Explainer | Why Donald Trump seized on dubious ‘Hunter Biden emails’ story
- New York Post story suggests that Joe Biden used his former position as vice-president to enrich his son Hunter
- US ex-officials say story could be a disinformation campaign mounted by Russia
The origins of the story also trace back to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who has repeatedly pushed unfounded claims about Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Even if the emails in the Post are legitimate, they don’t validate Trump and Giuliani’s claims that Biden’s actions were influenced by his son’s business dealings in Ukraine. A look at the developments:
How did Joe Biden’s son become a campaign issue?
Hunter Biden joined the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then US vice-president, was helping conduct the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine.
Senate Republicans said in a recent report that the appointment may have posed a conflict of interest, but they did not present evidence that the hiring influenced US policies.
Trump and his supporters, meanwhile, have advanced a widely discredited theory that Biden pushed for the firing of Ukraine’s top prosecutor to protect his son and Burisma from investigation. Biden did indeed press for the prosecutor’s firing, but that’s because he was reflecting the official position of not only the Obama administration but many Western countries and because the prosecutor was perceived as soft on corruption.
What does the New York Post story say?