The White House on Tuesday refused to address an uncovered voice mail from President Joe Biden to his son Hunter Biden advising him about a New York Times report on his business deals in China.
“I’m not going to talk about alleged materials on the laptop. It’s not happening,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in response to a question about the voicemail. “I refer you to his son’s representative.”
The recently uncovered voicemail was found on Hunter Biden’s laptop that was abandoned in a repair shop and recovered by President Donald Trump’s allies during the 2020 presidential campaign.
“I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear,” Biden says in the recording from 2018.
The president was referring to a 2018 New York Times article on Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ye Jianming, a Chinese oil executive who headed CEFC China Energy Company.
Audio of the voicemail was put online by the Republican National Committee.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre how the president could be taken seriously when he claimed he had never spoken to his son about his business deals.
“I’ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Biden claimed in September 2019.
But Jean-Pierre stood by Biden’s claim.
“What the President said stands,” she said Tuesday, referring further questions about the issue to Hunter’s representatives.
Author Peter Schweizer detailed Hunter Biden’s relationship with CEFC China Energy in his book Red-Handed: The Chinese company paid him nearly $6 million in 2017.