"Hunter Biden, a private citizen with every right to pursue his own business endeavors, joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a privately-owned, legitimate energy company in China," a spokesperson for the president's son said. "As part of that joint venture, Hunter received his portion of good faith seed funds which he shared with his uncle, James Biden, and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved with at the time, and sharing expenses."
Scrutiny over Trump's China ties began
even before he entered the White House. During his 2016 campaign, Trump became the first presidential candidate in decades to refuse to disclose his tax returns—a move that was further criticized after the House Ways and Means Committee published nearly 6,000 pages of records showing Trump's extensive commercial interests in China.
Those tax records, released at the end of last year, showed that China is one of three foreign nations where Trump maintains a bank account. Although the documents did not show clear signs of illegality, they raised skepticism over Trump's reluctance to disclose, even as he painted Biden, who he nicknamed "China Joe," as soft on China.
Documents released by the Democratic-controlled House last year showed that China was among six foreign governments that spent a total of more than $750,000 at Trump's hotel in Washington in 2017 and 2019 while "seeking to influence American foreign policy."
"Other documents obtained by the committee indicate that the Trump Hotel may have sought business from both China and Russia around this time, despite the Trump Organization's promise not to enter into any foreign deals while Mr. Trump was president," former Representative
Carolyn Maloney, the then-chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform, said in November.
While Trump has claimed that, "I don't make money from China,"
Forbes estimates that at least $5.4 million has flowed into the pockets of the Trump Organization from the Chinese-owned bank as part of a lease agreement that was signed before Trump took office.
And last year, Reuters reported that China-based financier, Abraham Cinta, played a bigger role than initially believed in the merger between the Digital World Acquisition Corp and Trump Media and Technology Group by offering money to create Digital World, the special purpose acquisition company that signed the deal.
This week, House Republicans published a memo raising questions about foreign influence over the Biden family, citing financial ties to China.
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