Navy Ens. Hunter Biden received a fitness report after his first two weeks as a public affairs officer, his personnel file shows.
Mr. Biden, who received an age waiver and was sworn in by his dad, Vice President Joseph R. Biden, at the White House, underwent a performance review six months later, according to his Fitness Report and Counseling Record.
But what his commanding officer said about him in 2013 is redacted in compliance with federal privacy laws that make performance evaluations off-limits for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Because Hunter Biden has become part of his father’s story as he seeks the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, The Washington Times filed a FOIA request with Navy Personnel Command.
His file shows the first fitness report was done at the time of a pending drug test. The second one, in November, came after the Navy told him he tested positive for cocaine.
After nine months as a commissioned naval officer, he received a Feb. 19, 2014, separation order. “You have been discharged from the United States Navy Reserve,” states the letter from the commander of Navy Personnel Command.
DOCUMENT: Read Hunter Biden's separation order
The Navy provided The Times with six pages of Biden files that, though redacted, contain some basic facts about his short Navy Reserve career.
The “Officer Appointment Acceptance and Oath of Office” was signed by Mr. Biden on May 20, 2013.
“The president of the United States has appointed you as an officer in the U.S. Navy under conditions indicated in this document,” the form says.
His first “periodic” fitness report came two weeks later and was signed by a captain.
The box “not observed” is checked. The next two pages are censored.
Under the heading “command achievements,” the form states: “Provides expeditionary public affairs forces supporting the fleet and component commanders with scalable and immediately deployable force packages trained and equipped to support current and emerging public affairs and visual information requirements.”
Under a heading “Primary/Collateral/Watchstanding Duties,” the file states Mr. Biden is a “deployable public affairs officer” who “provides public affairs/strategic communications support” to, among other officers, the chief of information at the Pentagon, the Navy’s public affairs headquarters at the Pentagon.
Mr. Biden’s duties included providing support to 6th and 5th Fleets and “regional commanders.”
His home station was Navy Public Affairs Support Element, EAST, (NPASE) at Naval Air Station Norfolk.
In a July article in The New Yorker, Mr. Biden said he disclosed to the Navy his past drug use and attested to his sobriety. The Navy granted him a second waiver to go along with his age allowance. (He was 43 years old when he joined. The Navy requires new officers to be under 42 years old.)
He submitted to a urinalysis upon arriving at Norfolk, Virginia. The test results a few months later: positive for cocaine.
He told the Navy he was clueless on how cocaine got into his system and suggested it was from a bummed cigarette.
Hunter Biden became a common reference point for Republicans as they defended President Trump against an impeachment campaign by House Democrats.
Republicans cited Hunter’s Biden’s lucrative appointment to the board of Burisma, a natural gas firm in Kyiv, as a reason for Mr. Trump to talk about the Bidens in a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Investigative reporter Peter Schweizer, author of “Secret Empires,” says Hunter Biden joined Burisma two months after the Obama administration made the vice president the point-man on Western aid to Ukraine in February 2014.
Mr. Schweizer said Hunter Biden received $3 million in Burisma fees before resigning earlier this year.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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