Biden Pledges 'Absolute Wall' Between Job, Family Business

[lapucelle]

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019, at a town hall for his Democratic presidential campaign in Spartanburg, S.C.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Wednesday that in all his decades in public office, he has never talked to any family members about their private business dealings. And he promised “an absolute wall” between government and his family’s financial interests should he be elected president.

Biden’s remarks followed scrutiny of the business activities of his son Hunter and his brother James — a spotlight that Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have been eager to shine on Democrats’ 2020 polling leader.

“I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their businesses. Period,” Biden told reporters at a campaign stop in South Carolina.

Politico reported earlier this year that Hunter and James Biden sometimes tried to leverage Joe Biden’s political ties to attract investors for a hedge fund.

snip===================================================================

Biden said that he’d impose the same standards in his administration that were in place when he served as President Barack Obama’s second-in-command.

“There will be an absolute wall between personal and private and the government,” he said. “There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there, and I will impose the same kind of strict, strict rules. That’s why I never talk with my son or my brother or anyone else in the distant family about their business interests, period.”

The issue offers a glimpse of how a potential general election matchup between Biden and Trump might go, and it highlights Trump’s penchant for turning, sometimes quite effectively, his own political weaknesses and potential legal problems back on his opponents.

snip===================================================================

Although Trump has refused to disclose all his personal financial ties, the president and his allies appear more than eager to cast Biden and his family as the ones with corrupted dealings in Putin’s orbit.

It’s a similar tactic to what Trump did to Hillary Clinton in 2016. When scrutiny on his business dealings and his affinity for Putin was reaching its peak in the fall campaign — complete with an FBI investigation — Trump repeatedly lobbed unsubstantiated allegations of impropriety at the Clinton Foundation and reminded voters that the FBI was examining the Democratic nominee’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

https://www.apnews.com/7e50648e9d0040e096ccc3ec65bd72fb

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Hopefully, those concerned about "issues" that the concerning civil suit have in no way raised about one of the actual Democratic candidates, will rest easy now and leave the concerns to the same muckrakers (like Breitbart and Hannity) who generally shill anti-Democratic Party gossip and innuendo based on tangentially related "facts".

[HeartlandProgressive]

1. Some one just posted a two month old article about a candidate's wife

It seems some people believe in guilt by association and smearing our candidate's families.

They circular firing squad posts are hurting our chances as Democrats in the general election against Trump

[ehrnst]

2. "Smearing?" Facts are "smearing?"

Every candidate will be vetted thoroughly in the coming year. We won't get a candidate as thoroughly vetted as Hillary Clinton was, along with Bill - going back years and years - but candidates are newsworthy.

What did you think the 'guilt' by association was in that article?

I saw an article that exonerated someone. Apparently you didn't.

[lapucelle]

6. Is the wife also officially listed as a chief advisor to the campaign or the candidate? N/T

[karynnj]

3. Read the article carefully -- Biden himself is not credibly accused of anything.

Members of his family have been. That is a huge difference. Hunter Biden is obviously a person with problems. His dad clearly loves him dearly and has probably done all he could to push Hunter to better decisions. However, think how many Presidents had siblings, children or other close relatives who had problems.

No President is more moral, serious and committed to doing good in the world than Jimmy Carter. Should he have been held back because Billy Carter was who he was? What of Bill Clinton, who coming from a poor family in Arkansas became a Rhodes scholar, a graduate of Yale and a Governor. Should he have been eliminated because of Roger Clinton?

HRC had a brother who was also a problem.

Should W have been eliminated because of his brother, who was involved in the S&L scandal and other rumoured scandals - not to mention a dad who was involved with Iran/Contra -- in his case, he should have been eliminated!

GHWB had a no good son, who skipped out on the national Guard - a position GHWB got him - and who was a drunk.

Even Obama had an aunt - he never really knew - who the Republicans went nuts about.


As to the uncles or Hunter trying to use his name -- how is this different than Ivanka getting trademarks from China or her husband's family using their connection. One difference - Trump actually saw nothing wrong with that, while Biden says he will wall out family and friends pushing deals. Biden is well positioned to ask Trump to do the same.

[lapucelle]

4. I know that Democratic candidate Biden has not been accused of anything. That's my exact point.

There are some who are trying to advance the narrative that this civil lawsuit is somehow a Joe Biden "issue" and who are also actively complaining that the false narrative is worthy of greater TV coverage.

[IdealsAndReal42]

7. Agreed.

People are not responsible for all of their children's mistakes when they are grown adults.
It's simply RW smear for PR purpose.

[NYMinute]

5. K&R nt