Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden have each been accused of making fortunes off the names of their fathers, and determining who is the biggest beneficiary may strike many as a challenge.
Trump Jr., though, has proposed a way to pin down which politician’s son has benefited most from his bloodline: a debate.
The eldest son of President Donald Trump told Axios on HBO that going after the younger Biden’s business career in Ukraine will be a “big part” of the Trump campaign reelection strategy should former Vice President Joe Biden emerge as his father’s Democratic opponent.
Trump Jr. was willing to admit profiting from his own name.
“I’m not going to say I haven’t benefited from my father’s last name, just like Hunter Biden did. I’d be foolish to say that,” he said. It was a rare admission by him; as Trump Jr. has repeatedly accused the younger Biden of benefiting from nepotism, so too has he repeatedly been dragged on Twitter for not acknowledging his own privilege as he did to Axios.
But in his comments to the news outlet, he declared himself “an international businessperson before my father got into politics” and insisted, “I haven’t benefited from my father’s taxpayer-funded office, OK?” He also claimed his family “stopped doing any new international business deals when my father won the presidency.”
Trump Jr.’s comment about not benefiting from his father’s current job is dubious, at best, as a New York Times story detailed in October. But the 42-year-old wants to face off with the 50-year-old Hunter Biden over the matter.
“Come on! Let’s do it. No, no, seriously,” he said. “We can go full transparency. We show everything, and we can talk about all of the places where I’m supposedly grifting but Hunter Biden isn’t. I would love to do it.”
Trump Jr. even said he’d release his tax returns ― which his father notoriously has failed to do ― if Biden agreed to debate him.
“If we do it both, 100%,” Don Jr. said. “Let’s talk about who profited off of whose public service. Happy to do it. Let’s make it happen.”
The chances of the debate happening are, of course, slim-to-none. And the press secretary for Joe Biden’s White House campaign, TJ Ducklo, took a shot at the Trumps over the tax return issue.
“It is hard to believe anything a Trump says on tax returns when Donald Sr. has lied for years about releasing his,” he told Axios.com.
You can see Trump Jr.’s interview here:
The president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has accused Hunter Biden of illegal actions linked to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma without offering any details, substantiation or evidence.
Hunter Biden has conceded his lucrative post on the company’s board that began when his father was vice president showed “poor judgment” but was not “improper.” Joe Biden has consistently said his son’s position played no role in influencing U.S. policy toward Ukraine, and no evidence has surfaced to dispute that.
With the elder Biden again becoming the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Trump allies in the Senate have rekindled an investigation into the younger Biden’s connection to Burisma. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) admitted last week the probe appears to be politically motivated.
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