First son Hunter Biden, acting on behalf of a Ukrainian energy company, requested help from the US Embassy in Rome to land a lucrative business deal, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president, according to a report.
Hunter’s big ask and apparent attempt to use his father’s position of power to land the deal for Bursima — the Ukrainian gas giant that he sat on the board for — came to light only after State Department records were released to the New York Times after Joe Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid last month.
“I want to be careful about promising too much,” a Commerce Department official at the US embassy in Italy wrote in response to Hunter’s 2016 letter, which was not released.
The official seemed alarmed by the request, noting the various protocols in place that prevent the US government from lobbying on behalf of foreign companies.
“This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, [the US government] should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the [Department of Commerce] Advocacy Center,” the official wrote.
The revelation adds to evidence linking Hunter to violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act through his work for Burisma and various business entities.
Special Counsel David Weiss introduced evidence of alleged FARA violations involving Hunter last week, in a court filing related to his California felony tax fraud case.
Weiss’ filing stated that Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu, convicted in his homeland of bribery in 2016, hired Hunter and his associates “to attempt to influence U.S. government agencies to investigate the Romanian criminal investigation of [Popoviciu], and thereby cause an end to the investigation.”
However, the special counsel noted that despite the evidence of Hunter flouting FARA laws, “[t]he introduction of that evidence… does not mean that the government will also reference allegations that the defendant violated FARA and that contacts with government officials were improper; such allegations are not relevant to the charges in this tax case.”
In response to the New York Times report, Hunter’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, admitted to the outlet that the first son “asked various people” for help arranging an introduction between Bursima execs and Enrico Rossi, the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, calling it a “proper request.”
Burisma had been working at the time to secure regulatory approval for a geothermal energy project in Tuscany, emails from Hunter’s infamous abandoned laptop show.
“No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the US was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested,” Lowell told the New York Times.
A White House spokesman told the outlet that Joe Biden was unaware his son had contacted the embassy looking to help Bursima while he was the sitting vice president.
As Lowell suggested, it appears that Hunter may have reached out to several US officials in his quest for assistance landing a meeting with Rossi.
“The Ambassador already replied to one letter from Mr. Biden,” the same Commerce Department official wrote in an email to other US officials. “He may be shopping for more support than he got here.”
The New York Times said it obtained the documents from the State Department after suing the agency for flouting a Freedom of Information Act request made in June 2021 — and that it had received few documents related to Hunter until last month, the same week that Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
A State Department spokeswoman told the outlet that the timing was coincidental.
Hunter’s Los Angeles trial, where he faces nine charges relating to tax crimes, including three felonies, is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.
