. London, England: BBC. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
4. Broder, John M. (August 28, 2008). "Biden Opens New Phase With Attack on McCain". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
5. Seelye, Katharine Q. (August 24, 2008). "Jill Biden Heads Toward Life in the Spotlight". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
6. ^ Newman, Meredith; Jagtiani, Sarika; Sharp, Andrew (September 26, 2019). "Hunter Biden: Who is former Vice President Joe Biden's son mentioned in Ukraine-Trump call?". USA Today.
7. ^ Peligri, Justin (October 18, 2014). "Who is Hunter Biden?". CNN.
8. ^ Schrekinger, Ben (August 2, 2019). "Biden Inc". Politico.
9. Kessler, Glenn (September 26, 2019). "Analysis | Trump's false claims about Hunter Biden's China dealings" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
10. Subramaniam, Tara. "Fact-checking Trump's claims about the Bidens in China". CNN.
11. Kube, Courtney (November 9, 2012). "Hunter Biden, VP Biden's son, to be commissioned in Navy Reserves". NBC News. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
12. Cooper, Helene (October 16, 2014). "Biden's Son 'Embarrassed' Over Navy Ouster". New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
13. Nelson, Colleen McCain; Barnes, Julian E. (October 16, 2014). "Biden's Son Hunter Discharged From Navy Reserve After Failing Cocaine Test". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
14. Seddon, Max (May 14, 2014). "Biden's Son, Polish Ex-President Quietly Sign On To Ukrainian Gas Company". Buzzfeed. New York City.
15. Vogel, Kenneth P.; Mendel, Iuliia (May 1, 2019). "Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
16. "Hunter Biden's Work in Ukraine Emerges as a Potential 2020 Scandal". Vanity Fair. May 2, 2019.
17. ^ Braun, Stephen; Berry, Lynn (September 23, 2019). "The story behind Biden's son, Ukraine and Trump's claims". AP.
18. Cullison, Alan (September 22, 2019). "Bidens in Ukraine: An Explainer". Wall Street Journal.
19. ^ Kiely, Eugene (September 24, 2019). "Trump Twists Facts on Biden and Ukraine". Annenberg Public Policy Center.
20. Bump, Philip; Blake, Aaron (September 24, 2019). "The full Trump-Ukraine timeline — as of now". Washington Post.
21. McLaughlin, Daniel (March 29, 2016). "EU hails sacking of Ukraine's prosecutor Viktor Shokin". The Irish Times.
22. Baker, Peter (September 23, 2019). "Instead of 'No Collusion!' Trump Now Seems to Be Saying, So What if I Did?" – via NYTimes.com.
23. "News - Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Volodymyr Groysman calls on all people's deputies to take part in voting for dismissal of prosecutor general Shokin - Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine". iportal.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
24. Raymond, Adam K. (May 7, 2019). "Everything We Know About the Joe Biden–Ukraine Controversy". New York Magazine.
25. ^ Baker, Stephanie; Krasnolutska, Daryna (May 7, 2019). "Timeline in Ukraine Probe Casts Doubt on Giuliani's Biden Claim". Bloomberg.
26. Parker, Ashley; Dawsey, Josh; Rucker, Philip (September 25, 2019). "Seven days: Inside Trump's frenetic response to the whistleblower complaint and the battle over impeachment". Washington Post.
27. Birnbaum, Michael (September 26, 2019). "Hunter Biden 'did not violate' Ukraine laws, says former top prosecutor". The Washington Post.
28. "Ukraine ex-minister rejects Trump's Biden claims". BBC News. September 27, 2019.
29. Cullison, Alan (September 22, 2019). "Biden's Anticorruption Effort in Ukraine Overlapped With Son's Work in Country". The Wall Street Journal. Messrs. Trump and Giuliani have suggested that Joe Biden pushed for the firing of Ukraine's general prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016 to stop an investigation into Burisma. In Ukraine, government officials and anticorruption advocates say that is a misrepresentation ... Mr. Shokin had dragged his feet into those investigations, Western diplomats said, and effectively squashed one in London by failing to cooperate with U.K. authorities ... In a speech in 2015, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Otto Pyatt, called the Ukrainian prosecutor "an obstacle" to anticorruption efforts
30. Haberman, Maggie; Fandos, Nicholas; Crowley, Michael; Vogel, Kenneth P. (September 24, 2019). "Trump Said to Have Frozen Aid to Ukraine Before Call With Its Leader". New York Times.
31. Haberman, Maggie; Shear, Michael D.; Benner, Katie (September 25, 2019). "Trump Asks Ukraine's Leader to 'Do Us a Favor' and Also Urges Inquiry of Biden". New York Times.
32. Barrett, Devlin; Zapotosky, Matt; Leonnig, Carol D.; Dawsey, Josh (September 25, 2019). "Trump offered Ukrainian president Justice Dept. help for Biden investigation, memo shows". Washington Post.
33. Fandos, Nicholas (September 24, 2019). "Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump". New York Times.
34. "'No Pressure,' Trump Insists, While Sitting With Ukraine's Zelensky at U.N." Rolling Stone. September 25, 2019.
35. "NDI Chairman's Council". National Democratic Institute. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
36. Marsh, Julia (April 14, 2017). "Hunter and Kathleen Biden finalize divorce". Page Six.
37. Pearl, Diana (March 2, 2017). "Hallie Biden's Father Says He Supports Her Relationship with Hunter Biden, Her Late Husband's Brother". People.
38. Nguyen, Tina (May 1, 2019). "Hunter Biden Has Reportedly Broken Up with His Late Brother's Wife". Vanity Fair.
39. Meredith Newman (July 1, 2019) "Hunter Biden talks about his addiction, 'I was in that darkness' ", Delaware News Journal
40. Heil, Emily (June 12, 2019). "Hunter Biden's messy personal life is back in the news. Will it cause political headaches for his dad?". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 13, 2019.

External links

• World Food Program USA: The Philippines and honoring Bob Dole (video)
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Much-referenced May 2019 story in The New York Times on Bidens, Burisma, and possible appearance of conflict-of-interest
• Much-referenced July 2019 profile in The New Yorker

• 1970 births
• Living people
• American Roman Catholics
• Biden family
• Connecticut lawyers
• Georgetown University alumni
• People from Wilmington, Delaware
• Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
• Yale Law School alumni
• American people of English descent
• American people of Irish descent
• American people of French descent
• Catholics from Delaware