CLAIM: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday the official story about President Joe Biden’s involvement in the family business never changed and has always remained the same.
VERDICT: FALSE. The White House changed their language from “discussed” to “in business with” when referencing Joe Biden’s business relationship with Hunter Biden, after damning revelations surfaced this week of Hunter Biden texting CEFC China Energy Co. associates about payment with his dad “sitting” next to him in 2017.
Additional information came to light that a Ukrainian oligarch bribed Joe Biden with $5 million.
“Nothing has changed,” Jean-Pierre claimed in response to a question about the sudden shift in language from “discussed” to “in business with” Hunter Biden:
White House @PressSec gets asked about the White House's sudden shift in its position surrounding Joe Biden's knowledge and involvement in Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
"Nothing has changed." – Jean-Pierre FALSELY claims. pic.twitter.com/oqqUg7etqK
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) July 26, 2023
Joe Biden claimed on the 2020 campaign trail: “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses. Period.”
Jean-Pierre confirmed his statement over two years later.
“Why is there a voicemail of the president talking to his son about his overseas business dealings if the president has said he’s never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings?” a reporter asked in 2022.
“What the president said stands,” Jean-Pierre responded:
What caused the White House to change their response from "Joe Biden never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings" to "the President was never in business with his son."?
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) July 24, 2023
This is the second time this week the White House gave a false account of its changing story. On Monday, Jean-Pierre claimed the White House’s response never changed.
“The answer is not going to change. The answer remains the same,” she said. “The president was never in business with his son”:
So we’ve gone from: “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings”…
To: “The president was never in business with his son.”
Big difference. Soon they will be parsing the meaning of “in business”. https://t.co/DNQ1tvn4YL pic.twitter.com/FJYPk281TX— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 24, 2023
Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York Times and MSNBC analyst, noted on Twitter that Jean-Pierre said Biden “‘was never in business with his son’ but does not actually say whether he was put on speakerphone when Hunter was conducting business and introduced to partners.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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