Joe Biden dismissed a female reporter's question about his son's lucrative Ukrainian dealings, as Iowa voters gather for the first 2020 primary caucus.
NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie asked the former vice president whether Burisma, a Ukrainian energy giant, paid Hunter Biden hundreds of thousands of dollars "because that company wanted access to you."
"Well that's not true. You're saying things—you do not know what you're talking about," Biden said. "No one's said that. Who said that? Who said that?
"No one's found anything wrong with his dealings in Ukraine except they say it sets a bad image," he added.
"Do you agree that it sets a bad image?" Guthrie said.
"Yeah. And my son said that," Biden said.
Hunter's position on the board of Burisma is at the center of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Republicans had floated the possibility of calling Hunter to testify before voting 51-49 to move forward without additional witnesses.
Guthrie asked Biden if he thought Hunter getting the job would appear "kind of sleazy" to people on the outside. Biden responded Hunter is a "very bright guy" who has said he regrets taking the position with the company.
"He said he regretted having done it. Speaks for himself. He's a grown man," he said.
In an October interview, Hunter Biden acknowledged that being the son of the vice president of the United States helped his business career.
"I don't think that there's a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn't Biden," Hunter said.
The final vote in the impeachment trial is expected to take place Wednesday.