Hunter Biden, the president’s son, reportedly sold at least five pieces of art for $75,000 each at his Los Angeles exhibit on October 1.
“The Georges Berges Gallery sold the prints before the Oct. 1 opening of a ‘pop-up’ presentation in Los Angeles, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday,” the New York Post reported. “It’s unclear who purchased the reproductions — which cost a fraction of the top price of $500,000 for an original piece by President Biden’s scandal-scarred son — or if any more were sold after the LA show opened.”
The source told the Post the majority of those “allowed to buy works are long-term, private collectors with the gallery, people that Berges knows personally.”
The White House has defended Hunter’s ability to sell art to anonymous investors for up to $500,000, which the administration suggested was under a “veil-of secrecy.”
But reported photos indicate Biden mingled with nearly 200 people, which includes Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, artist Shepard Fairey (maker of the Barack Obama “Hope” poster), musician and animal rights activist Moby, Sugar Ray Leonard, British performance artist Millie Brown, and Gary Baseman.
President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter told the Post the attendees “just illustrates how this veil-of-secrecy idea is not happening.”
“It shows the deal’s not going to be secret,” Painter said. “I think the White House needs to go to Plan B.”
Asked who may be the buyer of Hunter’s work, Painter said they only tend to be wealthy, elitists. “They tend to be rich people, and rich people come to their houses and it tends to get around,” he said.
“Everyone’s going to be talking about it and everyone’s going to know,” he said about purchasing Hunter’s art. “Buyers buy artwork to hang on the wall, not put in a closet.”
Breitbart News senior contributor and Profiles in Corruption author Peter Schweizer stated Hunter’s entire business venture is terribly “absurd.”
“The only way to address these issues is with greater transparency — not less,” he told Breitbart News, “Their proposed solution is greater secrecy, not transparency. And they are essentially saying, ‘Trust Us.’ Joe and Hunter Biden’s track record on such matters gives us no reason to trust them.”
Biden’s Los Angeles event will be followed by a second, which the Post reports will occur in the spring. “The source also said that the New York City show, which was supposed to open this month, has been pushed back until the spring, with the LA show continuing through November.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø.
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