Hunter Biden was too doped up on crack cocaine when he invoked President Joe Biden’s name in threatening texts to a Chinese businessman to be taken seriously, his attorney said in a statement Friday.
The attorney, Chris Clark, said Hunter Biden’s "verifiable words or actions" took place "in the midst of a horrible addiction" and therefore have "no connection to anyone in his family." The statement is an apparent reference to a July 30, 2017, text message Hunter Biden sent to an official with the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy threatening that he and then-former vice president Joe Biden would come down on him with their full weight if he did not fulfill his "commitment."
"We would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled." Hunter Biden said in the message. "I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father."
Clark’s move to discredit his own client appears to be an effort to shield the president from the implications of the message. If Joe Biden was sitting next to his son as he sent the message as it suggests, it would be a blow to his repeated claims that he never discussed overseas business deals with his son. Ten days after Hunter Biden sent the message, a Chinese official associated with CEFC China Energy wired two payments totaling $5.1 million to the first son.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee that federal prosecutors blocked their attempts to confirm the locations of Joe and Hunter Biden when the first son sent the threatening message through WhatsApp. But photos from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop place him at his father’s house the day he sent the message, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Clark also said Shapley and another IRS whistleblower, both of whom alleged the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden was marred by political interference and unjustified delays, can’t be trusted. Clark provided no specific reasons to back up his claim.
"Biased and politically-motivated, selective leaks have plagued this matter for years," Clark said Friday. "They are not only irresponsible, they are illegal. A close examination of the document released publicly yesterday by a very biased individual raises serious questions over whether it is what he claims it to be. It is dangerously misleading to make any conclusions or inferences based on this document."
This is not the first time Clark has accused the IRS whistleblower of being a criminal. He said in April that Shapley committed a crime by disclosing information about an ongoing tax investigation to Congress.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby both refused to answer questions about Hunter Biden’s threatening text during a press briefing Friday.
Following the briefing, White House spokesman Ian Sams provided a contradictory statement to the Free Beacon claiming that Joe Biden "was not in business with his son."
This is a marked departure from Joe Biden’s previous statements on his son’s foreign business dealings, such as in August 2019 when he said he "never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their businesses. Period."
Sams also said the White House was not involved in the Justice Department’s decision to close its five-year investigation into Hunter Biden with a sweetheart deal letting the first son plead guilty to misdemeanor tax crimes and enter a diversionary program to avoid a felony gun charge.
"As the President has said, he loves his son and is proud of him accepting responsibility for his actions and is proud of what he is doing to rebuild his life," Sams said.
Joe Biden honored his son with an invitation to a glitzy state dinner at the White House for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Hunter Biden ignored a reporter’s question at the event about his plea deal.