Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, denied doing anything “improper” in his work with Ukrainian and Chinese companies as President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence.
Biden told ABC News, in an interview that aired on Tuesday, that he never made a mistake “based on some ethical lapse,” but acknowledged he exercised “poor judgment” by getting involved in something he compared to a “swamp.”
Hunter Biden on Sunday announced he was stepping down from his position as a director for Chinese investment company BHR Partners as Trump continues to accuse him and his father of corrupt activity in Ukraine and China.
Trump has urged foreign leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Chinese government, to investigate Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, his potential Democratic rival in the 2020 election.
House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry into the president after a whistleblower complaint alleged he repeatedly pressured Zelensky and may have withheld U.S. military aid as leverage.
Trump claims Joe Biden, as vice president, called for the removal of a notoriously corrupt prosecutor in Ukraine for the purpose of impeding an investigation into Burisma, a Ukranian gas company where Hunter Biden served on the board of directors.
There’s no evidence Joe Biden or Hunter Biden did anything illegal. Hunter Biden told ABC News repeatedly that he never discussed his business dealings in Ukraine and China with his father.
Hunter Biden acknowledged that his last name helped him professionally, and that he likely wouldn’t have been asked to serve on Burisma’s board had he not been the vice president’s son.
“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part,” he told ABC News of his foreign business deals. “When I look back on it, I know that [I] did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is ... a swamp in many ways? Yeah.”
He denied Trump’s claim that he raked in $1.5 billion from an investment deal in China, saying it has “no basis in fact in any way.”
In recent weeks, Trump has gone after Hunter Biden during his political rallies and in appearances to reporters, bashing him for avoiding the media while his business dealings have been thrust into the national spotlight.
“Where’s Hunter?” Trump tweeted several times over the last week.
“I’m here,” Hunter Biden told ABC News. “I’m working and living my life.”
Biden said he made a “mistake” in giving a “hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father,” an apparent reference to Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani’s push for foreign leaders to investigate his family.
“Did I do anything improper?” Hunter Biden added. “No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever.”
Watch ABC’s interview with Hunter Biden below: