CARSON CITY, Nev. — President Trump said Sunday that Hunter Biden, son of Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden, used his father’s vice presidency as a “cash machine” to enrich himself with deals with foreign businessmen.
Speaking to thousands of supporters in this swing state, Mr. Trump said Mr. Biden’s family is a “criminal enterprise.” The president hammered his rival on news reports that a recovered laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden disclosed emails showing his foreign business deals during the Obama administration.
“That’s a laptop from hell,” Mr. Trump said. “A giant trove of emails show Hunter Biden making deals, setting up meetings with his father Joe, and using the Office of the Vice President for a for-profit cash machine. That is so dishonest.”
Hunter Biden allegedly was paid $10 million per year by a Chinese businessman for “introductions only,” and earned more millions from a Ukraine energy company for little or no work.
The president said he was elected four years ago because voters were tired of such Washington insiders enriching themselves.
“In 2016, you voted to fire this corrupt and decrepit political establishment,” he said. “And you elected an outsider as president who is finally putting America first. Joe Biden is and always has been a corrupt politician. Joe is far more corrupt than Hunter. The Biden family is a criminal enterprise…”
He said of his opponent, “People think of Joe Biden as a nice man. He’s not a nice man. He’s a corrupt man.”
Mr. Trump accused the media of a double standard for ignoring the story.
“Can you imagine if that were Donald Trump Jr.’s laptop?” he asked.
The president is campaigning to win in a state that he lost by more than 2 percentage points in 2016. He predicted a “big red wave” in the election, partly due to opposition to Democratic governors’ slow pace of reopening economies from coronavirus shutdowns.
“Normal life, that’s all we want, normal life,” he said. “The Nevada tourism and hospitality industry which is fantastic will come roaring back. .. unless somebody like Sleepy Joe Biden wants to substantially increase your taxes and your regulations.”
He said Mr. Biden “will surrender your jobs to China, he will surrender your future to the virus, he [wants] a lockdown. You guys, you want to open. Pennsylvania has to open. Michigan has to open. Get the places open, let’s go.”
“It’s between a delivering a vaccine in record time to kill the virus, or a Biden shutdown to kill the economy,” the president said.
Nevada health officials on Saturday reported 967 new cases of coronavirus, the biggest one-day jump since mid-August. The state’s rate of positive tests has been slowly rising since mid-September.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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