Hunter Biden Lobbied State Department for Burisma Help

Hunter Biden asked the US government for assistance with a Burisma project in Italy in 2016, when he was a board member for the company and his father was US vice president, new records reveal, per the New York Times. Biden wrote to the US ambassador to Italy requesting an introduction between Burisma and the president of Tuscany, where the Ukrainian company was pursuing a geothermal project. "I want to be careful about promising too much," wrote a Commerce Department official based in the US Embassy in Rome who was told to respond, noting the government "should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through" a program that supports US companies seeking business with foreign governments.

Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, says his client "asked various people" for an introduction between Burisma and Tuscany President Enrico Rossi at the time. This was a "proper request" but "no meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the US was ever sought." Rossi confirms he never met Biden. A White House rep adds President Biden was not aware of his son's request when he was vice president. The request is referred to in documents released by the State Department following a years-old Freedom of Information request. The Times had sought public records from officials at the US Embassy in Romania related to Biden's efforts to assist a real estate magnate facing corruption charges in that country. One of the officials had previously worked for the State Department in Italy.

The release is likely to "fuel suspicion among Republicans," but it's "unlikely" the State Department chose to release the records only after President Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign, the Times reports, citing sources who say the release was planned weeks earlier. Hunter Biden will stand trial next month on charges of evading taxes on income from foreign businesses, including Burisma. In a court filing last week, prosecutors noted Biden had not been charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people to disclose when they lobby the US government on behalf of foreign interests, though he failed to register as a lobbyist for both the Romanian real estate developer and Burisma. (More Hunter Biden stories.)