Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) says she does not know if she would ban the children of her vice president from serving on the boards of foreign companies, as the son of former Vice President Joe Biden did.
Following a rally in Iowa, Warren was asked if she would ban the children of her vice president from serving on the boards of foreign companies — a reference to the scrutinized business dealings of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who was paid $83,000 a month while sitting on the board of a Ukrainian oil corporation at the time that his father was in the White House.
Despite her anti-corruption agenda, Warren initially said “No” she would not allow her vice president’s children to serve on the boards of foreign companies, but she quickly backtracked the answer, saying, “I don’t know.”
The full exchange, caught on video, can be read and watched below:
REPORTER: To the ethics plans, could say whether or not under a Warren administration, would your vice president’s child be allowed to serve on the board of a foreign company?
WARREN: No.
REPORTER: Why not?
WARREN: I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, I’d have to go back and look at the details on the plan.
REPORTER: Do you think that could be a problem?
WARREN: I’d have to go back and look.
As Breitbart News’s Haris Alic has reported, questions about why Hunter Biden was appointed to serve on the board of Ukrainian oil company Burisma in April 2014 have plagued the former vice president’s 2020 Democrat presidential primary bid.
Alic’s reporting notes:
Adding to concerns is the fact that at the time Hunter Biden joined Burisma, the company was seen as actively courting western leaders to prevent further scrutiny of its business practices. The same month Hunter Biden was tapped for the group’s board, the government of Great Britain froze accounts belonging to Burisma founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, under suspicion of money laundering. Zlochevsky, a former Ukrainian minister of natural resources, would later be accused of corruption for using his office to approve oil and gas licenses to companies under his control. [Emphasis added]
Joe Biden’s role in the entire matter has only increased suspicions of conflicting interests. As the sitting vice president, Joe Biden led the Obama administration’s response to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. In that role, he pushed billions of dollars in aid to the Ukrainian government, some of which allegedly was filtered to Burisma. [Emphasis added]
Breitbart News’s Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer has detailed in his book, Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends, how Hunter Biden had no experience with the oil and gas industry or the nation of Ukraine before joining Burisma while his father was vice president.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.