Joe Biden seen golfing with Ukrainian gas company executive in 2014 while leading US effort to curb corruption in country
A 2014 picture of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter has emerged which shows them golfing in the Hamptons with Denvon Archer, who served on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings with Hunter.
The photo was reportedly obtained by Fox News days after Biden had said in Iowa that he never discussed his son's foreign business dealings with him. "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings," Biden had said in a statement to the outlet. "I know Trump deserves to be investigated. He is violating every basic norm of a president. You should be asking him why is he on the phone with a foreign leader, trying to intimidate a foreign leader. You should be looking at Trump."
Meanwhile, Hunter, in a previous statement to The New Yorker, had stated that he and his father had spoken about his work in Ukraine "just once."
The picture released by the outlet is believed to have been taken at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, New York on August 2014, roughly four months after Hunter and Archer joined the Burisma Holdings board in April 2014.
At the time, then-Vice President Biden was at the forefront of American diplomatic effort to root out corruption in Ukraine and back its fragile democratic government as it attempted to thwart Russian aggression.
Biden's son, in the same year, was hired to be a board member of a Ukrainian gas company, which raised speculations of a possible foul play.
The Obama White House, at the time, had stated that, since Hunter was a private citizen, there was no conflict of interest. Despite the allegations, there has been no conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden or his son.
The image was released by the outlet shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. The inquiry was initiated after a whistleblower lodged a formal complaint alleging that the president had sought "favor" from the Ukrainian president in a bid to investigate his political rival Biden who is the frontrunner of the 2020 Democratic race.