Hunter Biden's engagements with foreign businesses in China and Ukraine, coinciding with Joe Biden's vice-presidential tenure, raise serious concerns about the potential for undue influence and conflicts of interest, casting a shadow over Joe Biden's ability to prioritize national interests over personal or familial gain.

Voting position claim

Name

Types

Voting position claim

Opposing arguments

Investigations and reports have not found conclusive evidence of Joe Biden's direct involvement or criminal wrongdoing in Hunter Biden's business engagements.

Joe and Hunter Biden have both publicly denied any involvement by Joe Biden in Hunter's business affairs, emphasizing their independence in professional matters.

Quotes that support the claim

Hunter's dealings in Ukraine have stoked even more controversy, given that his father was the Obama administration's point man for US-Ukraine relations. In 2014, he joined the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings, where he was paid as much as $1.2m (£943,000) per year. As part of an anti-corruption drive, Vice-President Biden was at the time rallying for the ouster of the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Mr Shokin was removed by parliament in 2016, but critics argue the prosecutor only lost his job because he was investigating Burisma. Republicans have alleged both Joe and Hunter Biden received $5m payouts from Burisma executives in exchange for Mr Shokin's firing. A former business partner to Hunter also testified Joe had been on speakerphone several times during Hunter's calls with various contacts. Allegations of corruption formed the centrepiece of both President Trump's first impeachment in 2019, and are stoking the nascent impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Much has been made in recent years about Hunter's foreign business interests while his father was vice-president. In 2013, he took a founding board seat at BHR, a Chinese private equity firm - first as an unpaid member and later owning a 10% equity stake in the fund. The company was registered in Shanghai less than a fortnight after Hunter flew with his father on an official vice-presidential trip to China and met BHR's chief executive, but only for "a cup of coffee", the first son later said. After his father left office in 2017, Hunter partnered with Chinese oil tycoon Ye Jianming on a natural gas project in Louisiana. The deal collapsed after Ye was detained by Chinese authorities on corruption charges and subsequently went missing.

Supported voting positions

Joe Biden is not fit to serve as president because of the controversies and allegations surrounding Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.