White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to comment on newly uncovered text messages that indicate Hunter Biden threatened a Chinese business partner with political retaliation from his father, Joe Biden, in 2017.
Jean-Pierre repeatedly dodged questions about the messages during a press briefing on Friday and referred reporters to the White House counsel’s office.
"My colleague at the White House counsel has dealt with this, and I would refer you to them," said Jean-Pierre, who also snapped at reporters, "I just answered the question. It’s not up to you how I answered the question."
The White House counsel’s office has not appeared to address the text messages. Responding to Hunter Biden's plea deal on tax charges earlier this week that will likely see him avoid prison time, the counsel’s office said the president and first lady "love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life."
The White House’s refusal to address the texts comes as Biden has publicly embraced his son. Hunter Biden attended a high-profile White House state dinner with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night, and the president told reporters Tuesday that he was "very proud of my son."
The text messages were revealed in testimony from IRS agent Gary Shapley and published by House Republicans on Thursday. In a July 30, 2017, WhatsApp message, Hunter Biden told Chinese businessman Henry Zhao that he was with his father and "we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled."
"Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand," wrote Hunter Biden. "I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."
Hunter Biden added that he was "sitting here waiting for the call with my father. I sure hope whatever it is you are doing is very very important."
Photo metadata from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop indicate that he was at his father’s house in Wilmington, Del., on the day he sent the text messages, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.
Jean-Pierre said during the briefing that she had not spoken to Joe Biden about the text messages and has no plans to do so. She also said she stands by her previous statement that Biden never discussed business dealings with his son.
"Nothing has changed," she said. "Nothing has changed and I will leave it there."