Hunter Biden says joining board of Ukraine’s Burisma wasn’t a mistake

The US president’s son said his only error was ‘underestimating’ how it would be used against him

The 51-year-old’s involvement in the natural gas company became a lightning rod during the 2020 presidential campaign

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Published: 2:06pm, 5 Apr 2021Updated: 2:06pm, 5 Apr 2021

Hunter Biden, the US president’s son, says that he did not make a mistake by joining the board of one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine when his father was serving Barack Obama’s vice-president.

In wide-ranging interview with CBS News’ “Sunday Morning,” the younger Biden said that he did nothing wrong in taking the lucrative position with Cyprus-registered Burisma Holdings. His only error was “underestimating” how it would be used against him, he said, according to a transcript of the interview.

Hunter Biden, 51, has previously said taking the role may have been “poor judgment” as his involvement in Burisma became a lightning rod during the 2020 presidential campaign.

President Donald Trump made unsubstantiated claims of corruption and conflict of interest around Biden’s role, and Senate Republicans, then in the majority, held hearings on the matter that resulted in an 87-page report.

Even after Joe Biden’s election, questions around the matter continue to linger for the president and his son, who spoke with CBS ahead of the scheduled April 6 release of his memoir, Beautiful Things.

The younger Biden said no investigation has concluded that he did “anything wrong, or that my father did anything wrong.”