President Trump’s reelection team on Wednesday accused Joseph R. Biden of lying to the American public about what he knew about his son Hunter’s foreign business deals, saying there is now evidence to prove it.
The charges stem from a report in the New York Post that centered on a recently unearthed email showing Hunter introduced his father to a Ukrainian energy executive less than a year before the former vice president pushed the Ukrainian governor to fire a top prosecutor investigating the company.
“If the New York Post story is true, we know now Joe Biden lied to the American people, and he lied repeatedly to you,” former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi told reporters on a conference call organized by the Trump campaign. “If the New York Post story is true we know without any shadow of doubt that this was a boldfaced lie.”
Mr. Bondi stressed that Mr. Biden had previously stated, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
In the April 17, 2015, email allegedly sent to the younger Biden, Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma Holdings, thanked him for the chance to meet his father.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the email reads.
The New York Post obtained the email from former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer.
The report comes weeks out from the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Biden has been leading most national and battleground state polls.
Jason Miller, a senior Trump 2020 adviser, said the report clarifies the choice voters have before them in the election: “a 47-year swamp creature in Joe Biden and a businessman in President Trump.”
“Many folks listening right now will remember that Crooked Hillary’s self-dealing and selling access to her office in 2016 was a reminder to voters across the country of the way that the status quo works for some of these career politicians and people who make their personal fortunes by trading off of access,” Mr. Miller said.
The email was discovered on the hard drive of a MacBook Pro computer that the Trump campaign said Hunter Biden apparently dropped off at a Delaware repair shop last year.
The computer, according to the New York Post, also featured a “12-minute video that appears to show Hunter, who’s admitted struggling with addiction problems, smoking crack while engaged in a sex act with an unidentified woman, as well as numerous other sexually explicit images.”
The shop owner said the FBI seized the computer in December after he let them know it was in his possession and after he tried to reach the person who dropped off the computer.
The shop owner also made a copy of the materials on the computer and passed them onto Mr. Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello.
The New York Post reported that Stephen K. Bannon, a former senior adviser to Mr. Trump, tipped the newspaper off to the existence of the hard drive in September. Mr. Giuliani gave the email to the New York Post on Sunday.
The Trump campaign said Wednesday they learned of the laptop computer from the New York Post.
Hunter Biden has been a favorite target of Mr. Trump and his allies.
Mr. Trump took aim at Hunter in the first presidential debate, claiming that the younger Biden “made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow.”
Mr. Trump said Hunter received $3.5 million from the wife of a former Moscow mayor — apparently alluding to Elena Baturina, who was married to a man who had been mayor of Moscow until 2010 — and questioned why he deserve $183,000 — apparently referencing the role that Hunter had on the board of Burisma Holdings.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer has said the claim is false.
His father delivered a similar defense in the first debate.
“That is not true,” the former vice president said. “None of that is true.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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