The Biden campaign is warning any presidential candidate who “calls themselves a Democrat” to refrain from repeating “discredited lies” about Joe Biden (D) and his son Hunter during the next presidential debate.
The Biden campaign is taking an aggressive stance in an effort to dismiss the mounting questions and concerns surrounding the Bidens’ business dealings in both China and Ukraine. The latter has become a particular point of interest in recent weeks, following President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Democrats say Trump “pressured” Ukraine to investigate his potential rival, Biden, who played a key role in the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden served on the board, making $83,000 per month, despite a stunning lack of qualifications for such a position. The former vice president wanted the prosecutor fired and threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid, bragging about his ultimatum last year.
“I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours,” Biden said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.
“I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired,” he boasted.
The Biden campaign, however, is warning fellow candidates to refrain from taking a shot at the Bidens’ business dealings in China and Ukraine, and specifically the role that Hunter played.
A Biden aide warned anyone who “calls themselves a ‘Democrat’” from pushing the “discredited lies.” If they choose to do so, they “would be making a profound statement about themselves,” the aide said, according to Bloomberg.
“Aides to some of the other candidates in the debate say they do not expect their candidates to shy away from repeating their public criticisms,” Bloomberg reported. However, Biden’s Democrat rivals have largely refrained from talking about the Bidens’ questionable business dealings, focusing on party-approved impeachment talking points instead.
The aide’s warning follows the Biden campaign’s blistering letter to New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet. Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, who penned the letter, laid into the Times for running an op-ed by author and Breitbart Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer. She also accused the Times of spreading “a baseless conspiracy theory advanced by Rudy Giuliani.”
Bedingfield wrote:
This debunked theory speculates that then Vice-President Biden somehow did anything reportedly inappropriate in successfully ridding Ukraine of a corrupt prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who the Times itself thoroughly explained at the time was derelict and the target of an international effort for removal.
“What was especially troubling about the Times’s active participation in this smear campaign is that prior to its reporting on the subject by Ken Vogel, this conspiracy had been relegated to the likes of Breitbart, Russia propaganda, and another conspiracy theorist, regular Hannity guest John Solomon,” she added, ultimately demanding the Times to “publicly answer for these failures in reporting on this pressing issue fairly.”
A spokesperson for the Times said the outlet will “continue to cover Joe Biden with the same tough and fair standards we apply to every candidate in the race.”
“We’re happy to sit down with Biden advisers anytime to discuss news coverage,” the spokesperson added.
The president torched the Bidens during his rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Thursday evening, asking the crowd, “Where’s Hunter?”
“Joe’s son Hunter got thrown out of the Navy and then he became a genius on Wall Street in about two days,” Trump said. “By the way, whatever happened to Hunter? Where the hell is he … Where’s Hunter?”
“And then they go to China … and Hunter, who’s not too smart … he goes in, he has a meeting and walks out with $1.5 billion, billion with a B, $1.5 billion,” he continued. “Now think of it, where’s Hunter?”
“Hunter, you know nothing about energy, you know nothing about China, you know nothing about anything really. Hunter, you’re a loser,” he added. “Why did you get $1.5 billion, Hunter?”
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