Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 took a call from Ukrainian energy firm executives seeking help in thwarting a corruption probe on the same day he signed off on talking points written by his son’s business partner that aimed to tamp down media interest in Hunter Biden’s lucrative job on the company’s board.
The Dec. 4, 2015 email from Hunter Biden’s business associate Eric Schwerin was sent to then-Vice President Biden’s assistant, Kate Bedingfield, and provided “quotes” for Mr. Biden to use in response to media inquiries about his son’s job on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Ms. Bedingfield replied to Mr. Schwerin later in the day that “VP signed off on this[.]”
Ms. Bedingfield provided quotes four days later to The New York Times to defend him in a story that called into question Mr. Biden’s “credibility” fighting corruption in Ukraine while his son served on Burisma’s board.
The email exchange between Ms. Bedingfield and Mr. Schwerin occurred on the same day that Hunter Biden called his father from Dubai and, according to ex-business partner Devon Archer, put him on the phone with Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky, who was seeking help from Washington in shaking off a state corruption probe.
Archer provided the information about the call to House investigators in July. Archer, who is facing a prison sentence on an unrelated securities fraud conviction, was on the Dubai trip and said he heard the Burisma executives talking about the call to Mr. Biden.
House lawmakers investigating the president on corruption allegations say the email exchange between Mr. Schwerin and Ms. Bedingfield adds to evidence they are compiling that Mr. Biden’s vice presidential office was intertwined with his son and his business associates. It disproves Mr. Biden’s claim that he was never involved with his son’s business dealings, lawmakers said.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer is seeking the email exchange between Mr. Schwerin and Ms. Bedingfied, as well as other related records from the National Archives and Records Administration, which has published them in redacted form.
“Joe Biden never built an ‘absolute wall’ between his family’s business dealings and his official government work,” the Kentucky Republican said. “His office doors were wide open to Hunter Biden’s associates. There is evidence of collusion in the efforts to spin media stories about Burisma’s corruption while Vice President Biden was publicly pushing an anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine.”
Mr. Comer wants the National Archives to turn over un-redacted email exchanges that involved not only son Hunter, but Mr. Biden’s brother, James Biden, who was involved in some of the business deals.
The request to the National Archives includes documents and communications to or from the executive office of the president, including the office of the vice president, with a group of Biden family business associates, including Mr. Schwerin, Archer and several others. Mr. Comer is also seeking Mr. Biden’s executive calendars from every day of his vice presidency.
Mr. Comer is particularly interested in the timing of Mr. Schwerin’s emails to Ms. Bedingfield.
“Suspiciously, Hunter Biden’s associate had a media statement on Burisma approved by Vice President Biden himself the same day Hunter Biden ‘called D.C.’ for help with the government pressure facing Burisma,” Mr. Comer said.
Mr. Schwerin sent the quotes to Ms. Bedingfield as then-Vice President Biden was facing media inquiries into his son’s board position on Burisma and how it clashed with his own role serving as President Obama’s point person on Ukraine. Mr. Biden was tasked with pushing Ukraine’s leaders to end widespread corruption in the country, while Burisma was under investigation and had some of its assets seized.
Four days after receiving the “quotes” from Mr. Schwerin, on Dec. 8, 2015, Ms. Bedingfield provided a defense of Hunter Biden and Vice President Biden to The New York Times. She was quoted in a New York Times story published ahead of Mr. Biden’s Dec. 9th trip to Ukraine. The story questioned Mr. Biden’s “credibility” fighting corruption in the country while his son was working for Burisma.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer,” Ms. Bedingfield told the paper. “The vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company. The vice president has pushed aggressively for years, both publicly with groups like the U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum and privately in meetings with Ukrainian leaders, for Ukraine to make every effort to investigate and prosecute corruption in accordance with the rule of law. It will once again be a key focus during his trip this week.”
House investigators have sought additional records from the National Archives dating back to Mr. Biden’s vice presidency.
In August, Mr. Comer asked the archives to provide emails from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president that copied in Hunter Biden or that used one of three known email aliases Mr. Biden used. Mr. Comer also asked for all drafts of a speech Mr. Biden delivered to the Ukrainian legislature during his December 2015 trip.
Archives officials said they must receive approval from Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama before it can provide Congress with some of the material.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.