Hunter Biden admits he 'made a mistake', says he was only asked to join Ukrainian gas company because he was Joe Biden's son
Former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, broke his silence on his business deals with Ukraine and China saying he exercised poor judgment in being involved with such dealings but insisted that he did not do anything wrong.
The Ukraine and China scandals have engulfed his father's 2020 presidential bid, and have even seen an impeachment inquiry being initiated against President Donald Trump.
Hunter, during an interview with ABC News on Tuesday morning, said: "In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. I think that it was poor judgment because I don't believe... Now, when I look back on it... I know I did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is a swamp in many ways? Yeah."
"I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father. That's where I made the mistake," he noted. "So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever."
"Did I make a mistake? Well, maybe in the grand scheme of things, yeah," he said while referencing the fallout from his overseas business deals. "But did I make a mistake based upon some ethical lapse? Absolutely not."
An impeachment inquiry was launched against Trump after a whistleblower lodged a formal complaint alleging that the president had set a quid pro quo of millions in military aid with the Ukrainian leader for an investigation into his 2020 political rival Joe Biden.
The White House subsequently released a transcript of the call which confirmed that Trump asked the foreign leader to investigate Biden, the Democratic frontrunner in the 2020 presidential elections, along with his son Hunter.
Hunter, in his first public appearance since the impeachment inquiry, defended his professional work overseas, criticized Trump, and discussed his past struggle with addiction.
Hunter admitted that he benefitted in his business dealing because of his last name: "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."
However, he defended his absence from politics, arguing that his father's public service did not mean politics is a Biden family business, and added that he did not think himself as a distraction to Biden's 2020 campaign.
"No, personally, I'm not necessarily a distraction to his campaign. I'm never a distraction to my dad. But as it relates to actually going and being on stage with him, this is not a family business. Everybody kind of thinks that somehow whether it's a compliment that we're like the Kennedys or whether it's a backhanded compliment like you're the Trumps," he said.
"My dad has a job but that does not mean that I had any plans to go do rallies and, you know, talk about Donald Trump's kids and I never will. You know, that's not what Bidens do. My dad doesn't go after other people's kids. He just doesn't. Never has," Hunter added.