According to the New York Post, Hunter Biden “coached” his father’s press secretary on how to handle questions about Hunter’s ties to Burismas Holdings.
This occurred back when President Joe Biden was the vice president of the United States.
At the time, his press secretary was Kendra Barkoff. And, emails have been discovered – on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop – of communications that took place in May 2014 between Barkoff and Hunter Biden.
Now, it is alleged that Hunter Biden violated federal law.
The emails
Burismas Holdings is the Ukrainian natural gas company that Hunter Biden was placed on the board of on May 12, 2014, despite having no real qualifications to be on the board other than the fact that he was the son of the vice president of the United States.
The day after Burisma announced that Hunter Biden would be joining its board of directors, on May 13, 2014, Barkoff sent Hunter Biden an email, saying, “Thanks for talking to me. [L]et me know who I should refer folks to.”
Hunter Biden replied:
What exactly are they asking? For the time being I’d just refer them to my office. FYI I joined the board of Burisma Holdings Ltd. (Burisma.com) an independent/private natural gas producer in Ukraine along with the former president of Poland. I think the press release is on their website.
The Post then goes on to reveal several other communications between Hunter Biden and Barkoff.
In one, for example, Barkoff asked Hunter Biden how to reply to a request for comment from a BuzzFeed reporter who suggested that the situation creates a conflict of interest for his vice president father. Hunter Biden replied:
Interesting. Burisma is completely independent of the Ukrainian government with an independent board of directors. [Zlochevsky] served as Minister of Ecology and resigned in 2010. I joined the board as legal adviser and Burisma also engaged the law firm I am of counsel to Boies Schiller Flexner on matters pertaining to corporate governance, transparency, and expansion. Alana Apter former head of Morgan Stanley Europe is chairman of the board.
A violation of federal law?
The America First Legal foundation has now sent a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleging that Hunter Biden, here, violated the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).
Gene Hamilton, the general counsel of America First Legal, argued:
In advising the Office of the Vice President how to respond to press inquiries about his appointment, Hunter Biden “represent[ed] the interests of [a] foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States.”
Hamilton further explained, “Hunter Biden is Burisma’s agent and subject to FARA registration because he was an officer of Burisma and represented Burisma’s interests to the Office of the Vice President in addition to advising on a public relations matter.”
Accordingly, Hamilton says that this is a violation of FARA.
Biden has yet to respond to the allegation.
