President Biden, his 2020 campaign staff and top White House aides have claimed at least 20 times that Biden ‘never discussed’ his son Hunter’s business dealings with him, sparking backlash from a top House Republican who says there ‘can no longer be any dispute’ that ‘Biden and his staff have repeatedly lied to the American people.’
Between 2019 and 2023, not only has there been mounting evidence that this talking point was false, but the narrative has also shifted multiple times, raising questions from GOP lawmakers.
On August 28, 2019, Biden said as a presidential candidate on the campaign trail that he’s ‘never discussed’ with his son about his business dealings ‘period.’
A month later, while campaigning in Iowa, Biden again said to Fox News reporter Peter Doocy that he has ‘never’ spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings.
‘I don’t discuss business with my son,’ Biden said again in October.
Biden made the same claim three more times in October while campaigning for president including a comment at a Democratic presidential debate where he said, ‘I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having do with Ukraine.’
Once elected president, the same narrative emanated from Biden and his White House staff including in April of 2022 when White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if it was ‘still the case’ that Biden had never spoken to his son about his ‘overseas business dealings.’
‘Yes,’ Psaki said.
Several weeks later, Psaki said that Biden ‘maintains his same statements that he’s made in the past’ regarding talking business with his son.
‘Nothing has changed,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in June 2023 when asked again if the father and son spoke about overseas business dealings.
Also in June 2023, Biden said ‘no’ when asked if he had lied in the past about never speaking to Hunter about his business dealings.
After those repeated statements, the White House was accused of ‘moving the goalposts’ in July when White House spokesperson from the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams said, ‘As we have said many times before, the president was not in business with his son.’
‘The answer remains the same,’ Jean-Pierre said during a July 24 briefing. ‘The president was never in business with his son. I just don’t have anything else to add.
It was in late July when testimony from former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer showed that, according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Biden ‘lied’ about never talking business with his son when Archer revealed that Hunter put his father on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times. Archer described how Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell ‘the brand.’
Vice President Biden also met with more than a dozen of Hunter’s foreign business partners, Fox News Digital previously reported.
‘There can no longer be any dispute that Joe Biden and his staff have repeatedly lied to the American people about his knowledge of and involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings,’ GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik told Fox News Digital.
‘House Republicans’ rigorous investigations have uncovered mounting evidence that Biden not only knew about Hunter’s business dealings from phone calls to meetings, but was a willing participant.’
Stefanik continued, ‘This week, House Oversight Chairman James Comes released evidence that Hunter Biden listed Joe Biden’s house as the beneficiary address for two bank wires from Communist China in 2019 – while Joe Biden was actively campaigning to be President of the United States. It is clear the American people that Joe Biden is compromised, and House Republicans will leave no stone unturned as we deliver transparency and accountability on behalf of the American people.’
Additionally, Hunter’s lawyer’s claims earlier this month about Hunter not sharing profits with his father do not appear to hold up when looking at Hunter’s text messages and emails from his abandoned laptop, according to previous Fox News Digital reports.
In a January 2019 text message, Hunter expressed frustration with his daughter, Naomi, and revealed that his father forced him to fork over half his salary.
‘I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro (sic) 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary,’ Hunter wrote.
In a 2018 WhatsApp message with his uncle, Hunter fumed about now-first lady Jill Biden and called her a ‘f—ing moron’ after she shot down a proposal about him teaching and said he needed to get sober first or that he would not be able to support his family.
‘I suooorted (sic) my GM (sic) family including some of the costs you should have used your salary to lay (sic) for- for the last 24 years,’ Hunter said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.