White House has 'tried to dodge' questions on Hunter Biden scandal: Ben Domenech
Fox News contributor Ben Domenech joined 'The Faulkner Focus' to discuss the media's coverage of the Hunter Biden investigation as the White House continues to 'dodge' questions surrounding the scandal.
The Biden White House has repeatedly claimed they are the "most transparent administration in American history," but a Fox News Digital review found that the visitor logs from the beginning of the Biden administration through February 2023 have not included any of Hunter Biden’s White House visits or extended stays.
Fox News Digital reviewed several articles to piece together Hunter Biden’s whereabouts during his dad’s administration and found that he has visited the White House over a dozen times through February 2023, the month accounted for in the most recent batch of visitor logs released last month.
A majority of the White House visits that Fox News Digital found were from 2022, which include the annual egg roll, Medal of Freedom ceremony, France State Dinner on the South Lawn, Christmas tree lighting, his daughter’s wedding, among others. However, they are all absent from the visitor logs, including what appear to be extended stays at the White House.
While many of these events are ceremonial and a tradition at the White House, Fox News Digital previously reported how Hunter Biden sought to use such events for his personal financial gain during the Obama administration.
Hunter and his longtime business partner, Eric Schwerin, would coordinate with his father's White House staff to invite business associates and potential business partners they were courting to official events.
Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, is seen during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on April 18, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
When asked why the White House logs omit Hunter Biden's visits, a spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to a policy released at the start of the administration.
"The White House will not release access records related to purely personal guests of the First and Second Families (i.e., visits that do not involve any official or political business)," the policy states, which appears to be less transparent than the Obama administration.
A Fox News Digital review found that while the Obama administration does not reveal all the Biden family member visits and omitted several Hunter visits, they included over 70 logs, including Hunter, Hunter’s daughters and now ex-wife, Biden’s brothers and other relatives.
In addition to Hunter, several other Biden family members are absent on the visitor logs from the Biden administration, including President Biden’s brothers, his daughter, his granddaughters, among others. While his sister, Valerie Biden Owens or Valerie J. Owens, shows up a few times as visiting the White House, she has likely visited several more times due to her role as her brother’s closest confidante and her close working relationship with several members of Biden’s senior staff.
US President Joe Biden(R) is comforted by his son Hunter Biden and First Lady Jill Biden after being sworn in during the 59th presidential inauguration in Washington, DC on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. (KEVIN DIETSCH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Hunter and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden; Hunter’s sister, Ashley Biden; and his aunt, Valerie Owens, were all guests at the state dinner honoring French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2022, but their names are not listed.
Between March and June 2023, months that have not been cataloged yet through visitor logs, Hunter Biden has been seen frequently at the White House, igniting rumors that he is living there full-time, according to the New York Post. Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy said back in April on "Fox & Friends" that it is "unclear" whether Hunter has been living there full-time, but said, "We do see him there a lot."
Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, during a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Biden and Modi announced a series of defense and commercial deals designed to improve military and economic ties between their nations during a state visit today. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HUNTER BIDEN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS, ASSISTANTS VISITED WHITE HOUSE OVER 80 TIMES WHEN BIDEN WAS VP
Hunter was listed as a guest at the White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his wife last Thursday, which drew scrutiny because it was hours after the House Ways and Means Committee revealed its interview with an IRS whistleblower, who shared a WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese business associate that he and his father would ensure "you will regret not following my direction."
"I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management, in the message provided by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. "And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."
Videos of the state dinner surfaced showing him rubbing elbows with other guests while smiling and laughing. A couple days later, he was seen boarding Marine One to go to Camp David where he would stay until he returned to the White House on Monday afternoon with his dad and young son.
In April, he attended the White House egg roll during that same week he flew off with his dad and Aunt Valerie for the multi-day trip to Ireland where he was seen helping explain a question from a child to President Biden, drawing mockery online.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. The tradition dates back to 1878 when President Rutherford B. Hayes invited children to the White House for Easter and egg rolling on the lawn. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Biden's brother, Francis or "Frank," was also at the White House in April, attending the White House state dinner alongside his partner, Mindy Ward, for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. It is unclear if the visitor logs for March-June 2023 and future months will show any of the Biden family members attending events at the White House.
Bloomberg published an analysis Monday on Biden’s White House visitor logs, finding "duplications, anomalies and missing names" in the records. The publication said the gaps raise "questions about the accuracy and completeness of the logs that record business meetings, social functions and receptions with Biden and other officials at the White House complex, which includes adjacent office buildings."
Bloomberg's deep dive, for example, found that former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain reported only six visitors over two years despite his high-level position.
The records can also conceal who visitors are meeting. A White House official previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that George Soros' son, Alex Soros, twice visited Klain, but the records did not outright list Klain as the intended host. Instead, it listed lower-level staffers.
Biden’s lack of transparency for visitors at both of his Delaware residences, including the beach house, has also come under scrutiny as Biden faces questions about his role in his son’s foreign business dealings and who is visiting him while he takes frequent weekend trips back to Delaware. Earlier this year, Republicans requested the records after Biden's lawyers discovered classified documents inside his home's garage. However, the president's lawyers said they do not maintain a list of who visits the house.
Rehoboth Beach, USA - JULY 19, 2022: President Biden's Delaware vacation home. Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
"Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," the White House Counsel's Office told Fox News Digital in January. "But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them."
House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., demanded to see the residence logs following the discovery of the classified documents at Biden's home.
"Given the serious national security implications, the White House must provide the Wilmington residence's visitor log," Comer wrote to then-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. "As Chief of Staff, you are head of the Executive Office of the President and bear responsibility to be transparent with the American people on these important issues related to the White House's handling of this matter."
U.S. President Joe Biden, right, greets Ron Klain, White House chief of staff, while arriving to a meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Comer also sought records of any home searches conducted by Biden aides. The letter noted that Biden's assistants and personal attorneys had scoured the premises even though the Justice Department was already investigating the situation. The lawyers continued to go there even after the appointment of a special counsel.
Biden is facing a special counsel investigation into his handling of the classified documents, which were discovered between November and January at the Wilmington home and the Washington, D.C., office for the president's think tank, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom, Peter Doocy and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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