White House On Biden's Son Joining Ukraine Gas Giant - No Ethical Issues Here

Zero Hedge ^ | 05/14/2014 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

Yesterday we were the first to report that none other than Vice President Joe Biden's son was joining the board of Ukraine's largest gas producer. It appears to have signaled peak crony capitalist as the new went viral with almost complete disdain. There was one defender though... as The Washington Examiner reports, The White House brushed off questions about any ethical issues as Jay Carney snapped "Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family are obviously private citizens, and where they work does not reflect an endorsement by the administration or by the vice-president or president."

 

As The Washington Examiner reports,

Asked about the hiring by a reporter Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Jay Carney referred questions about it to the vice president's office and noted that it did not indicate that Obama was involved or approved of it.

 

“Hunter Biden and other members of the family are obviously private citizens and where they work is not an endorsement by the president or vice president,” he said.

 

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the vice president, did not respond to questions about whether Hunter Biden discussed the job with his father or sought his approval before accepting it.

 

Instead, she echoed Carney's earlier statement and referred questions to Hunter Biden's New York law office.

 

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer," she said. "The vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company. For any additional questions, I refer you to Hunter’s office."

Furthermore, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki also responded bluntly to the questions, saying only that Hunter Biden is a private citizen... and when pressed on the fact that Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs - who have been sanctioned and vilified by the US and Europe - were also private citizens she dismissed any concerns...

Forward to around 2:35 to see Psaki squirm...

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

 

In other words.. nothing to see here move along and go about your business, people of America...

Perhaps Curtis Ellis, executive director at American Jobs Alliance, summed it up best...

...it is a typical Washington politics to exploit a foreign crisis for personal gain.

 

“The US … are trying to portray in the most altruistic and platonic fashion possible. However, it is very difficult to disentangle business interests from national interests,” he said.

[Mr. K]

No no no no no no no no no no no...

[shadeaud]

I wonder if ‘’Hunter’’ went to U.T. law school

[TurboZamboni]

“No controlling legal authority”- Manbearpig

[Malone LaVeigh]

Can’t have ethical issues if you don’t have any ethics.

[Iron Munro]

Somebody in the Feral Government promised somebody something in return for giving Hunter Biden this cushy job.

How many hundreds of millions in handouts or weapons is this going to cost taxpayers?

[Rennes Templar]

Waitning for this to be blasted over all the news tonight.

[tumblindice]

Same with Hairy Reid, his son Tory and Cliven Bundy’s livelihood.
`Nepotism’ and ‘cronyism’ aren’t in the Democrats’ dictionary.

[longfellow]

If he is anything like his dad expect an explosion there real soon.

[Sherman Logan]

Somebody in the Feral Government promised somebody something in return for giving Hunter Biden this cushy job.

Quite possibly. In which case that person should be located and prosecuted. Hunter, too, if it can be proven he was a party to the conspiracy. If it can be proven the Veep was in on it, impeach him, remove him from office, prosecute, convict and imprison him.

In absence of such evidence, the WH is right.

A politician's family members are private citizens. The politician has zero way to legally control what they do.

I'm sure many of us remember Billy Carter. Even a president can't stop a brother determined to act like an idiot in public.

[cripplecreek]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

Sanctions are a favorite tool of crony capitalists.

[Political Junkie Too]

Same with Hairy Reid, his son Tory and Cliven Bundy’s livelihood.

Kennedy and CITGO.

-PJ

[Vendome]

It looks odd but, I don’t see what the issue is...

[alloysteel]

How would this impact foreign policy in any way?

Not a smidgen of corruption....

[cripplecreek]

Democrats finding another means of funding their party as union power collapses in the USA.

[prof.h.mandingo]

Yes, I guess you are correct. We all remember when Billy was named to the board of directors of General Motors.
You are conflating morals with legalities. Baby Biden has every right to be on the board unless there is a quid pro quo. But in the real world there are many ways to hide such dealings and no one will ever be able to prove collusion.
Ethically and morally he should have steered clear of the position. But Demo's are born without that facility.
Washington could have kept the presidency for life. He did the right thing.
If it was my son I would have put heavy pressure NOT to take the post. I can hope my son would have turned it down without my input.

[Dick Bachert]

LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN PEEPS!!!

Just PRAY that – UNLIKE LAST TIME – enough INFORMED voters with actual FUNCTIONING BRAINS who understand our history and how much damage the libturds have done here show up at the polls to send these MORONS packing – then ON TO PRISON!

[Smokin' Joe]

Well, now we’ll see if the Administration finds ways to shut down or hamper LNG exports. (Which would benefit any Natural Gas producer in the region by keeping prices higher in Europe).

[Vaduz]

Typical Washington politics indeed.

[Organic Panic]

Carney: You better refer to the VP’s office
VP: You better refer to Hunter’s office
Hunter’s office: You better refer to Carney
Carney” I already addressed this. Next question.

Hey. That works for everything in this administration.